A New Theory of Secularization

Certainly a thoughtful article/premise. However I'm not convinced that people turning away from the church is the cause of the current lack of ethical fibre in public life, social policy and governance. I maintain the church abandoned the people when they got in bed with government to keep their tax free status and started preaching government social/political agendas - the United Church is a good example of the politicization/state control of the church. People left that church because of this (among other general council policies being forced on them) but did not abandon their Christian faith/morality - Catholic's as well have abandoned their church for various church misdeeds, but not their faith, same for Jews who have abandoned the orthodoxy but not belief in God or moral/ethical living.

I feel that the factor most effecting the lowering of ethical/moral standards in public life is the teaching of radical secularism and particularly post-modern relativism in the ideological messaging the public education systems promote. College as well has become a teacher of political and ideological philosophies which promote situational ethics and relativist amoralism - these are part and parcel of the transnational progressivist doctrine (AKA technocratic statism). We now have a generation of politicians and social engineering elites schooled in such a manner - they have known no alternative world view, no other absolutist or empathic moralism. They are instruments of a cold, calculating, intolerant and perfidious amoral social dogmatism.

Their (the self-proclaimed governing/political class) ethics and morals do not necessarily reflect ours - they perceive the movement away from the church to be a victory for their state-sponsored proselytizing of the secular statist political amorality when, in fact, polls show year after year, the majority still identify themselves as "Christian" although there is dwindling church attendance. Now there is a new generation of immigrant Canadians/Americans who are highly religious. Their absolutist morality must be diffused to meet the needs of the collectivist secular state (which does not want a citizen's loyalty divided between God/faith and the state) - you can see why secular progressives cater to this demographic with state welfare and special state entitlements – that is an attempt to cloud their moral judgement of a secular, largely amoral state and it’s inherent malfeasant corruption, with state handouts. Most immigrants are from corrupt oppressive nations so this state promoting corrupting of their theological ethics by the aggressive secular state is largely successful.

This can be seen in the way the current ethically compromised US federal regime is attempting to solidify support from the illegal immigrant demographic (who are largely orthodox Catholic) through state dependency - hoping of course their need for government intervention outstrips their moral outrage at the malfeasance and crimes of big government.

I agree with Occam. The West has not lost God. (-Lost- God? Please. Ran away screaming maybe.) We've been abandoned by the established churches (because they're run by PUSSIES) and under constant assault by an international propaganda campaign from the Left. I mean, just look at the way the Catholic Church behaved in Quebec. Ew.

Which doesn't really change anything.

You know what I notice? I notice pretty much everybody I ran into for a whole week was talking about and actively trying to find Tim Bosma. We couldn't save him, but his family will be looked after. That's Christianity the way its done in Ontario. With hair and teeth on it.

Typical situation. Good people, corrupt leaders. Scum rises.

Maybe it is simply that the concept of a god personally concerned with each individual as portrayed in the Abrahamic religions is just to ludicrous to swallow in modern times. Just how goofy does it get before people say, "I'm outa here"!

Teaching the people about Kingdom values and becoming sons and daughters in that Kingdom, just like Jesus did, has been replaced by getting "saved" and waiting for Jesus' return to get us outta' here!

From the short read, Eberstadt has missed this very point. Blaming the symptoms instead of the disease! More of the same, but different.

The wondrous stories in the Lavant's traditions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) pale next to the modern wonders. Christianity mostly learned its lessons from the Catholic Church's treatment of Galileo, but only part way. (Hint: Anyone worried that the bird-flu will mutate to be easily communicable - person to person - has to give at least some credence to evolution. Unless God is busy cooking up new versions of the flu every year.)

Then, when the people running the religions spew what a lot of people think of as hate. (Look at the support given the African churches -by the West- in their campaigns to kill the queers.)

You can believe in one book, it is probably easier when there is only one book in your entire culture (Europe, 600 years ago.) But it gets harder to believe in that one book when you read all of the other books (or some of them anyway) and see that what they believe in - aside from the supernatural aspects - isn't all that different.

For example - Buddhism: Refrain from taking that which is not given. Refrain from killing. etc.

When you read those texts you have to ask, "Why would I believe in one of these religions and not another?" Because your parents believed that way? (Sounds the all the arguments against anything new, the from abolition of slavery to integration, to gays serving the military, etc.)