Beginning in the 1700s in Europe we began to see the forming of a strange and seemingly self-contradictory alliance of intellectuals and artists/writers that made-up a large part of what we now call The Enlightenment. Broadly speaking the Enlightenment was a much needed antitoxin against: religious fanaticism senseless wars and the social/political injustices of that period but as all social movements carry within them the seeds of ideological extremes so did the Enlightenment.
Secular humanism was one of these extremes and neo-paganism was the other. Instead of reforming the Judeo-Christian religion and returning it to its original humane beginning as taught by the Gospel of Jesus Christ secular humanists opted for the total elimination of religious faith. For them all religion was seen as an retrograde influence but like a bi-polar mind the Enlightenment also produced a number of writers/philosophers that promoted a neo-pagan view of life. The secular humanists were the dominant voices but the neo-pagans could claim the most famous writer of this period: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His great influence on both the French Revolution and the next cultural/social movement Romanticism is well established by the writers of history. Rousseau began the cult of nature worship and promoted a morality based upon the standard of personal feelings. He was the god-father of Romanticism which expressed his views in poems novels art and music.
The debates and contradictions we see in modern American culture today are exactly the same. Those who want to eliminate the influence of religion not only in our government but our society in general and those that promote a New Age of nature worship. They would seem to be natural enemies but in reality they work in a symbiotic alliance to undermine what has been our Judeo-Christian tradition. They are strange bedfellows and useful enemies. What they do have in common is their main objective of ending what has been the dominate influence of Judeo-Christian morality in American history. If we seek a second commonality it is their values system. Both reduce truth and goodness to human sized standards. Each individual is his own oracle or as the once prominent radical of the 1960s Jerry Rubin told us: If it feels good do it. Rubin is a good example of the strange hybrid mix of pagan values nature worship and Marxist ideology. Based upon is own immature understanding of life and history and following the pagan credo of feelings first he made wild statements that excited an equally ignorant youth culture of that day. This is why young voters today are carried away by the socialist rhetoric of Sanders Warren and the most historically ignorant of them all A.O.C. Without and understanding of the lessons of history and without core values that have withstood the test of time all people are subject to the sway of demagoguery.
Secular humanists believe that you can have a highly moral society without religious faith but history has shown that it takes the inspiration of religious faith to maintain a high moral standard over a long period of time. The other great enemy of Judeo-Christian culture the neo-pagans talk a good game of peace love and healing the planet but are always found attempting to undo the linkage between sexual morality and the sacredness of human life. Religious studies author Michael F. Strmiska wrote:
... in pagan magazines websites and internet discussion... Christianity is frequently denounced as an anti-natural anti-female sexually and culturally repressive... authoritarian religion that has fostered intolerance hypocrisy and persecution throughout the world.
Unfortunately for the neo-pagans and secular humanists who believe the same thing a statistical study of the worlds different cultural regions proves a very different case. Those parts of the world which have been most impacted and influenced by the moral values and spiritual outlook of the Judeo-Christian tradition are the same areas of the world which are the most prosperous and have the best record of human rights and democracy. They are also those areas of the world which have experienced in modern history the least amount of wars and genocide. Those who would dispute this view and point to the wars and genocide in Europe before 1945 as counter proof must face the historical facts that Hitlers Nazi Germany was motivated by pagan values. Western civilization rejected those values and payed a high cost to defeat his empire. The same is also true of the secular humanist who promote a socialist or so-called Progressive agenda. They must face the fact that the wars and mass-murder perpetrated by Communist Russia and China were the produce of an violent off-shoot of secular humanism. When you take God out of the equation you are only left with human philosophies and some are more hate filled and dangerous than others. Marxism came out of a malevolent human mind that thought it possessed a greater truth than all the religious teachers and moral philosophers who had ever lived.
If one over-lays a series of maps showing those regions of the world which are today: least free have the most human rights violations are poorest and have produced the most wars and refugees one sees a common connection. They are the same regions of the world which historically have had the most enduring pagan cultures. Where there are exceptions to this rule (Like Japan or South Korea) it can be explained by the fact they have been highly influenced and reformed by the value system of Western Civilization. Despite the overwhelming history evidence in favor of the positive influence of Judeo-Christian culture the secular humanist and neo-pagans continue their tireless efforts to undermine and replace our American heritage with a new pagan values foundation.
Opinion polls on questions related to sexual behaviors prove that they have largely succeeded. Our mass-popular culture today is pagan. We are now moving in the direction of ancient Rome which set a very low bar for sexual morality. With few exceptions it licensed male promiscuity and allowed pederasty and the rape of women and children who were slaves. Judaism raised the standard to a much higher level and produced the healthiest and most wholesome family life in the ancient world. Jesus a Jew raised the standard even higher. His view was encapsulated in his statement:
If a man looks on a woman and lusts after her he has already committed adultery.
His statements in general implicitly condemned polygamy easy divorce and made love the only acceptable standard for human relationships. All of this raised the value and over time improved the treatment of women. Most importantly his teaching linked the sacredness of human life with his teaching on sexual purity. By linking these two principles of Judeo-Christianity it became impossible to pretend that rape pedophilia adultery prostitution and permissive sexuality were compatible with respect for life either slave or free.
William D. Howard is a freelance writer who had a long career as an educator. He holds degrees in philosophy and history and has traveled widely in over 40 countries.
