Posted on 05/28/2021 1:16:53 PM PDT by MurphsLaw
THE de facto atheists who tend to dominate American culture today imagine that the disappearance of Christianity will be a nearly unmixed blessing.
Gone will be those many bad things that they think constitute a robust Christianity: narrow-mindedness, sexual puritanism, intolerance, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Islamism. anti-Darwinism, mistrust of science generally, political conservatism, anti-progressivism, and a tendency toward fascism.
The new and improved Americans who will replace these old-fashioned Christians will be individuals who think for themselves, are tolerant, open-minded, pro-science, sexually free and happy; and who have a genuine concern with “social justice” – that is, the well-being of their fellow human beings. In other words, Christianity will be replaced by a morally benign atheism. The arc of history is long, but it bends toward a benign atheism.
Well, I think this is a mistaken expectation – indeed, the very opposite of what’s likely to happen. Just look at history.
When a national religion fades away, it is not replaced by a genial association of rational altruists. No, it is replaced by a new religion or pseudo-religion that turns out to be worse than Christianity was at its worst. I cite two instances.
First, in the course of the 19th century in Germany, atheism flourished among many philosophers, and this in turn had a great influence on many Protestant thinkers. Protestantism, still widely popular outside the Catholic regions of Germany, got more and more watered down. Its dogmatic content grew thinner and thinner as theologians tried to blend the best of Christianity with the best of anti-Christianity. It was transformed into a “modern” or “liberal” kind of Protestantism, a synthesis of contradictory elements that had little appeal to the heart and minds of Germans who yearned for a full-blooded religion.
A religious vacuum appeared in the hearts and minds of many Germans. The higher classes tried to fill the vacuum with “Kultur” – fine music, fine literature, fine paintings, etc. The middle classes tried to fill the vacuum with nationalism, the lower classes with socialism. The trauma of World War I aggravated all this. Post-war, the more cultured classes turned to cultural expressionism: very thin gruel for a heart pining for religion. The working classes turned to Communism. And the middle classes turned to Nazism.
Second, in 19th century Russia, Orthodox Christianity, no doubt because of its too-close connection with the Tsarist Autocracy, failed to satisfy the intelligentsia. Quite the opposite. By and large, it disgusted the intellectuals, who with some notable exceptions (e.g., Dostoyevsky) turned in the direction of agnosticism and atheism. They embraced the idea that Russia must have a great social revolution. In late 1917, that great revolution arrived in the form of Communism, a pseudo-religion. The founder of this new religion (analogous to Jesus as founder of Christianity) was Lenin. The first and greatest “pope” of this religion was Stalin, the infallible Vicar of Lenin.
These two new religions both promised “social justice,” though they had somewhat different ideas as to what counted as social justice. And they both “discovered” – perhaps independently of one another or, more probably, influenced by one another – a great new moral “truth.” They discovered that immeasurable amounts of lying, imprisonment, torture, and murder are morally allowable – provided of course that these things are done for the sake of making the world a better place. They discovered that the arc of history bends toward mass murder.
But this, our post-Christian propagandists assure us, won’t happen in America. We Americans are too well supplied with commonsense for this to happen. Perhaps a small number of “lunatic fringe” Americans will fall for crazy movements resembling Communism or Nazism. But average Americans care for the concrete processes of making and spending money; they care nothing for abstract worldviews or philosophies of history.
Well, I’m not so sure. I cringe every time I hear somebody say that X or Y or Z is “on the right side of history.” President Obama said this when applauding the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage. Anybody who speaks this way, whether the U.S. president or a progress-minded college sophomore, carries an abstract philosophy of history in his head.
I concede that post-Christian Americans have not settled on a single pseudo-religion – yet. They are still in an exploratory stage, trying this and trying that and trying something else. It may take years or even decades for them to settle on a single pseudo-religion that can unify all the post-Christians – just as it took post-Christian Germans a long time to settle on Nazism and post-Christian Russians a long time to settle on Communism. In all probability, this single pseudo-religion of the future will be a grand synthesis of the many particular pseudo-religions that people are experimenting with at the moment.
Who precisely? Who is “experimenting” with particular pseudo-religions at the moment? The following: (a) persons with a devotion to environmentalism; (b) persons devoted to the idea of gay/lesbian rights; (c) those devoted to the (really bizarre) idea that persons of one sex can, by virtue of having certain feelings, become persons of the opposite sex; (d) those who believe that the mass murder of unborn babies is a virtuous activity, deserving of taxpayer support; (e) persons who hold that we should make euthanasia available to all who want it, and that we should impose it on those who happen not to want it but who, if they were rational, would want it; (f) persons convinced that whites are, almost by nature, racist; (g) people who believe that society, acting through public and private agencies, should stifle the wicked opinions of those who are frankly unwilling to get on the right side of history.
