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Quote of the Day: It’s Not Just About Politics
The article in the New York Times, like its companion piece in the Washington Post, is one long dog whistle. Its warning is not about Judge Barrett herself, who will fold into the life of the Supreme Court, but the possibility that others who share or are attracted to her active religiosity might be rising out there in the country to pose a threat to the secular dominance of America’s cultural mores that began some 60 years ago.
The new counter-belief system back then argued that shared community values grounded in religious belief—or virtue of the sort evident in the Barrett family—imposes unnecessary constraints on personal or private behavior.
Why this tension should have divided eventually into liberal versus conservative isn’t immediately obvious. There still are many liberal traditionalists. But it did. So now the possible appearance of a “conservative Christianity” needs to be delegitimized, or canceled, before it spreads. Perhaps it is a sign of the dominant culture’s lack of confidence in the durability of its own value system that its main tool of opposition isn’t argument but suppression and condescension. — Daniel Henninger
This observation by Daniel Henninger grabbed my attention: that the tension between secularity and religion seemed to have divided into the positions of the Left and Right. I agree with him, but I believe the reasons are clear. I believe that the dogma of the Left has rejected most of what the Right stands for: the importance of values, belief in G-d, the sacred, community, responsibility, compassion, and kindness—in other words, everything that religion represents. Of course, the Left has created a religion of its own, one that distorts religious values and creates division, hatred, and violence.
Unless and until we can bring the beauty, benefits, and meaning of religion back into the mainstream, the Left will continue to desecrate its purpose.
Do you see any signs of a restoration of religion in our times?
Published in Group Writing
There are some signs, but you’ll never read about these in the NY Times (except to mock them):
https://breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display_art.html?ID=24152
Most wildfires start small but build up strength as they keep burning. Maybe this will give you some hope:
https://www.sharefaith.com/blog/2016/06/5-great-american-revivals/
I have zero idea what form a revival in the Jewish community would look like, or if they even have them. That’s your ballywick!
They’ll continue to try.
Conclusive. No, nor do I expect to perceive it even if it is happening. I’m a little slow on things like that.
I have been amazed Susan that the pandemic has not (as far as I can tell) made more people think about faith, the Last Things, etc. I am truly worried that we have passed some point in the religious/secular balance that means we will never be a country of faith again. It’s too easy to live comfortably without faith in the modern US and West. I will continue to have faith in G-d’s divine plan but I’m scared for my fellow citizens – especially those with (seemingly) no faith or belief.
I have heard stories of secular Jews returning to the synagogue but not necessarily to orthodox Jewish communities. That applies to here and Israel. I know there are books out there exploring this issue, but I honestly don’t know. Obviously this Jew has returned! If anyone has data on Judaism, I’d welcome it.
It’s a concern for me, too, @colleenb. I want to believe it’s not too late, but I just don’t know. An interesting question is, will increased anti-Semitism have the effect on secular Jews to come together as Jews, or deny their faith?
Henninger did point out that some on the Left still practice religion, but I expect they have distorted its meaning to fit their agenda. They may not even be conscious of that decision, but how else could they live with the cognitive dissonance?
This is nothing new. French Revolution. Russian Revolution. Etc. They say they are against religion by preaching their own religion.
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Or, if you’re looking to write something a bit more creative, you might try our Group Writing Project this month: It was a dark and stormy night…
All the guilt and shame, none of the redemption and understanding.
My church has returned to having a Sunday night prayer meeting. Not a lot of people attend, but as many as attended the beginnings of earlier revivals in their beginning stages. A woman who has never been there before stopped in to ask for prayer for healing. A community food distribution outreach had exactly enough to give to each family that came. Coincidence? It seems that we see a lot more coincidences when we pray. As the old chorus goes:
“You can talk about me just as much as you please, I’ll talk about you while I’m on my knees…”
That’s wonderful, @joelb. I’m not part of a community, and was on the verge of contacting a small group in Orlando to learn about them when the virus hit. I wasn’t discouraged; I think the timing was off, so I’m waiting for things to quiet down and I will try again. I’m very blessed to have two Torah study partners; wonderful things emerge when we work together. I’m so glad that your members have another opportunity to pray together. Prayers for more blessings!
The few secular Jews I know in passing seem to either be unaware or deny there is increased anti-Semitism unless its Trump! and Evangelicals! causing it. I hope and pray they will turn to G-d but they truly believe that secularism will keep them safe and that yucky religious stuff is what puts them in danger.
They are so in denial. We only need to look at Ilhan Omar and her group–has Trump made them anti-Semitic
I don’t know. You did have people praising Jesus on SNL over the weekend. I’m not saying Chance the Rapper and Justin Bieber are the next George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards (cause they are not), but if you want a change a culture that is hostile to your faith, you have to engage that culture.
