Social media reveals the power of the West's new religion
The
West has retreated from the Judeo-Christian tradition. Atheists and Marxists
demonize that tradition. Their new worldview is not an absence of religion;
humans cannot live without religion. All humans believe in dogma; practice
rituals; quote scripture; embrace a tribe; elevate teachers, healers, and
saviors; model themselves after saints; interpret patterns from apparent chaos;
and insist on a larger meaning.
A
new religion practiced by many in the West is distinguished by several
features. Genesis and Talmudic commentary insist that we are all equally made
in the image of God; and we all equally descend, literally or spiritually, from
the first couple, Adam and Eve. That is, the Judeo-Christian God did not create
better or worse versions of humanity. In Christianity, all humans are flawed
because all humans have free will and use that free will to choose away from
God. Thus, we are all responsible for the problem of evil. All humans are in
need of the salvation offered by Jesus. All humans benefit from humble
self-reflection, confession, and repentance. Through God's grace, we are all
capable of manifesting God's love in a broken world, no matter how low we have
fallen.
In
the West's new religion, equality is rejected. Some are good and some are bad
based on their ethnicity, sex, or skin color. Guilt, shame, and the problem of
evil are assigned to the West. Beneficence is found as far from the West as
possible. Non-whites are better than whites. Jews are better than Christians
and Muslims are better than both. Human value is relative and depends on
context. A black Christian is of greater value than a white Christian and of less
value than a white Muslim. Islam is prioritized because it is recognized as a
greater threat to the West.
Those
influenced by this new faith view moral questions through the lens of
relativism. Relativism is applied selectively. Relativism is used, for example
through whataboutism, to excuse atrocities committed by Muslims. "Sure,
the Muslim Conquest of India is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of
eighty million people, but what about the Europeans killing Native Americans?"
Leftist relativism, which appears to be a flexible system that encourages
open-minded tolerance of human failing, is in fact rigidly intolerant. Leftist
Atheists never use relativism to relativize the West's failings. Followers of
the Church of the Anti-West never say, "Sure, the arrival of Europeans in
the Americas resulted in the deaths of Native Americans, but what about the
Muslim Conquest of India that is estimated to have killed eighty million people?"
Atrocities
committed by non-whites are often attributed to whites. The Rwandan genocide is
all the fault of the white man. "The Rwandan Genocide must first be seen
as the product of Belgian colonialism," insists the University of
Minnesota's Center
for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. In contrast, the same institution's
page devoted to the Armenian Genocide never mentions the word
"Muslim" and mentions "Islam" only once – as a great
monotheistic religion, but not as a factor in the genocide of Christian
Armenians, as well as Christian Greeks and Assyrians, by Turkish Muslims.
The
Hindu caste system, one of the worst human rights abuses in history, is rooted
in the myth of Purusha in the Rig Veda, composed over three thousand years ago.
Anti-Western voices, though, blame the Hindu caste system on British
colonialism. Again, the reverse process never takes place. No one points out
that, for example, whites in North America committed atrocities against Native
Americans after the whites' loved ones were kidnapped, killed, or tortured by
Native Americans. Similarly, if you mention antisemitism, you must pair it with
"Islamophobia." You can, though, mention Islamophobia without
mentioning antisemitism.
The
Church of the Anti-West renders judgment taboo. One must not judge –
non-Westerners. Cannibalism, clitoridectomy, tribal warfare, child marriage,
honor killing, and, perhaps most ironic of all, unquestioning adherence to
irrational dogma, are all excused with "don't judge," and, of course,
with relativism. I've been told numerous times that clitoridectomy is
comparable to the Catholic confirmation ceremony.
The
Judeo-Christian tradition addresses the problem of evil with the process of
confession, repentance, and reintegration. The Old Testament king David sinned
grievously, murdering Uriah to gain sexual access to Uriah's wife, Bathsheba.
God sent the prophet Nathan to confront David. David confessed, was punished,
repented, and was reintegrated. The new religion rejects confession,
repentance, and reintegration for whites and for the West. Muslim terrorists
can be received back into society. White men must always remain outside the
circle of community.
I had three encounters recently on social media that demonstrated these features of the West's new religion. I title these encounters "The Keffiyeh and the Rainbow," "George Takei and Japanese Internment," and "Candace Owens and Catholicism."
