{"id":1455338,"date":"2022-04-27T10:59:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T14:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1455338"},"modified":"2022-04-27T10:59:40","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T14:59:40","slug":"the-religion-of-the-left","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-religion-of-the-left\/","title":{"rendered":"The Religion Of The Left"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">10<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-religion-of-the-left%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1455338&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/Brown.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><span>G.K. Chesterton is known for once saying: \u201cWhen men stop believing in God they don\u2019t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.\u201d We\u2019re seeing that today in America, where the less we identify with formal religion, the more we give ourselves to new superstitions, alternate forms of spirituality and radical ideologies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Accordingly, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.barna.com\/research\/atheism-doubles-among-generation-z\/\"><span>recent polling<\/span><\/a><span> indicates that Gen Z is by far the most atheistic generation in our recorded history, with 13% professing atheism compared to 6% of the rest of the population. Additionally, one study found that Gen Z is three<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.glamourmagazine.co.uk\/article\/modern-witchcraft\"><span> times<\/span><\/a><span> more interested in witchcraft than millennials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Belief in God is waning while belief in witches is rising.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In his book \u201cThe Triumph of Faith,\u201d<\/span> <span>sociologist Rodney Stark points out that in European countries where church attendance is especially low, Christian faith has not been replaced by secularism. It has been replaced by superstition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For example, in Sweden, which Stark notes \u201cis almost always presented as exhibit A in the case for the triumph of secularization \u2026 more than 20 percent of Swedes say they believe in reincarnation; half believe in mental telepathy; and nearly one in five believes in the power of lucky charms. A third believe in New Age medicine such as \u2018healing Crystals\u2019; 20 percent would consider purchasing their personal horoscope; 10 percent would consult a medium; and nearly two out of five believe in ghosts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In Iceland, it is <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/icelandmag.visir.is\/article\/00-icelanders-25-years-or-younger-believe-god-created-world-new-poll-reveals\"><span>reported<\/span><\/a><span> that, \u201cLess than half of Icelanders claim they are religious and more than 40% of young Icelanders identify as atheist.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>At the same time, as Stark goes on to share, \u201c34 percent of Icelanders believe in reincarnation and another 16 percent aren\u2019t sure about it. Moreover, a national survey found that 55 percent of Icelanders believe in the existence of huldufolk, or hidden people, such as elves, trolls, gnomes, and fairies. Consequently, planned highways are sometimes rerouted so as not to disturb various hills and large rocks wherein huldufolk may dwell, and Icelanders planning to build a new house often hire \u201celf spotters\u201d to ensure that their site does not encroach on huldufolk settlements.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, it\u2019s goodbye to God and hello to the elves and trolls!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Stark even mentions how \u201ca rapidly growing group of Icelandic neopagans broke ground for a temple dedicated to worship of the old Norse gods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Bring back the ancient idols.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But there is something else that happens when belief in God is cast out, and it\u2019s just what we see happening in America today \u2014 one\u2019s radical ideology becomes one\u2019s religion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Put another way, there really is a religion of the left.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It has its dogmatic beliefs, such as man-made climate change and the importance of environmentalism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It has its sacred rites, such as abortion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It has its methods of dealing with defectors, canceling them rather than excommunicating them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It has its standards of (self) righteousness, established by the ruling elite.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It has its charitable causes, most specifically, the Marxist call for the rich to be stripped of wealth in order to provide equal outcomes for the poor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It even has the equivalent of personal spiritual awakening, in this case, becoming woke.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>That\u2019s why the adherents of the religion of leftism are just as fervent, just as fundamentalist and just as passionate as many followers of traditional religion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>And who or what is the god worshiped by the left? It is the god of self, a god by which all others are judged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But these observations are nothing new.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Joel Garreau, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenewatlantis.com\/publications\/environmentalism-as-religion\"><span>writing<\/span><\/a><span> for The New Atlantis in 2010, noted that, \u201cFor some individuals and societies, the role of religion seems increasingly to be filled by environmentalism. It has become \u2018the religion of choice for urban atheists,\u2019 according to Michael Crichton, the late science fiction writer (and climate change skeptic). In\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/climaterealists.com\/index.php?id=2049\"><span>a widely quoted 2003 speech<\/span><\/a><span>, Crichton outlined the ways that environmentalism \u2018remaps\u2019 Judeo-Christian beliefs:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018There\u2019s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there\u2019s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Similarly, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crisismagazine.com\/2019\/in-the-culture-of-death-abortion-is-a-sacrament\"><span>writing<\/span><\/a><span> for Crisis Magazine<\/span> <span>in 2019, Sean Fitzpatrick stated that, \u201cIn the culture of death, abortion is a sacrament.