Nowadays (Christian) religion is being criticised from the Left and from the Right. The criticisms from the Left have little originality and can be summed up by "F*** you, Dad!" approach. As with so many things by the progressives, militant atheists appear to be forever stuck in the teenage rebellion against authority.
The Right, on the other hand, with just as little originality, resuscitates the talking points of Nietzsche about "slave morality" and drones on about the inherent limp-wristedness of "Turn the other cheek" approach. (Outside of these two groups there also exists the autistic "spaghetti monster" approach, but they hardly deserve any serious consideration).
In other words, lefties claim that religion in general and Christianity in particular is too authoritarian, while rightists think it's not authoritarian enough. There is no denying that any authority can be easily abused by those wielding it and that it certainly happened in the church, too, and will probably happen again in the future, since no human institution is perfect.
The modern liberal idea that since authority can be abused it should be abolished altogether, doesn't seem to be working too well, though, and its full as opposed to partial implementation, will eventually lead to total anarchy. Anyone who doesn't engage in magical thinking should be aware of that. The criticism from the Right about inherent pacifism and otherwordliness of Christianity has some grounds in reality as well, especially when we take into consideration the doctrine (or the lack of it) preached by modern, liberal churches. Unfortunately many contemporary Christian bloggers either don't discuss this topic, or are too busy trying to earn their credentials with the progressives.
On the other hand, we too often encounter (no doubt, well-meaning) conservatives who will comment about the problems of society and then say something along the lines that "these people need Jesus" and if they find Him, things will change for the better immediately.
As a Christian myself, I surely can agree with the thesis that everybody needs Jesus in their life, but religion is only a part (though a very important one) of a healthy, functioning society. The late Lawrence Auster once had a discussion about it on his blog, which I can't refer to since I don't have the link, and his blog contains an awful lot of material. So instead I'd like to feature this article which presents a very interesting point of view on the topic:
The essence of religion is realism
While it states that religion by itself is not enough, it also demonstrates that religion is necessary for a healthy society to function properly and that its rules are not arbitrary, but do in fact, keep a society, any society, from degeneration.
Below is an excerpt:
Those who hate the methods of civilization — religion, identity, aristocracy and culture among them — try to style religion as arbitrary.
They wish to portray it as its own domain, which chooses its ideals for
its own convenience, rather than what it is: another method of
describing reality and regulating individual behavior correspondingly so
that civilization can thrive. Through culture, we study success in
social and family matters; through aristocracy, success in war,
diplomacy and leadership; through identity, principle and purpose.
Through religion we discover success in discipline of our souls, but the
subject of that study is reality itself.
I have not gone to your link yet but will. I did read something very enlightening on a blog a while back. I don't know how to do an actual link but will direct you to the blog. It is ruralrevolution.com and the post was posted June 27, 2015. To find it you can go on the left side of her blog to June 2015 or go way way down to the W's under her list of key words to WND or World Net Daily.com and click on it and it will take you to all her articles there. The article there is titled: Take Away Religion and You Won't Have Enough Police. It is about a conversation another had with a Chinese Marxist economist and his ideas on how democracy works... very interesting thought. He was visiting America but the thought is universal. Thank you for keeping me thinking... Sarah
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, Sarah, and thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite finnish bloggers has written rather similar set about religion. How even if people do not believe on God, they should realize that religion has HUGE "instrumental value" in society. Religion sets our morals. If we do not have christian morals, we create an "value vacuum", and vacuum will always want to fill itself. If we do not have strong christian values, we will soon enough notice that whe have been forced to adopt strong islamic values.
ReplyDeleteI am not that religious myself, but in my opinion the only way western society can survive is to have strong christian values and christian culture. Our society developed as long as people where more or less religious. Nowadays we have "moral relativism" and look at the state of our society! (at least here in Finland, maybe your situation is not that desperate. But degenarition is too weak word for us finns nowadays.)
Of course some people are strong and intelligent enough to be moral without religion. But most people are rather stupid, and they just need a guiding hand, no matter what progressives say. Why can't they believe that maybe our ancestors got something right? They did build this affluent society, so they must have done quite a few things right...
Sorry about this rant...
"Of course some people are strong and intelligent enough to be moral without religion. But most people are rather stupid, and they just need a guiding hand, no matter what progressives say. "
ReplyDeleteThere is some profound wisdom in these words. There is a verse in the Scriptures about the law existing for the lawless, i.e. for those who lack self-control and moral compass to guide themselves, such people need external enforcement of the rules of moral behaviour.
Class roughly corresponds to IQ and it has been known for quite some time that low IQ people lack impulse control, future time orientation etc. Lower classes are the most affected by the disappearance of the Christian moral code. They also tend to watch more TV and are easily brainwashed by its perverted message since they lack critical thinking skills.
Where I live, e.g., marriage is for the religious and for middle class and higher, while lower class women often shack up, acquire several illegitimate children and live in abject poverty on the ever diminishing government check or clean the toilets for the minimum wage. How is this an improvement from the 1950s, I don't understand.