Beginning in the 1700s in Europe we began to see the forming of a strange and seemingly self-contradictory alliance of intellectuals and artists/writers that made-up a large part of what we now call The Enlightenment. Broadly speaking the Enlightenment was a much needed antitoxin against: religious fanaticism senseless wars and the social/political injustices of that period but as all social movements carry within them the seeds of ideological extremes so did the Enlightenment.
Secular humanism was one of these extremes and neo-paganism was the other. Instead of reforming the Judeo-Christian religion and returning it to its original humane beginning as taught by the Gospel of Jesus Christ secular humanists opted for the total elimination of religious faith. For them all religion was seen as an retrograde influence but like a bi-polar mind the Enlightenment also produced a number of writers/philosophers that promoted a neo-pagan view of life. The secular humanists were the dominant voices but the neo-pagans could claim the most famous writer of this period: Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His great influence on both the French Revolution and the next cultural/social movement Romanticism is well established by the writers of history. Rousseau began the cult of nature worship and promoted a morality based upon the standard of personal feelings. He was the god-father of Romanticism which expressed his views in poems novels art and music.
The debates and contradictions we see in modern American culture today are exactly the same. Those who want to eliminate the influence of religion not only in our government but our society in general and those that promote a New Age of nature worship. They would seem to be natural enemies but in reality they work in a symbiotic alliance to undermine what has been our Judeo-Christian tradition. They are strange bedfellows and useful enemies. What they do have in common is their main objective of ending what has been the dominate influence of Judeo-Christian morality in American history. If we seek a second commonality it is their values system. Both reduce truth and goodness to human sized standards. Each individual is his own oracle or as the once prominent radical of the 1960s Jerry Rubin told us: If it feels good do it. Rubin is a good example of the strange hybrid mix of pagan values nature worship and Marxist ideology. Based upon is own immature understanding of life and history and following the pagan credo of feelings first he made wild statements that excited an equally ignorant youth culture of that day. This is why young voters today are carried away by the socialist rhetoric of Sanders Warren and the most historically ignorant of them all A.O.C. Without and understanding of the lessons of history and without core values that have withstood the test of time all people are subject to the sway of demagoguery.
Secular humanists believe that you can have a highly moral society without religious faith but history has shown that it takes the inspiration of religious faith to maintain a high moral standard over a long period of time. The other great enemy of Judeo-Christian culture the neo-pagans talk a good game of peace love and healing the planet but are always found attempting to undo the linkage between sexual morality and the sacredness of human life. Religious studies author Michael F. Strmiska wrote:
... in pagan magazines websites and internet discussion... Christianity is frequently denounced as an anti-natural anti-female sexually and culturally repressive... authoritarian religion that has fostered intolerance hypocrisy and persecution throughout the world.
Unfortunately for the neo-pagans and secular humanists who believe the same thing a statistical study of the worlds different cultural regions proves a very different case. Those parts of the world which have been most impacted and influenced by the moral values and spiritual outlook of the Judeo-Christian tradition are the same areas of the world which are the most prosperous and have the best record of human rights and democracy. They are also those areas of the world which have experienced in modern history the least amount of wars and genocide. Those who would dispute this view and point to the wars and genocide in Europe before 1945 as counter proof must face the historical facts that Hitlers Nazi Germany was motivated by pagan values. Western civilization rejected those values and payed a high cost to defeat his empire. The same is also true of the secular humanist who promote a socialist or so-called Progressive agenda. They must face the fact that the wars and mass-murder perpetrated by Communist Russia and China were the produce of an violent off-shoot of secular humanism. When you take God out of the equation you are only left with human philosophies and some are more hate filled and dangerous than others. Marxism came out of a malevolent human mind that thought it possessed a greater truth than all the religious teachers and moral philosophers who had ever lived.
If one over-lays a series of maps showing those regions of the world which are today: least free have the most human rights violations are poorest and have produced the most wars and refugees one sees a common connection. They are the same regions of the world which historically have had the most enduring pagan cultures. Where there are exceptions to this rule (Like Japan or South Korea) it can be explained by the fact they have been highly influenced and reformed by the value system of Western Civilization. Despite the overwhelming history evidence in favor of the positive influence of Judeo-Christian culture the secular humanist and neo-pagans continue their tireless efforts to undermine and replace our American heritage with a new pagan values foundation.
Opinion polls on questions related to sexual behaviors prove that they have largely succeeded. Our mass-popular culture today is pagan. We are now moving in the direction of ancient Rome which set a very low bar for sexual morality. With few exceptions it licensed male promiscuity and allowed pederasty and the rape of women and children who were slaves. Judaism raised the standard to a much higher level and produced the healthiest and most wholesome family life in the ancient world. Jesus a Jew raised the standard even higher. His view was encapsulated in his statement:
If a man looks on a woman and lusts after her he has already committed adultery.
His statements in general implicitly condemned polygamy easy divorce and made love the only acceptable standard for human relationships. All of this raised the value and over time improved the treatment of women. Most importantly his teaching linked the sacredness of human life with his teaching on sexual purity. By linking these two principles of Judeo-Christianity it became impossible to pretend that rape pedophilia adultery prostitution and permissive sexuality were compatible with respect for life either slave or free.
William D. Howard is a freelance writer who had a long career as an educator. He holds degrees in philosophy and history and has traveled widely in over 40 countries.