Politics is downstream of Culture, and Culture is downstream of Metaphysics (or Spirituality). While treating symptoms may be helpful, it is no substitute for treating the underlying illness.
The rise of emotional Christianity over intellectual Christianity is what has given us a non-Christian leadership caste even as there are plenty of Christians. It began with Methodism, and has progressed to rock concert churches with ultra simple repetitive hymns -- the type of churches designed to scare away Vulcans.
Then the Mainline Protestant denominations dumbed themselves down and lowered their standards in order to be Relevant. I saw this happening in the Episcopal Church as a kid back in the early 70s.
If we don't want to be ruled by nihilists, we need a truly Christian denomination that can appeal to the intellectual classes.
Niccolo Soldo has frequently said something to the effect that the GAE's greatest strength lies in its ability to coopt and commoditize anything, including any religious or social reform movement's critique of it. There is much truth in that observation. America's bankster and merchant class took Christianity, with all its teachings against usury, greed, envy, ignoring the spirit to focus on material comforts and status symbols, etc., and somehow they created a lukewarm, sanitized Christianity which amounts to New Age Oprah-esque woo woo plus your buddy Jesus getting you into heaven when you die, and then turn it into a pillar of GAE culture and politics (at least it used to be). Americanized Christianity made the whole thing seem so patently absurd that millions of people mistook it for the real thing and rejected Christianity or any form of real spirituality without a proper hearing, leaving them vulnerable to some pretty crazy but fashionable heresies (like wokeism).
The rise of emotional Christianity over intellectual Christianity is what has given us a non-Christian leadership caste even as there are plenty of Christians. It began with Methodism, and has progressed to rock concert churches with ultra simple repetitive hymns -- the type of churches designed to scare away Vulcans.
Then the Mainline Protestant denominations dumbed themselves down and lowered their standards in order to be Relevant. I saw this happening in the Episcopal Church as a kid back in the early 70s.
If we don't want to be ruled by nihilists, we need a truly Christian denomination that can appeal to the intellectual classes.
Niccolo Soldo has frequently said something to the effect that the GAE's greatest strength lies in its ability to coopt and commoditize anything, including any religious or social reform movement's critique of it. There is much truth in that observation. America's bankster and merchant class took Christianity, with all its teachings against usury, greed, envy, ignoring the spirit to focus on material comforts and status symbols, etc., and somehow they created a lukewarm, sanitized Christianity which amounts to New Age Oprah-esque woo woo plus your buddy Jesus getting you into heaven when you die, and then turn it into a pillar of GAE culture and politics (at least it used to be). Americanized Christianity made the whole thing seem so patently absurd that millions of people mistook it for the real thing and rejected Christianity or any form of real spirituality without a proper hearing, leaving them vulnerable to some pretty crazy but fashionable heresies (like wokeism).