America’s New Religions

NY Magazine ^ | 12-7-18 | Andrew Sullivan

[TalBlack]

They have turned to idols — including their blasphemous belief in America as God’s chosen country.

God, at different times, chose many other countries over 2 thousand years. He has standards for this backing and he will rescind it when the Standards aren’t met.

[ReaganGeneration2]

‘U.S., philosopher John Gray puts it this way: “Religion is an attempt to find meaning in events, not a theory that tries to explain the universe.”’

Stopped here, sorry. Theology underlies the “meaning”, and can’t be skipped over. It’s called ERROR. 500-800 years of ERROR has led to the current corruption.

[wintertime]

horrendous Hillary Clinton,
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Queen Hillary the Horrendous.

[SES1066]

I will take this perceptive article to reiterate what I personally believe is one of the prime causative factors in the dwindling of 'R'eligion in western civilization, Thomas Edison! Unintentionally but most emphatically, Mr Edison's development of electric lights had an unexpected but very real effect of hiding the night sky from the urban & suburban dweller.

Consider the unencumbered night sky, that sightline into infinity. Would Psalm 8:1-4 have been written by a modern city dweller? Almost certainly not!

1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies,
that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers,
the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 what is man, that thou art mindful of him?
and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

From the dawn of humanity till the dawn of the 20th Century, even in the gas-lit cities, anyone could and would be seeing the vast sky with very little effort. That vast and uncaring sky, infinite and cold lurks with the attendant dangers of the dark that made night the 'scariest' part of the day-cycle. Yet, with Judaism and Christianity and others, we took solace in the knowledge that even in those darkest hours, especially those of the soul, we had the comfort of a caring God!

Alas I cannot see how we can regain what we have lost here to advancing technology. In terms of the immediate benefit to all, electric light has been an immeasurable benefit to all. Here in the United States, there are so few areas that escape 'light pollution' that one almost has to go to the low-population areas of the American West to see much of the unencumbered sky.

Blessing of Hanukah and Christmas to all!

[daniel1212]

I think of non-PC gaffes as the equivalent of old swear words. Like the puritans who were agape when someone said “goddamn,” the new faithful are scandalized when someone says something “problematic.” Another commonality of the zealot then and now: humorlessness. And so the young adherents of the Great Awokening exhibit the zeal of the Great Awakening. Like early modern Christians, they punish heresy by banishing sinners from society or coercing them to public demonstrations of shame, and provide an avenue for redemption in the form of a thorough public confession of sin. “Social justice” theory requires the admission of white privilege in ways that are strikingly like the admission of original sin. A Christian is born again; an activist gets woke.

That part is pretty insightful and good.

if your ultimate meaning is derived from religion, you have less need of deriving it from politics...Yes, many Evangelicals are among the holiest and most quietly devoted people out there. Some have bravely resisted the cult. But their leaders have turned Christianity into a political and social identity, not a lived faith, and much of their flock — a staggering 81 percent voted for Trump — has signed on. They have tribalized a religion explicitly built by Jesus as anti-tribal. They have turned to idols — including their blasphemous belief in America as God’s chosen country. They have embraced wealth and nationalism as core goods, two ideas utterly anathema to Christ. They are indifferent to the destruction of the creation they say they believe God made. And because their faith is unmoored but their religious impulse is strong, they seek a replacement for religion. This is why they could suddenly rally to a cult called Trump. He may be the least Christian person in America, but his persona met the religious need their own faiths had ceased to provide. The terrible truth of the last three years is that the fresh appeal of a leader-cult has overwhelmed the fading truths of Christianity.

That part is skewed. Evangelicals see Christian historicity of the USA and like original shareholders, they have a special interest in preserving and restoring what was lost. Or at least they want a mythical Mayberry America in which morality is esteemed, and one can work play and laugh safely.

But the idea that Trump met the religious need their own faiths had ceased to provide is absurd, except that his refusal to submit to the PC gestapo while expressing commitment to basic issues Evangelicals are committed to placed Trump over the opposition, and overcame the negative moral aspects of himself.

We have the cult of Trump on the right, a demigod who, among his worshippers, can do no wrong

Yes, we do, as on FR, however, the charge that Evangelicals do so by supporting Trump is not sound. In response to The white evangelical lie about Democrats (Upchuck alert) I wrote,

If evangelicals has elected Trump as a church pastor or head of Focus on the Family (though less a ministry than under Dobson) then they would have a case.

Or if evangelicals elected Trump over a Reagan, or if he was a supporter of foundation immorality which was being foisted upon them, and attacking and punishing them for opposing it, and a friend of those who denigrate them as homophobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, misogynist hatters who will not submit to the politically correct censoring of the “Left,” and which works to seduce votes with the demonic victim-entitlement mentality in promoting a welfare state which increases reliance upon a ever-growing regulatory government - meaning if Trump was a a Hillary - then they would have a case.

But instead they elected a man to a office of civil government who more than any other electable candidate overall supports their side in most basic moral issues and conception of government, and refuses to be cowed by the conniving tactics of intimidation of anti-Christ social and socialist revolutionaries.

