I have been pondering, musing, mulling over the fallout from the election. And I wanted to share that I learned something yesterday; any day you can add to your knowledge is a good day, whether it is good information, or sobering information. Yesterday was a sobering day. But I also was happy, in an odd sort of way, to learn what I kind of already knew, but perhaps it was a feeling of being vindicated, or at least confirmed in my beliefs. Let me explain:
In many circles and in many places in society, but most especially in circles of Catholic thought, there has been a movement described as “post modernism.” Here is a complicated, but pretty accurate definition to mull over in your mind:
A general and wide-ranging term which is applied to literature, art, philosophy, architecture, fiction, and cultural and literary criticism, among others. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. In essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to us individually. Postmodernism relies on concrete experience over abstract principles, knowing always that the outcome of one’s own experience will necessarily be fallible and relative, rather than certain and universal. Postmodernism is “post” because it denies the existence of any ultimate principles, and it lacks the optimism of there being a scientific, philosophical, or religious truth which will explain everything for everybody – a characteristic of the so-called “modern” mind.”
So basically, what it means is that there are prescribed sets of information we have, say, in science or literature, or religion, that have become part of our “treasury of knowledge” over the years. In post-modernistic thinking, that treasure is up for personal interpretation. Which, if you look at it purely scientifically, is almost funny. I mean, 2 + 2 = 4. Period. No interpretation there! But a post-modernist would argue that it could be 3.5 or even 4.5 and go on to explain why. Some post-modernism has found its way into our collective thinking and is earmarked by those who can see it, by balancing those thoughts alongside traditional views and information. For example, in postmodernism, it is perfectly okay for a practicing Catholic to choose to support abortion, because as interpreted by them, well, it’s like Mr. Biden said, “I personally believe it is wrong, but I would not impose my beliefs on others.” To take it further, some pew-sitting-regular-Mass-attending Catholics think that the Church’s stance on birth control and abortion are “old fashioned” and believe it is okay to throw those thoughts out and still be a Catholic in good standing with the Church. From a postmodernist’s perspective, they are correct. From the 2,000 year, unchanging traditional teaching of the Church, they are incorrect.
There is something else which has been whispered about but not spoken of too often in the public arena, and that is the concept of “secular humanism.” “The philosophy or life stance, secular humanism , embraces human reason, ethics, social justice and philosophical naturalism, whilst specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience or superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.
It posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or a god. It does not, however, assume that humans are either inherently evil or innately good, nor does it present humans as being superior to nature. Rather, the humanist life stance emphasizes the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions. Fundamental to the concept of secular humanism is the strongly held viewpoint that ideology—be it religious or political—must be thoroughly examined by each individual and not simply accepted or rejected on faith. Along with this, an essential part of secular humanism is a continually adapting search for truth, primarily through science and philosophy. Many Humanists derive their moral codes from a philosophy of utilitarianism, ethical naturalism or evolutionary ethics, and some advocate a science of morality.” [And don’t beat me up for it, but I copied that off Wikipedia!! I know it’s not the best source, but it was quick and easy and was pretty accurate!]
Secular humanism has crept into our entire culture. It has invaded our school system to such an extent that the children indoctrinated into it have now reached voting age. And the results of this indoctrination is our election on Tuesday of Mr. Obama to a second term.
I was reading this amazing blog last night and in it the author quoted all sorts of statistics and they are rambling about in my head, banging up against my skull and I have to spit them out or I will go nuts! Did you know that 27% of all Evangelical Protestants voted for Obama? Again? And that of all Catholics who voted, 50% of them voted for Obama? Again? Both categories saw a marked decrease in voting…we had over a million fewer voters this election all across the demographics. 57% (I know it doesn’t add up, but it was the statistic I was given) of all Catholic voters chose Mr. Romney, while just under 24% of Evangelicals voted for him. [One of the issues Evangelicals were fighting against was their view that Mormonism is a cult and they did not accept him as a man of faith. More’s the pity for our Country! While I am not Mormon myself, I have family members who are and if more people were as chaste, good, and uncorrupted, well, this Country would not have elected Mr. Obama, again. Enough said.]
The blogger I was reading also noted that if Evangelicals, and Catholics, if all Christians, were truly evangelized on the statutes of family and marriage, the right to life, economic responsibility, and the duty to vote, our Country would have had a much different outcome on Wednesday morning. Pastors are letting us all down by not sharing with their congregations the importance of Biblical principles. And because they are not using their 1-hour a week with their parishioners, the secular humanism, post-modernism that has infiltrated our culture is winning. And the opposing viewpoint spends more than one hour a week doing so!