Feminism has done very little for lower class women, besides liberating them from morals (and from any chance for a good marriage) and persuading them that minimum wage menial jobs constitute a glorious career and are much preferable to homemaking.
Wise words, Sanne. It all comes back to the idea that "all people are equal", so we should pretend that everybody's equally intelligent and capable...
ReplyDeleteExactly, equality is a new European religion.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed also all the comments on this post. It is sad isn't it to see all this going on around us... I wish I could 'wake them up' to see how life can be so much better and things would change back in some ways to when we had laws that were obeyed and moral laws that were upheld. Events morality depended on others maintaining it and knowing you better too. How did so much of that all cave in around us? Every generation has done things they are ashamed for but I do not even see people feeling shame for their actions anymore. We who remember are just fuddy duddies to them and they think us odd. Many claim the times we lived and saw things better never ever existed in the world. Just in our minds. Feminism was around by the 20s but boy did it grow later! It grew and its tentacles have spread into so many places in society.
ReplyDeleteWhen did we get to be so argumentative? To not let the other even state their cause? When did it get to be only one side? I am just very disheartened tonight and feeling sad ..so sad over how our world has fallen so much... And now I hear others laugh and say Christians are the bad guys... they laugh at us...if I am sad what must God be? Sarah
Sarah, I think what passes for liberalism nowadays appeals to many people since it removes the standards to which you once were supposed to adhere. If anyone of your family did something dishonourable, you were supposed to feel ashamed, but not any more, since anything goes.
ReplyDeleteFor me, religion is not important as a method or set of rules made to prevent social degeneration. In my conception most religions are a kind of rules accepted by a community, but not every religion is able to build a true relationship with God. If being religious is meant to prevent me from becoming a criminal or dangerous person I don't need any religion for that, I have laws or lay education for that. I need religion to find out who is God, what does He want from me and how can I live in communion with Him. The social benefits of any religion are just a small part in an ocean.If the real motivation of my religious believes is only keeping good morals in a healthy society, this is not enough for me. Keeping this life in a balance and prosperity is good, but I need more. It is important for me to enter a personal and complete relationship with God, morals are just an envelope that keep the essential part of religion inside. A tree has many leaves but leaves are not enough to bear fruit, morals and social benefits are leaves that are a good sign of health but they must lead to something more important afterwards. And religion has no sense if I cannot find out how can I feel God in it. This is essence for me. But if other people choose to be religious for other reasons, it's their choice, I don't mind. If all religions are good some way or another, then God doesn't exist and religion remains a good and healthy tradition with social value, thought and adapted by man according to the political correctness of that society. This conception about religion has lead to the idea that religion is outdated. And here we go with the very beginning, religion is not outdated, religion is outdated if it is something made by man without God being present and alive in it.
ReplyDeleteAlexandra, you are right, but you are talking about your own personal experience and about the relationship between religion (faith in God) and an individual, while the context of the post above was the relationship between religion and society, which is a different thing. The social benefits of religion won't contribute to individual salvation, but they certainly contribute to healthy society. Also, while talked about religion in general, I meant Christianity in particular.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I am more and more at odds with the world's move away from Judeo/Christian values. One need only walk down a local high street, ride public transportation, or turn on one of the many "reality" programmes on telly, to see we are on a downward spiral from which only God knows we will recover.
ReplyDeleteIt is apalling to hear the language coming from young and old alike, as they talk to one another or into their mobile, whilst showing complete disregard for anyone who has the misfortune to be nearby. This includes their own children.
With the removal of religion, there is the absence of any personal responsibility for one's self or others, because it is then "all about me".
We low live in a world that has changed exponentially over a relatively short period of time. It is populated by the "don't judge me" generation. Nothing appears to be off limits, apart from talking about Jesus Christ.
You are however, strongly encouraged/admired to share your tattoos, the photos of the last drunken night out attended, and of course the most intimate details of your personal life.
Yes, isn't all this equality/ diversity/ freedom from religion terrific? I feel an aching sorrow for a world that has turned its back against God.
Liberals are busy right now removing fences which kept the darker part of humanity away from normal people. The result may be not quite what they expect it to be.
ReplyDeleteTattoos over here are a strong class marker generally (there are some exceptions, though). Don't see many of them on sons and daughters of the UMC.
It is refreshing to come here and have others understand how I see such upside down changes in what was standard decent behavior before. Now we are the wrong ones and backwards so they think that is. It feels like you are invisible or thought totally stupid as if your remembrances of what 'used to be' never were. They put their fingers in their ears or rather their devices ear plugs in their ears and roll their eyes. Overtime I think I have seen or heard it all,...I haven't. :(( The attitude of many can bring you to tears...Oh Lord they know not what they do... please open their eyes and minds... Little by little all is changing and not for the good. I am thankful there are still people around that care and try to do the right thing... Sarah
ReplyDeleteSarah, don't worry, such people will always be around. And even if you think you are the last one...you should still try and do the right thing.
ReplyDelete