[BBC List] 2 religions

[Mike Abendroth]

Two Rival Religions?


Friday, May 26, 2006

On November 3, 1921, J. Gresham Machen presented an address entitled,
"Liberalism or Christianity?" In that famous address, later expanded into
the book, Christianity & Liberalism, Machen argued that evangelical
Christianity and its liberal rival were, in effect, two very different
religions. 

Machen's argument became one of the issues of controversy in the
Fundamentalist/Modernist controversies of the 1920s and beyond. By any
measure, Machen was absolutely right--the movement that styled itself as
liberal Christianity was eviscerating the central doctrines of the Christian
faith while continuing to claim Christianity as "a way of life" and a system
of meaning.

"The chief modern rival of Christianity is 'liberalism,'" Machen asserted.
"Modern liberalism, then, has lost sight of the two great presuppositions of
the Christian message--the living God and the fact of sin," he argued. "The
liberal doctrine of God and the liberal doctrine of man are both
diametrically opposite to the Christian view. But the divergence concerns
not only the presuppositions of the message, but also the message itself."

Howard P. Kainz, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Marquette University,
offers a similar argument--warning that it is now modern secular liberalism
which poses as the great rival to orthodox Christianity. 

Observing the basic divide in the American culture, Kainz notes: "Most of
the heat of battle occurs where traditional religious believers clash with
certain liberals who are religiously committed to secular liberalism."

Kainz offers a crucial insight here, suggesting that one of the most
important factors in the nation's cultural divide is that persons on both
sides are deeply committed to their own creeds and worldviews--even if on
one side those creeds are secular.

"This explains why talking about abortion or same-sex 'marriage,' for
example, with certain liberals is usually futile. It is like trying to
persuade a committed Muslim to accept Christ. Because his religion forbids
it, he can only do so by converting from Islam to Christianity; he cannot
accept Christ as long as he remains firmly committed to Islam. So it is with
firmly committed liberals: Their 'religion' forbids any concessions to the
'conservative' agenda, and as long as they remain committed to their secular
ideology, it is futile to hope for such concessions from them." 

Kainz's argument bears similarities not only to J. Gresham Machen's
observations about the theological scene, but also to Thomas Sowell's
understanding of the larger culture. As Sowell argued in A Conflict of
Visions, the basic ideological divide of our times is between those who hold
a "constrained vision" over those who hold an "unconstrained vision." Both
worldviews are, in the actual operations of life, reduced to certain "gut
feelings" that operate much like religious convictions.

Kainz concedes that some will resist his designation of secularism as a
religion. "Religion in the most common and usual sense connotes dedication
to a supreme being or beings," he acknowledges. Nevertheless, "especially in
the last few centuries, 'religion' has taken on the additional connotations
of dedication to abstract principles or ideals rather than a personal
being," he insists. Kainz dates the rise of this secular religion to the
French Enlightenment and its idolatrous worship of Reason. 

Looking back over the last century, Kainz argues that Marxism and
ideological Liberalism have functioned as religious systems for millions of
individuals. Looking specifically at Marxism, Kainz argues that the Marxist
religion had dogmas, canonical scriptures, priests, theologians, ritualistic
observances, parochial congregations, heresies, hagiography, and even an
eschatology. Marxism's dogmas were its core teachings, including economic
determinism and the "dictatorship of the proletariat." Its canonical
scriptures included the writings of Marx, Lenin, and Mao Tse Tung. Its
priests were those guardians of Marxist purity who functioned as the
ideological theorists of the movement. Its ritualistic observances included
actions ranging from workers' strikes to mass rallies. The eschatology of
Marxism was to be realized in the appearance of "Communist man" and the new
age of Marxist utopia.

Similarly, Kainz argues that modern secular liberalism includes its own
dogmas. Among these are the beliefs "that mankind must overcome religious
superstition by means of Reason; that empirical science can and will
eventually answer all the questions about the world and human values that
were formerly referred to traditional religion or theology; and that the
human race, by constantly invalidating and disregarding hampering
traditions, can and will achieve perfectibility." 

Kainz also argues that contemporary liberalism has borrowed selectively from
the New Testament, turning Jesus' admonition to "render unto Caesar what is
Caesar's, and to God what is God's," as a foundation for "absolute
secularism," enshrined in the language of a wall separating church and
state. Thus, "religion [is] reduced to something purely private."

Secular liberalism also identifies certain sins such as "homophobia" and
sexism. As Kainz sees it, the secular scriptures fall into two broad
categories: "Darwinist and scientistic writings championing materialist and
naturalistic explanations for everything, including morals; and feminist
writings exposing the 'evil' of patriarchy and tracing male exploitation of
females throughout history up to the present." 

The priests and priestesses of secular liberalism constitute its "sacerdotal
elite" and tend to be intellectuals who can present liberal values in the
public square. Congregations where secular liberals gather include
organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, the National
Organization of Women, and similar bodies. These groups "help supply a sense
of affiliation and commonality for the religiously liberal." 

The rites and rituals of secular liberalism include "gay pride" parades and
pro-abortion rallies. Interestingly, the eschatology of this movement is,
Kainz argues, the distillation of pragmatism. "In the estimation of the
religiously liberal," Kainz asserts, "all lifestyles and all moralities can
approximate this goal, as long as the proscribed illiberal 'sins' are
avoided."

Kainz readily admits that not all liberals are committed to this religious
vision of liberalism. As he sees it, "There are many people working for
social justice, human rights, international solidarity, and other causes
commonly regarded as liberal without a deep ideological commitment." His
point is that conservatives may find common cause and common ground with
these non-religiously committed liberals.

"For many 'moderate' liberals, liberalism is a political perspective, not a
core ideology," he observes. "In the culture war it is important for
Christians to distinguish between the religiously committed liberal and the
moderate liberal. For one thing, Christians should not be surprised when
they find no common ground with the former. They may form occasional, even
if temporary, alliances with the latter."

Kainz's article "Liberalism as Religion: The Culture War Is Between
Religious Believer on Both Sides," appears in the May 2006 edition of
Touchstone magazine. His analysis is genuinely helpful in understanding the
clash of positions, policies, convictions, and visions that mark our
contemporary scene.

Though Kainz does not develop this point, all persons are, in their own way,
deeply committed to their own worldview. There is no intellectual
possibility of absolute value neutrality--not among human beings, anyway.

The conception of our current cultural conflict as a struggle between two
rival religions is instructive and humbling. At the political level, this
assessment should serve as a warning that our current ideological divides
are not likely to disappear anytime soon. At the far deeper level of
theological analysis, this argument serves to remind Christians that
evangelism remains central to our mission and purpose. Those who aim at the
merely political are missing the forest for the trees, and confusing the
temporal for the eternal.

 

 

Charis, 
  
Mike Abendroth 
  
"Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to
be contented with half truth when whole truth can be won.  Endow us with
courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns
to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth
are in jeopardy."

 - West Point Military Academy Cadet Prayer 

 

HYPERLINK "http://www.bbcchurch.org"www.bbcchurch.org 
  

 


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