The Cult of Liberalism and the Rise of Secular Theocracy

Mar 25 2008

Posted by: 阿偉 in Religion, Society

In examining things which are relevent to religious systems, we may deliminate a few points of commonality which exist among all the major beliefs of the world. Excluding the notion of the supernatural, all religions possess creeds and decrees for living one’s life - sacred doctrines so inherent to the function of the belief that they are given as a definite known. Such a creed defines what is acceptable and what is to be forbidden by the practicioners of the religion. Some religions contain extensive iconography, in the form of gods or goddesses, or in the form of saints and gurus.

Some of the more cult-like aspects of liberalism do indeed derive from certain religious or pseudo-religious “Judeo-Christian” principles (note the quotation marks), however maintains fervent commitment to heresy. The origin of heresy within the West is nothing new. As early as the 1100’s, the a Catholic monk named Joachim of Fiore preached a “postmillennial” doctrine in which a “perfect” and sinless world could be achieved through collectivist economics and eglitarian politics. Such “equality” would be assured by the totalitarian rule of a cadre consisting of righteous believers, presided over by a Messiah-like figure. With the rise of Protestantism, such heresies expanded hundred-fold. The German peasant-turned priest Thomas Müntzer led groups of peasants through the countryside under the rallying cry “omnia sunt communia”; his doctrine would later be repeated by Friedrich Engels, and his persona would later be given nearly saint-like status in East Germany. Today, many liberals might use religion to justify certain hedonistic aims, even if they are ultimately against religious texts.

Western rhetoric since Age of Enlightenment has consistently seclarized itself, and societies have followed this pattern. Today, with a few noble exceptions such as the Dragon Kingdom of Bhutan, or the Saud’s Arabia, we can find few instances in which faith plays a role in everyone’s life. In other words, Western society has “abandon[ed] the religious myths and doctrinal mysteries that once permeated their fiber” (Gottfried, p. 134). However, this is merely a oversimplification. It may be true that many Americans or Europeans don’t believe that an omnipotent God created the world in seven days, but many elements of religion still permeate even secular doctrines. Thus, there are martyrs and great men, as well as persecutors and heretics. Gottfried states that “the substitution of designated victims for the older adoration of religious martyrs” is prevalent even among the most postmodern and atheistic communities. Thus, instead of the remembrance of the early Church, we are reminded of the plight of the persecution of the Trotskyists in Soviet Russia or the persecution of homosexuals in today’s society, and the prevalent doctrine becomes the exaltation of such groups. To go against this ideology in many cases draws the criticism and anger from supporters.

Missionary work still exists in the Cult of Liberalism, but it is focused on bringing the “civilized” Western way of life to select non-Westerners who adhere to a more conservative way of life. As I have alluded to before, this is part of the reason for the conflict between the liberal West and the Islamic world.

Ultimately, what exists today is not the end of religious doctrine, but the degeneration and reorganization of said doctrine in a secular humanist manner. In other words, liberalism operates as if it were a religion, but removes any mention of the divine from the equation, replacing it with notions of the worldly. Thus is the emergence of the “secular theocracy”.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Religion, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.