H/T Rod Dreher
Writing in The Economist, Will Wilkerson is correct to place “The Caitlyn Jenner Moment” as a stepping stone in the conquest of Christianity by Americanism:
“The tolerant Jesus of Mr Cobia and Ms Jenner may not be the Jesus of Thomas Aquinas or Martin Luther or John Knox or John Wesley. He is a Jesus perhaps more thoroughly invested in the “autonomous eroticised individualism” of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman than any first-century reinterpretation of the Judaic law. But that is the American and still-Americanising Jesus of many millions of believers who, like Caitlyn Jenner, attend non-denominational evangelical churches, and who, like Caitlyn Jenner, vote Republican.
This is why going after Ms Jenner is ultimately a loser for Republican presidential wannabes. Caitlyn Jenner of Malibu is a leading indicator not of the secularisation of America, but of the ongoing Americanisation of Christianity. There’s no point dying in the last ditch to defend Old World dogma against the transformative advance of America’s native faith. Especially not if it will leave you out of step with the growing number of voters who find divinity by spelunking the self. ..”
It took me years to realize that what I was rebelling against wasn’t Christianity. Instead, it was Americanism, which has been swallowing and ingesting Christianity like a Burmese python for around two centuries now, gradually transforming it piece by piece into Moral Therapeutic Deism. It was only through studying European history that I realized that Christianity and Americanism are not the same thing.
What is Moral Therapeutic Deism?
1. A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.
That fellow Jesus … he’s such a nice guy, a social worker in the sky, who just wants us to find our True Selves without being mean to anyone. That’s the repulsive American concept of religion.
Note: In somewhat related news, I’ve stumbled across an old John Crowe Ransom book called God Without Thunder: An Unorthodox Defense of Orthodoxy which addresses some of these issues.
Excellent. Thank you!
If Americanism is swallowing up Christianity, then the United Church of Christ is at the tip of the spear.
@Griffin…
‘Moral Therapeutic Deism’
The principles you listed, in relation to the afore- listed, were perfectly apropos. I, however, would only modify this by saying that Christianity is not so much being hijackt by Americanism, as it has been co-opted by leftism, and, as leftism has become ever more the core of American perspective, – it has become dominated by ‘Americanism’.
@Griffin…
‘It took me years to realize that what I was rebelling against wasn’t Christianity. Instead, it was Americanism, which has been swallowing and ingesting Christianity like a Burmese python for around two centuries now.’
That, Sir, is a confession worthy of Rousseau. Lamentably, it is one which I all too well understand; for I went through the struggle like you, only it took me much longer to get through to the other side. The last part of the journey to clarity was greatly aided by you and others at Mr. Cushman’s former site, SNN, and I thank y’all for that.
Yeah, sure, the pushback against Christianity is nothing more than “Americanism” trying to exploit, manipulate and pervert the delicate sensibilities and blind faith that defines Christianity.
This reminds me of that false beast religious system Evangelicals speak of which brings the anti-Christ to power. Perhaps this Anti-Christ the Evangelicals speculate about will not be European like they think, but Jewish. Why else would he want to be proclaimed as the Jewish messiah in a rebuilt temple?
And then there is the head of the beast that was wounded unto death but revives more powerful than ever in the end times scenario. Could this deadly wound have been dealt by Germany in WWII and is there any doubt that it (As in a system not a person like the Evangelicals believe) has revived stronger than ever? Of course, this is an idea that Judeo-Christians will hate because if that is what the beast is then they already worship him and are not the brave tribulation saints they believe themselves to be. Who are about to be raptured off. Just offering food for thought!
As regards Americanism it is a toxic and corrosive culture which exports miscegenation and homosexuality advocacy to the far corners of the world.(Just watch prime TV sometimes) Its elections resemble people on the deck of the Titanic in a fistfight over who gets to sit in the deck chairs as the iceberg slowly approaches from out of the midst. Whoever wins the ship is going down!
Its foreign policy is like unto a drunken redneck who goes from bar to bar picking out who he can beat up, which is usually the least powerful one in the bar. It it any wonder other nations hate to see us coming? There is always some as*hole he thinks needs to have the h*ll beat out of him but in reality he is the chief of as*holes! He leaves nothing but chaos. Think Libya!