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>As he explained, \u201cThe feminist writer Florynce Kennedy once said,\u00a0\u2018If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.\u2019 She didn\u2019t give the left enough credit. Abortion\u00a0has\u00a0become\u00a0a kind of \u2018sacrament\u2019 because women\u00a0can\u00a0get pregnant. Abortion has morphed from a taboo tragedy to a constitutional right: a\u00a0sine qua non\u00a0of the Democratic Party, who fight for it religiously. Abortion is a deathly lifeline for progressives, a central column supporting the political platform of narcissistic relativism. It is the unholy sacrament.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He continued, \u201cLiberals assign a pseudo-sacramental significance inherent in the \u2018right\u2019 to kill an unwanted child which causes, like a sacrament, an existential attitude through its symbolic reality. A sacrament is not just a religious idea or holy practice; it is something far more than its external nature suggests. The Sacraments of the Church are institutions of Jesus Christ to give mystical gifts to those of proper disposition. They are efficacious signs of grace, which contain, cause, and confer the thing signified. The word \u2018sacrament\u2019 might be applied analogously to those things that both characterize and cause a human condition, and abortion is a dark participant in that analogy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Carl R. Trueman,\u00a0 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/article\/2021\/02\/evangelicals-and-race-theory\"><span>writing<\/span><\/a><span> for First Things in February 2021, opined that, \u201cAll-embracing and transformative views often have a religious quality. Critical race theory is no exception. It has a creedal language and liturgy, with orthodox words (\u2018white privilege,\u2019 \u2018systemic racism\u2019) and prescribed actions (raising the fist, taking the knee). To deviate from the forms is to deviate from the faith. Certain words are heretical (\u2018non-racist,\u2019 \u2018all lives matter\u2019). The slogan \u2018silence is violence\u2019 is a potent rhetorical weapon. To fail to participate in the liturgy is to reject the antiracism the liturgy purports to represent \u2014 something only a racist would do.\u201d (For a response to Trueman\u2019s article, see \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/scot-mcknight\/2021\/january\/is-critical-race-theory-religion-responding-to-carl-trueman.html\"><span>Is Critical Race Theory a Religion? Responding to Carl Trueman<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d by Valerie Hobbs in Christianity Today.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>But the religion of the left goes even further than this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Black Lives Matter (BLM) co-founder Patrisse Cullors has described how she and her colleagues called on the spirits of the dead at their BLM rallies and how these events had religious connotations for them, based on ancient African practices. She <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FowlerMuseum\/videos\/291479432259187\"><span>shared<\/span><\/a><span> this openly in an interview with Professor Melina Abdullah, former chair of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, and a co-founder of the Los Angeles chapter of BLM<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Professor Abdullah met with a BLM group in front of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti\u2019s house in June 2020. As <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/crcc.usc.edu\/the-fight-for-black-lives-is-a-spiritual-movement\/\"><span>described<\/span><\/a><span> by Hebah Farrag, \u201cShe led the group in a ritual: the reciting of names of those taken by state violence before their time \u2014 ancestors now being called back to animate their own justice: \u2018George Floyd. As\u00e9. Philandro Castille. As\u00e9. Andrew Joseph. As\u00e9. Michael Brown. As\u00e9. Erika Garner. As\u00e9. Harriet Tubman. As\u00e9. Malcom X. As\u00e9. Martin Luther King. As\u00e9.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>So, say goodbye to God and welcome to the spirits of the dead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>You better believe there is a religion of the left. And it will actively persecute those who stand in its way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>Dr. Michael Brown\u00a0(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.askdrbrown.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.askdrbrown.org<\/a>) is the host of the nationally syndicated\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lineoffireradio.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Line of Fire<\/a> radio program. He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and has served as a professor at a number of seminaries and is the author of 40 books. Connect with him on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AskDrBrown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrMichaelLBrown\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCbINn3x-intLp88Zrf8acpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>G.K. Chesterton is known for once saying: \u201cWhen men stop believing in God they don\u2019t believe in nothing; they believe in anything.\u201d We\u2019re seeing that today in America, where the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":672,"featured_media":1480667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1455338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/672"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1455338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1455338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1480667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1455338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1455338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1455338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}