Anti-Christian Inclinations in
Western Nations
The title of this essay is not “Christians Living in Secular
Nations.” There is a reason. The tide of secularism and its progressive flow
has subverted any remnant of religious tolerance among western nations and their populations. A
transformation of America’s normal sense of tolerance and its loss of some freedoms has indeed occurred since 2009. The source
of America’s freedom is being seriously tested, if not totally ignored or
reinterpreted, within the past few years by leftward-leaning activists and the
political elite.
Politics
America’s political progressives, and progressives in other
western nations, see Christianity in particular as a threat to their idea of freedom. Any traditional
standard for freedom or any tradition at all for that matter, is the polar
opposite of progressivism. The inherent nature of political progressivism, however, is destruction
and replacement.
In order for progressivism to “progress” it must have an
object (meaning a system, policy, or tradition) to tear down. That object of
destruction in western societies is traditional Christianity in general, and the visible Church, in
particular. Why beat down Christianity?
It was Christianity which over two millennia held strong
beliefs regarding human life and marriage, among many other virtues. It was
Christianity and its church that built western civilization, promoted science,
supported the arts, international and western law, and established the
foundation of western morality. Progressivism possesses oblique views about
traditional morality.
In the years following the end of World War II many
followers of Christianity began to turn from their religious commitments in
favor of the good life that secularism promoted. Church-going gradually became
a Sunday social event instead of a time of communal praise of the Creator. Decline
in church attendance began.
Religion to the secularists means restraint, and restraint
means no freedom. So, the traditional Christian belief system holding the
fabric of western society has to be ripped. There is also the belief that
secularism can replace God. Certainly not articulated in
the manner previously recited, the state properly structured, could supply
all that humankind would ever need.
Taken to its inevitable end, progressive liberalism must, through
its ideological process, pursue its own destruction necessarily evolving into
socialism, which when taken to its end, launches into totalitarianism. This
succession of government structures is a series of logical destinies. If progressive government firmly takes hold in America it would eventually resemble the old Soviet Union.
When the twenty-first century arrived the decades of decline
in church attendance was matched by a rise in the number of “secular
progressive leaders” in key church positions – both lay and clergy, Protestant
and Roman Catholic. Progressive thinking was taking hold not only in state but
in church.
See of Canterbury and its Provinces
Between
January 11 and January 15, 2016, the Anglican Communion’s highest ranking clerical
officers – called Primates – of independent Anglican provinces from around the
world, gathered in Canterbury, England to discuss and debate the problems
within its worldwide church. The number #1 consensus problem was The Episcopal Church
and its authorization of same-sex marriage. Other blogs and news outlets cover
the details of that event, so we will not go into those here. What does a
five-day gathering of Anglican Church archbishops have to do with politics,
government, social change, and traditional Christian belief? Everything! Belief
is pivotal.
The Anglican primates/archbishops
confirmed that marriage is between one man and one woman. Why would they need
to re-state such an obvious Christian tenet? The Episcopal Church in the United
States at its triennial convention in 2015 voted to approve same-sex marriages
in its canons and liturgical rites. That decision being contrary to biblical
revelation and teachings of the Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church was
suspended from certain communion participation for three years. This is a
perfect example of progressive ideology seeping into the mechanisms of the
church. Was that suspension important? Yes!
The action by
the Anglican Primates was surprising – for everybody. But that decision may be
the beginning of a necessary turning point or reversal away from heretical
church teaching in some of the western Anglican Provinces (national churches). We
can only wait and see how the suspension will work. Despite this particular
action in the Anglican Communion and the hope it might bring, there are actions
needed within the United States to reverse anti-Christian prerogatives from its
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government.
Churches, or
probably I should say people influential within churches, are not immune from
their national political environment. Political leftist are certainly alive and
well within the church. Those considered on the right of the political spectrum
inhabit churches also. What governments legislate or mandate have significant
effects not only on church and church-affiliated operations but on the people
within the church as well. Some church people believe that government law
trumps church tradition and beliefs. At some point the church must be
counter-cultural and challenge the government.
If a national
government mandates that marriage between two men, or a marriage between two
women, is the law of the land, is the church required to follow that law?
Ideological, Progressive, and Secular Governments
In the United
States, among economic and other negatives, the Affordable Healthcare Act enacted by Congress and the Obergfell v. Hodges decision by the
United States Supreme Court in the summer of 2015 were decisions mostly
affecting Christians and Christian organization holding traditional beliefs
about abortion and marriage.
Catholic and
other church-affiliated hospitals will be forced to perform abortions on demand
or shut down. Christian clergy who refuse to conduct same-sex marriage rites
will be jailed – that has already happened in Europe and Canada. Actions by the
American national executive and the judiciary (the liberal majority) have done
and will continue to do whatever necessary to undermine the Christian
foundations of the United States. So goes the stream of official anti-Christian
American leadership.
Europe in the 20th and 21st
Centuries
In 1992
Europe’s denial of its own Christian history was codified in the Treaty of
Maastricht. The beginning of Europe’s demise officially began with the
formation of the European Union on February 7 of that year. The same secular
ideology that the United States has been experiencing in recent years preceded
us by a few years on the European continent. It was perhaps Europe’s distaste
for war coupled with their emerging good life that led them to anti-Christian
secularism. This secularism all but destroyed Europe’s Christian heritage and
began the progress of denying its unique culture.
