I’m going to riff off of Rodin’s People Don’t Count post about the twistedness of leftwing ideology and an article written by Bishop Robert Barron on How to Live a Meaningful Life. My post’s title comes from the Zoom meeting between Bishop Barron, Jordan Peterson, John Vervaeke, and Jonathan Pageau where Peterson asked the men to give their “definition of meaning and, more specifically, of religious meaning.”

Now, I’m neither a bishop, a psychologist, nor an iconographer, but having been a self-assured secular leftie and coming late to the religion game (although born a cradle Catholic, I didn’t really start “practicing” until I was in my 40s), I might have an insight or two on what ails our increasingly godless society. Although I’m in agreement with the four men in a Zoom bar, I think what they haven’t said (in Barron’s article anyway) is that leftism is a religion and is the meaning all humans seek — for leftists. Here’s my comment from Rodin’s post:

Leftism is religion for the godless. When there’s no external measure for goodness, the natural inclination is to self-deify. “I’m a good person, therefore whatever I believe to be good must be good” (Pope Benedict XVI called this the tyranny of moral relativism). Which is also why they’re so intolerant of anyone with a different opinion (especially those who make religious claims to goodness and truth). A different opinion or truth-claim is a rebuke to their “divine” judgment. And also why they’re unable to admit error or to repent of past failures.

Leftism is a psycho-spiritual disorder.

The problem with leftism is, lacking a relationship with the summum bonum, as Bishop Barron articulates it, not that leftists lack any meaning in their lives — it’s that they’re looking for meaning in all the wrong places — especially within their self-regard for the real divine spark within them. God revealed that you’re made in the image and likeness of God — not you are “as gods.” That was Satan’s line in the Garden.

Leftism is arbitrary and capricious because it settles for lesser goods, rather than seeking the Highest Good. It’s an ideology made up of demigods who are prone to disagreement over what is true and good at a given moment in history. Are you on the “right side of history?” Give it a minute. You’ll probably have to adjust your position.

You might have noticed that the goalposts keep shifting in leftism. First it was the sexual revolution and the acceptance of widespread fornication, then the normalization of homosexuality, then the lie of “same-sex marriage,” and now the pernicious lie of transgenderism. I just had LMA in for her first OB/GYN appointment and the intake form actually asked “what sex do you identify as?” and “what was your sex assigned at birth?” At an OB/GYN office full of pregnant women in the waiting room!!! If leftism isn’t insanity, it’s demonic. Those are the only two choices I see.

I’ve often thought religious people miss out on evangelization by neglecting to note that anyone who loves the good (the true and the beautiful) loves God. Simple. Now you just have figure out what the good is — or Who the Good Is — rather than trusting in yourself. That was the first step in my faith journey — self-doubt. I believe a good question to ask any leftist is, “have you ever been wrong about anything?” They’re unlikely to answer correctly on the first try, but you’ll plant a seed.