One of my friends posted on Facebook, “Carl Rove and Dick Morris, please retire.” It made me giggle because those two had all of us believing we had a shot at this election. Carl Rove had Romney winning by a landslide. And his explanation on Wednesday was very interesting. In between wiping his chin from his meal of humble pie, he admitted that he was fooled. He and most of the Republican party were fooled. They honestly thought that the win by Obama in 2008 was a fluke! Carl talked about “iPod listening, Mac using, college-aged idealogs voting for Obama, the rock star” and he did not realize that it was not momentary insanity brought on by some amazing campaigning by the Democratic strategists. What he called “micro-targeting” of the electorate. The electorate really, honestly, believe in what Obama and the Democratic platform stand for. There is no longer a broad-based, dense base, of Reagan-Republicans that are going to come to the rescue at the polls. The Democratic strategists went for the jugular in many ways. So, do you vote for someone because Beyonce says they’re cool? Well, I don’t, but those kids out there, raised in secular humanist tradition, they do. Why? Well, in our age of instant everything, no one takes the time to intelligently research their vote. Did you sit down and read through your voter pamphlet? Did you do your own research on candidates and referendums on the ballot? I did; and maybe you did because you are reading this blog and are like-minded, but most electorates did not. They walked into that booth and thought something like, “Now who is this guy running for the Senate? Oh, yeah, I saw him on stage with Bruce Springsteen one time. Love that new album. Think I’ll vote for this guy, who was with Bruce; gotta be a cool dude.” And as silly as that example is, it should chill you to the bone. I heard a speaker (a young woman) being interviewed outside the DNC, say on TV, that seeing someone with a celebrity, well, “it’s not that important; except that the people watching that celebrity on some fund-raising concert stage, well, they read ‘People’ magazine for their information; they watch the ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ and they stood in line for two days for the new iPhone 5. They don’t read the National Review.” And that is how the Democrats were able to “micro-target” their electorate.
The Republicans, in my view, presented a wonderful platform of being given an opportunity to work and to be stable, with an economy that favored the working class. Fiscal responsibility. That is a concept not breached in post modernism or in secular humanism. In both of those philosophies, the government is there for you! The government will do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Keeping God out of the Democratic platform is a natural progression, when you look at their overall strategy. They are further separating our principles of governing from our moral principles.
In my previous blogs, I was so focused on us all turning inward and examining how we treat our fellow man. And, I still believe that is part of what is wrong with our Country. But now that secular humanism was actually discussed on national TV as being an issue in the election, I think it is time we evangelize our neighbors and friends with some hard truths. We cannot divorce ourselves from thousands of years of thoughts and traditions. It just does not work. Look at Rome, for example. Early Roman culture was simple. You were of the ruling class or you were not. Period. Very difficult to move from one to the other. And the ruling class controlled everything. (It is similar to the caste system in India). Then along comes one of the ruling class and he is elevated to “Caesar.” (Caesar translates as King in English, Kaiser in German, or Czar in Russian. Just a little factoid for you!! Treat me accordingly – just kidding!). Once the autocrat took complete control of Rome and its culture, we had hedonism and homosexuality; we had Christians being murdered in the arena. Nero burned Rome because he wanted to build a bigger castle and no one would finance it. So he set Rome on fire, sat there fiddling, and blamed it on the upstart sect, the Christians. There are so many parallels in our culture with the last years of Rome. A big one that glares out at me is our adulation of athletes as stars of culture. Look at the arenas they “battle” in! Have you wondered why you are able to recognize them as “Coliseums”? They look like the original Coliseum in Rome! We now have athletes and actors telling us which cause to support and which candidate to vote for. They are just people; and most are not as well informed about the ideas and people they pontificate about. We would do well to ignore them all; certainly cut their disgusting salaries! If you think that secular humanism or post modernism looked bad back in the height of the Roman debacle and ultimate crash, buckle up, because it is taking over America and Mr. Obama is leading the charge.
Mr. Obama is a socialist in so many ways. His financial ideology as well as his universal healthcare is just a part of it. He believes in abortion at any time during pregnancy and supports partial birth abortion, as well as being against the “Born Alive Infant Act” wherein he feels it is permissible to allow an infant who survives abortion to die, or to actively be killed (infanticide). To quote his testimony on abortion and his argument against the “Born Alive Infant Act: “that fetus, or child — however way you want to say or describe it” when, contrary to the wishes of the women involved and their abortionists, there was “movement or some indication that, in fact, they’re not just coming out limp and dead.” He voted three times to defeat the Born Alive Infant Act.”