Joseph
Cardinal Ratzinger knew early on in his ministries what was transpiring in
Europe. He wrote extensively about the massive spread of secularism and its
consequences in Germany and the rest of Europe. When elected to the Holy See,
Ratzinger took the name Benedict XVI, a name invoking the memory and efforts of
Saint Benedict of Nursia and his monks who saved European civilization in his
day. Both the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church recognize Saint
Benedict as the patron of Europe, and with good reason. Considering the mass
immigration in the latter half of 2015 into Europe, an immigration of people of
a totally different culture, what now?
A Theory of Western (Christian) Civilization
French
philosopher Rémi Brague developed a theory of European culture
from barbarian days until now. In his book Eccentric
Culture: A Theory of Western Civilization, Brague provides a clear and
reasonable understanding of how Europe developed and how Europe was able to
absorb multiple cultures through a process Brague labels as “Romanity.”
In the
ancient world it was the Greeks, according to Brague, who were the great
creators. The Jews were the great social innovators in history. Israel was the
first great society. Rome (meaning the Roman Empire) never invented, it copied.
Rome copied Greek art and literature. But Rome allowed for creativity and
culture to live. Rome was the operating or managed conduit allowing Greek and
Jewish-Christian cultures to live if not flourish throughout the Roman Empire.
When the
Empire breathed its last the pre-Great Schism Catholic Church assumed the
likeness of its structure – this is what Brague calls Romanity, a structure
embracing multiple cultures and influences. The Roman Empire’s greatness, then,
rested in its structure and its acceptance of its secondarity. Although Rome
did not intend the spread of the Christian faith throughout the empire, its
governmental structure and laws allowed for it. The Apostle Paul used Roman law
to his advantage because he was a Roman citizen and had the right to invoke
just treatment through Roman civil law.
Secondarity
The great
output of European culture over the centuries is directly attributable to Greek
and Jewish-Christian cultural influences. If the nascent Christian Church had
not fought Marcion and his heresy (the God of the Old Testament was not the God
of the New Testament), Jewish life would never have become its heritage. But
the early Church knew its roots were that of the Israelites. If the Church had
ignored the Jews of the Old Testament then Europe probably would not have known
of it.
So it was the
“Romanity” of the Church that provided the conduit for Greek and Jewish-Christian
cultures to influence barbarian tribes. Those tribes were then converted to
Christianity. By keeping their own cultures and continuing with their own
languages the Catholic Church, similar to the old Roman Empire, allow Europe to
flourish in both unity and diversity. Europe lived recognizing itself to be result
of that when went before, but the 1992 Treaty began the official ending of
Europe’s unique culture. Liberal, progressive government paved the way for
Europe’s demise. Given the recent mass immigration of a wholly different
culture into Europe, their possible end is accelerated.
The point
made by Brague is that Europe’s acceptance of its “secondarity” allowed for
multiple cultures and multiple languages. Christianity as the framework of
Europe did not destroy Europe’s many cultures or language.
Cultures
exist, the come together naturally, they are not planned. Although Europe was
and still is to some extent multicultural and the “idea of Europe” is its own
culture. Europe’s “eccentric” culture means that the axis of Europe is centered
not in Europe. It is centered in Christianity and Greek wisdom provided first
by the old Roman Empire and then by the Church. And later in history it was the
under the Christian umbrella where European Enlightenment flourished and modern
science began its development, results of which would never occur in a
uni-culture of belief and language.
What’s Next?
Who knows?
The progressive zeitgeist hovering over the United States of America step by
step is destroying its history and traditional values. Politically and ideologically
enforced social and political transformation is killing America. Progressivism
deplores tradition. Christianity is traditional. America is now subject to
relentless anti-Christian promulgations because its government and political
elite so choose to release America from its roots. But just like Europe,
traditional America is an extended traditional Europe finding her axis of life
centered not in itself but outside.
Perhaps a Flicker of Light from
Canterbury
The Anglican
Communion is touted as the world’s third largest Christian group behind the Roman
Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches. Perhaps – just perhaps – this
simple and straight-forward decision by the Primates of the Anglican Communion
in January, 2016 will begin a turnaround, a turnaround that allows Christians
to sense the movement of Holy Spirit and thus reaffirm and to act on their
traditional, biblical, and triune faith without fear from pagan ideologies or
progressive governments. We western Christians must stand firm for our faith in
every aspect of daily living and reclaim our nations.
Spiritual Warfare
Life is a continuing battle, spiritual warfare. Progressive thought does not acknowledge the
spiritual and it verbally avoids war. But it is a forceful warrior and the battle it is what it is,
spiritual warfare. Such is the constant challenge of the living. Shall we engage
in a spirit of oppression or in a spirit of life? Does America want to live today acting according to the Spirit of the Age or according to the Spirit of Eternal ?
END
Books
The next book, The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail, is a novel first published in 1975. It is a story about mass migration, a migration of third world people onto the shores of France. This is an interesting read considering the current (2015-2016) migration of middle eastern cultural peoples into (formerly) Christian Europe.