Yes and no. As I noted, the book Strange Rites amply explores that “religion” as a concept is still alive and well, but it’s in a form both very new (commercialized) and very old (pagan). Marxism / Wokeism is definitely a cultic religious practice, and needs to be faced as such (including the recognition that it is actually quite demonic), but it’s hardly the only one, as anyone who has run into a vegan crossfitter can tell you first hand. That’s the “Yes” part, and it is hardly encouraging – the new religion is the consumerist individualist who believes that nobody else can tell them what to believe or practice (except for all those who do tell them what to believe and practice). The new religion is Worship of the Divine Autonomous Self.
The “No” part is even more depressing. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, all are facing the same problem: so long as people can only conceive of “religion” as a set of buildings, restrictive rules, and empty rituals followed by hypocrites for the purposes of exerting power over others, or as just another self-actualizing identity group to group to join, one fighting among many others with more compelling promises for the future and easier to superficially explain backstories, well, they will lose the marketing war with self worship and the pursuit of materialism. “Religion” just becomes another exclusive club (one with some pretty buildings, but also hidebound oppressive rules) whose only purpose is exclusion.
We know, however, that this puts the cart before the horse, and we practice what we practice and teach what we teach because of the transcendent, not the other way round. But you have to be able to reach people and show that their self worship and materialism are spiritual dead ends (that they are material dead ends is obvious – death itself is inevitable). This requires long hard work, and it requires patience, and it requires suffering.
So true, @skipsul. The problem is that they don’t have those attributes to go through all that, even if we do. It’s more fun to play at religion than to dive in and explore the mystery and the Divine. It’s very sad.
This is just a personal observation, but the continued lockdowns paired with no in-person school has sparked a renewed interest in religious private schools. One of my brothers pulled his daughters out of public school and enrolled them in in-person Christian private school. My other brother’s kids are still in public school, going to actual in-person classes only two times per week. He now wishes he would’ve put his kids in the same private school. So a glimmer of hope, if it does exist.
They can be taught, but we have to be there to witness, and help them when they hit the dead end.
That has certainly been true for me over the last few years. Many on Ricochet have helped me along.
We’ve had our kids in private Christian school from the beginning. I’ve never regretted that, even when it meant a lot of belt tightening.
Well said Skipsul. Did you by any chance listen to the interview on the Tikvah podcast of the young lady (I think she’s an Evangelical) about he book on the new religions such as Soul Cycle, etc. These new faiths/religions/whatevers are very demanding (have to get up early for your class, work hard, etc) but have completely self-centered. Which is so weird for people claiming to care for their fellow man.
Duh (on my part) Skipsul. I think you were referring to Strange Rites which I think is the book.
I didn’t hear Tara on that podcast, but I did listen to interviews with her on other podcasts. Her history is rather fascinating – she was one of the pagan Nones, and talks about that in her book. She was looking for some sign that the world was more enchanted and more meaningful, and so chased down a variety of avenues, including dabbling in magic. All this was as she was formally studying religion (she has a doctorate on the subject now). She is now a Catholic, and wrote of that here:
https://catapult.co/stories/i-spent-years-searching-for-magici-found-god-instead-tara-isabella-burton
Thanks Skipsul. I will read this. It sounds like just the antidote to what we are posting about here. But yes it will be one person at a time.
Just be wary of the other articles on that site. They’re utterly emblematic of what ails society – worship of the self, and whinging narcissism about how oppressive society is. It’s all the quest for the authentic self, while struggling against whiteness / straightness / patriarchy / reality.
I think this is an excellent point; I hadn’t thought about it clearly, but when you see the way people are reacting to ‘fear porn’ with the virus what you are seeing are people who fear dying because this life is all they can imagine.
As faith is drained out of society, I cannot imagine any other destination than nihilism. At that point, there is no purpose to any action and things just collapse. If history is a guide, this is when some foreign power takes over.
I’m old enough I don’t expect to see this, but I look at my grandchildren and mourn.
Susan,
It is called the Baal Shuva movement. Baal Shuva just means return, specifically return to Gd. It has been very prevalent in Judaism in the last 30 years. In fact, while more mainstream Judaism gets weaker and weaker the Baal Shuva movement often associated with Chabad gets stronger and stronger. Originally, the mainstream Jews were resistant to Chabad. Now they are desperately copying Chabad’s methodology and ideas.
Nothing succeeds like success.
Regards,
Jim
Thanks, Jim! I’ve heard of the movement but wasn’t clear on how well they were doing. Chabad has a wonderful, welcoming approach to Jews–my Torah study partner in Israel is a Chabadnik. They are dedicated to helping all who need their help, including non-Jews.
Suzy,
You have it exactly. Trick question: What has more franchises around the world than McDonald’s? Chabad!!!
Regards,
Jim
Excuse my goy ignorance, but is Lubavitch Chabad part of that? A rabbi for Lubavitch Chabad had the suite next to one of my offices in the Loop. The rabbi was a nice guy. He had his daughters with him some days. Two sweet little girls. I just checked the building registry and it looks like they still hold the office.
Perci,
Bingo. You’ve got it. Lubavitch refers to the small town in Russia that over 200 years ago the original founder Rabbi Schneur Zalman moved his new movement. Chabad actually is an acronym for three Jewish mystical concepts. I wrote a post about it once.
Regards,
Jim