Since the above people, all of them hard-core fanatics, are surrounded and encouraged by an immense cloud of soft-core believers, I fear that we are not far from the day when a comprehensive post-Christian worldview will triumph in the land of the free and the brave.
What could go wrong when you get rid of the only major religion that says that individual people have value and should be nice to each other?
The West is running on the fumes of Christianity. If it disappears, look for the rise of shared delusional government like what happened in Russia.
When Nietzsche said, “God is dead.” He did it with fear and trembling. He predicted tens of millions would be killed by whatever new ‘state religion’ took it’s place.
If anything, Nietzsche was overly optimistic.
The origin of Christianity itself shows this. The pagan faith of the Romans was seen, at least by the elites, as a collection of myths and stories and secularism was dominant.
[[The new and improved Americans who will replace these old-fashioned Christians will be individuals who think for themselves, are tolerant, open-minded, pro-science, sexually free and happy; and who have a genuine concern with “social justice” – that is, the well-being of their fellow human beings. In other words, Christianity will be replaced by a morally benign atheism.]]
Solomon was right, there is nothing new under the sun- been tried before- - nothing but yet another godless hedonistic self worshiping, Nature worshiping religious cult claiming to have no religion- Yawn
[[The West is running on the fumes of Christianity.]]
There are reports and studies that contradict that- Christianity is doing fine- contrary to the claims otherwise-
“
We’re used to hearing that religion is dying in America, secularization is inevitable, and that young people are leaving the faith in droves. But a new Harvard research study has great news for Christians. Previous research typically focuses on the massive increase in the proportion of people who claim atheism or ‘no religion’. But these reports generally don’t address where the decline is happening. This new research demonstrates that the decline is in ‘moderate’ religion. So it turns out that ‘religion’ isn’t dying, but the differentiation between believer and unbeliever is becoming clearer.”
https://creation.com/us-christianity-not-dying
I think people will wake up surprised one day when they figure out that most of the really good qualities and blessing in our nation have been derived over time as a direct result of the Christian religion. They have lived a blissfully privileged life completely unaware of how they came to be blessed with such a good life. When they finally wake up, let’s hope it is not too late to save it.
Christianity is not a religion. It’s a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior. The church is the body of believers (saints).
Bkmrk
“The new and improved Americans who will replace these old-fashioned Christians will be individuals who think for themselves, are tolerant, open-minded, pro-science, sexually free and happy; and who have a genuine concern with “social justice” – that is, the well-being of their..”
The new and improved Americans who will replace these old-fashioned Christians will be individuals who are demon possessed.
There, fixed it
That statement caught my eye. A Christian who takes his faith seriously has done worlds more soul-searching, study, contemplation and self-assessment than your average person who has been brainwashed by the media, social media and popular culture. These popular culture jerks are very quick to slander Christians. If you are going to be critical of a whole class of people, you at least need to have a rudimentary understanding of them. That said, there are way too many Christians that do not know much at all about the faith they profess.
I don't judge all white folks by Hitler and I don't judge all black folks by Idi Amin. It would be nice if somebody in the media would keep folks honest.
Russia seems to be turning back to God..
People need to wake up and understand it is not about religion, but your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. All the religions are being exposed for being a part of this evil world we live in and new ones wont be any different if they are created by man. Pick up your bible and learn about God and how you should live your life here.
[[will be individuals who think for themselves
That statement caught my eye.]]
Yup- it’s a very very condescending statement- The same folks who say that complain about Christians looking down on others-
[[at least need to have a rudimentary understanding of them]]
Yup-
I think the arc or history will shot past today to reveal something totally unexpected: like making contact with aliens from outer space. What this means for Christianity or paganism will depend on if they are friendly or not. If we become enslaved then all the paganism will be nothing, a footnote from a decadent civilization that got destroy by alien invaders. And who will write that footnote? We’ll be lucky if we can escape their cocoon and mind bending rays. Yes, it could be something right out of a bad sci fi movie... weirder things have happened.
And if the aliens don’t come then we’ll bumble around like we always do, usually killing each other for our differences and raise crosses for our salvations.
The Catholic Church has survived nearly 2000 years and will continue to survive.
Cardinal George of Chicago prophesied that he would die in his bed;
His successor (Cupich) would die in jail;
and his successor would revitalize and bring the Catholic Church to again blossom in the hateful environment.
I am paraphrasing the last prediction. Keep watch for about 40-80 years and see if it is true.
And from the Bible — “The gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
The origin of Christianity is Christ.
I don’t think he was wrong; do you?
AS I PASS through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.
We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.
We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place,
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.
With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.
When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."
On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."
In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."
Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;
And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!
Sure, but there was a reason he was sent at that particular time and place.
Carlin touches on it briefly at the end, but the twin pillars of America’s new civic religion are LGBT and anti-racism. All virtue and all vice are determined with respect to where one stands with respect to BLM and LGBT. And the new religion has its very own canonized saints, e.g., George Floyd.
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