Mr. Obama has been raised with a different mindset than many of us have. But his mindset is more common than most of us realized, before Wednesday morning. And we have ourselves to blame. We have stood idly by and not done a thing about statutes that were put in place across a wide range of subjects – education, taxes, property rights, health care, immigration – the list goes on and on. We don’t think we have the right to impose our beliefs on others and we also think “someone else will do it,” to the detriment of this Country. Over half of eligible voters DID NOT VOTE. They either don’t think their vote counts or matters, or they just don’t “deal with politics.” Unfortunately, I was just like that in my early 20s. I have learned, as I have aged, that my place in society is a privilege and part of that privilege has rights and duties attached to it. It is my right to vote, but it is also my civic duty. It is my right to be judged by a panel of my peers, but it is also my duty to serve on juries. It is my voluntary right to serve my Country in the military, but it is also my duty to serve wherever I am asked to serve. There are so many instances where our rights are balanced by our duties. But we have abrogated our duties in favor of laziness or convenience, to the detriment of our Country. And we are all participating in the socialization of America, whether we agree with what I am saying or not. And I say this because the polls are showing us that we have not acted; we have abdicated our responsibility to our Country to less than half of the eligible voters. We need everyone who is eligible, to be counted!
Post modernists believe that they can interpret things to fit themselves, regardless of how that fits with traditional viewpoints. We see it in Catholicism in what we have lovingly termed, “Cafeterianism.” Imagine being in a cafeteria line and being allowed to pick and choose what you want to believe in from the host of 2,000 years of traditions and teaching. This is most apparent in those who believe in abortion and birth control, while still believing they are good Catholics, as I stated before (it’s the easiest example to use). The two are diametrically opposed to one another, but in a post modernist’s mind, it is perfectly acceptable. Now if you add to the mix that these Catholics have also attended public schools where secular humanism is taught, you have a recipe for disaster. The evidence of the disaster is in the fact that Catholics voted for Mr. Obama and felt it was perfectly okay to do so, alongside their Evangelical friends.
In regards to Evangelical Protestants, most have been taught, generally, that marriage is between a man and a woman and is a life-long commitment, that the traditional family is how we rear the next generation, that God and Country are important, and that our faith is what motivates us in our daily lives. Evangelicals also believe, and have been discipled to believe, that Godly principles as laid forth in Scripture, dominate all aspects of our lives; it should infiltrate everything we do and every bit of who we are. It is how we treat others, how we conduct ourselves in our businesses and professions, and in our dealings with others in all areas of our lives. That is a common thread all Christians share.
The issue facing us as a culture is that our Judeo-Christian beliefs are under siege. They are under siege in the schools, in the media, and in the politics of our Country. We will have no more success in putting forth strong leaders for our Country unless we undergo what many are calling the “Third Evangelization.” We need to teach Christians, once again and with increased fervor, what being Christian is truly meant to be. It means we need to teach our neighbors about Christian principles. It means we need to teach our children what being a Christian truly means. And with allowing our children to be indoctrinated in the public school system, we have to be doubly aware and doubly on guard! (Which is another reason to home school or use the charter system). We are in for a very rough ride over the next four years, and beyond. Mr. Obama and his administration are determined to change the very fabric of America. When we take back the White House in 2016, it will take a huge battle to do it! It is being said that we are facing an economic cliff. The cliff we are facing is more than economic – it is moral and and it is religious, as well. Our rights and freedoms are being eroded so clinically, we don’t even feel the cuts. Did you know the UN is proposing gun control in America? Did you know that no foreign power has the right to dictate laws within America? Is Mr. Obama looking at this possibility? Well, he said as much in one of his stump speeches. The sad part is that he thinks it is perfectly acceptable for the UN to dictate that Americans can or cannot bear arms. I posted on a friend’s Facebook Wall a response to that and it said simply, “Out of my cold, dead fingers.” I know that is dramatic, but unless we all realize the dire position we are in as Americans, my grandchildren will never know the freedoms I have known. They will never live in a truly free America. Their freedoms will be gone, and our generation did nothing to stop it. Sometimes prayer is not enough. Righteous anger is justified – Christ overturned the money-changers’ tables in the Temple grounds. He was mad! But then, He instructed them, and that is where we now find ourselves. We are licking our wounds, but it is time to move on to the instruction, evangelization phase.
Post modernism and secular humanism need to be shown for what they are – nonsense, to put it succintly. And we need to get back to behaving as our Founding Fathers behaved, as good, God-fearing Christians, schooled in their faith and their Constitution, and being able to defend it. And we need to instruct our children, for the sake of our grandchildren. And we need to reach out and evangelize every person we meet, in order to defeat, in 2016!!
I feel better now. See, learning is fun! Some days sobering, but still fun!
kaiserswest 