In other words, they are willing to overlook the moral failures (real or alleged) and unChristian aspects of the temperament and character of the civil leader of the country that they are pilgrims in, since he is the best (if brash) captain available - along with a Chief officer of notable integrity - to sail the ship on a corrective course, a ship which has already been sabotaged by enemies and who chart a course toward shipwreck. In the light of all of this Trump is an answered prayer, and yet who needs our prayers.

 

[Gritty]

*sigh*

Hitchens is just another wordy "intellectual" who can't see the difference between Christ and the Devil but endlessly lectures the rest of us on the failings of our faith while equating the various cults of the World, the Flesh, and the Devil to Christianity.

As usual, he comes up with endless rationalities for his own unbelief while shifting the blame of his own empty soul onto the banality of everyone else.

It is tough and unrewarding to be an atheist looking for meaning elsewhere when the truth is right before your very eyes every place you look.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 18-20)

All one needs to do is look around from the massive heavens to the nearly invisible DNA to see the undeniable evidence of God, revealed in the glory, wonder, and complexity of His Creation - a complexity humanity can barely fathom much less fully understand or create.

[IrishBrigade]

‘Many have responded to the collapse of meaning in dark times by simply and logically numbing themselves to death, extinguishing existential pain through ever-stronger painkillers that ultimately kill the pain of life itself.’

what horse hockey; Descartes crystalized the essence of meaningful life in three Latin words: cogito, ergo sum...free thought, the bane of organized religions throughout history...

[IrishBrigade]

‘It is tough and unrewarding to be an atheist looking for meaning elsewhere when the truth is right before your very eyes every place you look.’

I always get a kick out of theists attempting to tell atheists what’s wrong with how they think...kinda like a rhino telling a shark how to swim...

[null and void]

Thanks for posting this. Although, as an agnostic, I too have quibbles with some of his points, overall I think it is a very interesting, thoughtful and somewhat depressing piece.

[null and void]

Nor should one forget the miracle storm that put out the White House fire and drove the British from Washington DC in 1814.

[null and void]

He has standards for this backing and he will rescind it when the Standards aren’t met.

I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever. ~ Thomas Jefferson

[DeweyCA]

So I guess you consider yourself to be smarter than both John Stuart Mills and Bertrand Russell (both atheist heroes). Please email all of us when atheist organizations proclaim you to be smarter than them. You display exactly the type of arrogant inflated ego that the Progressives have - one which thinks that they are smarter than everyone else and thus entitled to rule over everyone.

[Nateman]

And super hero movies have replaced the Bible as in inspirational “text.”

I was just thinking the other day the similarities between comic book hero's and Pagan God's. Superman=Hercules, Flash=Mercury, Aqua man = Poseidon etc. (You don't even need an analogy for Thor! He's the same guy complete with his family!)

[Pilgrim's Progress]

>>>“Religion is an attempt to find meaning in events, not a theory that tries to explain the universe.”<<<

No, religion is man’s sordid attempt to somehow appease an angry God on their own terms, while Christianity is a loving God doing everything He can to see that man has a prepared home for eternity in Heaven completely at His own expense.

Unfortunately, the majority would rather do it all themselves to to accept God’s “charity.”

[Nateman]

God at different times, chose many other countries over 2 thousand years. He has standards for this backing and he will rescind it when the Standards aren't met.

True , but given the miraculous election of Trump I'd say He has not given up on America yet.

[Proud_texan]

King David was commended for being a man after God's heart yet some say more fallible than most man. If I'm honest and lived at the time I probably would have exercised discernment and avoided him.

Is God working through Trump? I don't know. Might He be working through Trump? Yes.

That does not a cult make.

[Steve_Seattle]

One thing the author doesn't mention is the growing phenomenon of white people screaming in rage and condemnation at other white people for being white. This is typical of street groups like Antifa, but is now becoming common even on left-wing networks like CNN and MSNBC.

With the proliferation of "white-privilege" seminars in business and government, and in college courses devoted to combatting the purported evil of "whiteness," we have a widespread, well-funded, and mainstream program of racial hatred which is far more influential than the racism of some elements of the alt-right. (In fact, I regard the growth of the alt-right as an inevitable but unfortunate response to the anti-white racial hatred of the left.)

We are now reaching the point where the incoherent contradictions of leftist ideology are becoming untenable even for those who try to follow the rules, and intra-left squabbles seem to be on the rise.

[IrishBrigade]

‘So I guess you consider yourself to be smarter than both John Stuart Mills and Bertrand Russell (both atheist heroes).’

in the post to which you respond, I said nothing about being smarter or stupider than anyone else; additionally the author brought up Mill and Russell, not I...generally, it’s a good idea to address the actual content of a post when responding...

[aquila48]

Occam’s razor. The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

[Slyfox]

Their constant attacks on Trump and his voters ever since are nothing but the wailing of spoiled children who didn’t get their way.

Yep, they were supposed to deliver the vote for Hillary and they failed in their mission.

Their whining and belly-aching is really funny.