The Great Awokening
The chattering classes have been reporting, with inadequately concealed glee, that Americans are becoming less religious. We are more secular. We are, FINALLY, catching up with the cosmopolitan level of our betters in Europe. Sure, there are still some mushy Episcopalians and cafeteria Catholics around. There is a rump rabble of deplorables hanging out in born again mega-churches. But the goal of an enlightened populace is in sight.
The chattering consensus is wrong. We are in the midst of a religious revival. We are just not calling it religion, which it most definitely is.
For these purposes, I will focus on two elements of religion. The first is that the adherent believes that he/she is in possession of THE TRUTH. The adherent believes that only those who subscribe to the tenets of the religion understand the universe. All others are either heretics or barbarians, who inhabit the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The second element is emotional. It is the feeling of righteousness. We believers are the elected of God.
All sorts of lifestyle and political choices have become religions. Many of our new religionists subscribe to several denominations. Food consumption has become a religion. Environmentalism has mostly been a religion from the beginning. WOKE is a political religion. If you ain’t WOKE, you are evil incarnate.
History is full of conflicts that have been labeled religious wars. In reality, most of them were wars ginned by political leaders who mobilized religious fervor to assist them in recruiting and motivating warriors, but religion has definitely added to the ferocity and ruin created by those wars. That is the stage we are approaching. Life style and policy differences become ferocious when animated by religious fervor. The only differences between “cancelling” on social media and the Inquisition is the absence of a public hearing and the form of punishment — twitter vs the rack.
Let’s get this straight. NOBODY has a monopoly on the truth. We come close in some of the physical sciences where it is possible to conduct (repeatedly) fully controlled experiments, but even those truths tend to get modified over time as more information becomes available. In all other matters, the search for truth is a matter of dialogue and experimentation. Even when we arrive at consensus, circumstances can change and render the consensus obsolete.
The key to achieving a successful polity is open dialogue and respect for all opinions, even those we find obnoxious. The act of “cancelling” someone with whose opinions we disagree is the very antithesis of democracy. Diversity is not a virtue. People of different skin tones and sexual preferences getting together in group think is not even diversity. Respect for all is a virtue. Equality under the law is a virtue. Tolerance is a virtue. Open dialogue, respectfully heard, is the essence of the democratic process.