Hunter, there is a reason I continue to follow your sight and that it is my number one, first resource for interpretation of current events. You nailed it yet again! It all falls into place for me now. I never put two and two together. Thanks! If there is any truth in the Good Book it is this: That America IS the Great Whore of Babylon.
A succinct and correct observation. Not patting myself on the back here, mind you, I have been arguing for better than two decades that “Western Christianity” does nothing but serve a “False God”, a little “g” god of their own making. Their god is not the God of the Bible, but, rather, it is a god to fit their own image and likeness rather than the other way around.
“He” has rules and they have none.
Re: Celestial Time
As for our long running disagreement about Christianity, I will note here that I used to be an atheist myself, so I am familiar with the mindset. Years ago, I found the “atheist community” to be far more disagreeable than the Christians around here. Among atheists, there is a significant overlap with Jews and homosexuals, who seem to end up there for lifestyle reasons or because they resent Christianity for historical reasons.
If you look at the worst, most anti-White Jews and White liberals, you will usually find that atheism/agnosticism combined with a secular humanist worldview is a common denominator. In fact, atheists are one of the only groups in the US that are to the left of the Jews. If memory serves, only blacks and homosexuals are more reliably leftwing than atheists/agnostics.
Christians believe in their own religious tradition. Atheists are united only by their shared unbelief. It is the philosophical equivalent of a void. That’s probably why atheists are so taken by fads of American popular culture like gay marriage. They are unmoored from any other competing set of values.
If you believe that atheism is better than Christianity, look no further than Britain where Christianity is nearly extinct. It has only made matters worse. At least Christians are reproducing themselves whereas atheists, whether in the US or Europe, seem to be effectively sterile.
Atheism that fills the void inside of your average Marxist mind is not the same as atheism used to position oneself against religious zealotry and blind faith. I’ve told people for years that I am an atheist, but also might be more accurately described as a Deist. Dolts and dingbats who truly believe their own BS just can’t comprehend how someone not sharing their brand of religious psychosis can simultaneously believe in a natural order created by some kind of higher power. The difference between myself and your average Christian is that I’m not so arrogant and self-absorbed that I believe I am capable of comprehending an omnipotent event/entity so far beyond my mental capacity that I could live a million lifetimes and still never come close to duplicating its level of Perfection. I don’t lie to myself or anyone else about what I know to be true. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is just as real as any kind of superstitious nonsense coming from the Abrahamic religions. Frankly, the idea of Zeus or Odin coming to kick my ass is just as laughable as some Jewy God of the Bible taking vengeance for my blasphemy. I outgrew that kind of nonsense when I was about eight or nine years old.
Whenever you speak of atheism, you seem to be convinced that anything pushing back against the rigid indoctrination of Christianity is some kind of monolithic entity that includes everything you purport Christians to be against. I’ve had more kids than you, Hunter. I’ve been married for longer than you. I’ve been racially aware for much longer than you. I’m probably much more empathetic and willing to physically help my fellow pro-Whites. Never murdered anyone. I don’t do drugs. I rarely drink. I abhor thievery and liars. I’ve never even cheated on any kind of test. So please tell me what exactly it is that Christianity is supposed to do for me that I can’t already do for myself or find out on my own?
Would these be some of the same traditions that were borrowed from pre-Christian traditions and religions?
Then you shouldn’t have much to worry about, right?
Re: Celestial Time
1.) Some of those traditions, yes. The Ancient and Medieval worlds were very religious.
2.) There is plenty of cause for concern. The problem is so bad in Europe that there is a real possibility that some European nations will grow old, die out, and be replaced by African and Asian immigrants. See countries like Britain, Spain, and Italy.
3.) That’s great to hear, but we are not talking about your own personal accomplishments. As a group, atheists/agnostics are effectively sterile because their birthrate is below the replacement level. For some reason, they don’t seem to believe in the future.
4.) If only material things exist, why not follow that metaphysical argument to its logical conclusion that only individuals exist?
5.) How many WN atheists do we net for every extreme leftwing atheist that is created by unbelief? This is a losing proposition for us. All that atheism does is take Jews and Christians and spoil them and make them significantly worse than they were before.
6.) When I look at Britain or the old Soviet Union, I don’t see the triumph of atheism/agnosticism as a good thing.