{"id":2211134,"date":"2024-04-02T06:44:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T10:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-decline-of-christianity-means-the-end-of-neutral-spaces\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T06:44:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T10:44:33","slug":"the-decline-of-christianity-means-the-end-of-neutral-spaces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-decline-of-christianity-means-the-end-of-neutral-spaces\/","title":{"rendered":"As Christianity Declines, Neutral Spaces Disappear"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/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-decline-of-christianity-means-the-end-of-neutral-spaces%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=2211134&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--><p>The text discusses \u200bthe intentional overlap\u200d of\u2062 highlighting Transgender Day of Visibility with Easter \u200bby President Biden, sparking debates on\u200b the promotion of the transgender agenda. It delves into \u200cthe broader context \u200bof Christianity&#8217;s \u2063decline and the \u2063rise of a new form \u200bof \u200dpaganism, portraying a shift in moral values and potential societal implications. The text explores \u200cPresident Biden&#8217;s deliberate choice to coincide Transgender Day of Visibility with Easter, igniting discussions on transgender \u2062advocacy. It delves into Christianity&#8217;s waning influence\u2064 and the emergence of a new paganism, highlighting shifts in moral standards and their societal impact.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>President\u2019s Biden\u2019s decision to elevate Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter, the holiest day of the Christian calendar, was no accident. Yes, we all know (now) that it falls on March 31 every year, while the date of Easter obviously varies. But the idea that the White House\u2019s promotion of the transgender agenda on Easter was a mere coincidence, as Biden\u2019s press secretary insisted on Monday, strains credulity. We all know it was no coincidence.<\/p>\n<p>I won\u2019t go into the specifics of it here \u2014 my friend Dave Marcus has already <a href=\"https:\/\/humanevents.com\/2024\/04\/01\/david-marcus-bidens-push-of-trans-visibility-on-easter-sunday-was-an-attack-on-christianity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">laid out why this was a blatant attack on Christianity<\/a> and a slap in the face to Christians \u2014 but focus instead on the larger story within which the Transgender Day of Visibility incident fits.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1594097181\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1287ae36fa8d833e8e264d801264841f fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1287ae36fa8d833e8e264d801264841f\"><\/div>\n<p>That story, put simply, is the retreat of Christianity in the West and the emergence of a new religious faith in its place \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Pagan-America-Decline-Christianity-Dark\/dp\/1684514444\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=X813ZLX9CYSS&#038;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ORJO6r1AmZkvTkvBjUnKeZLWnzc5KTupdXWPVVyz8m_f4czxOeUWGV7tCgPgwg7XeH8rr7x0pr6ntHN1uPcXnRocm_C3noCi7DPvPA4-Hcd_zqwMVRjV_8-MbFQMwlQhX-Qy6J2dXREKY1VseaHC1X4MukFX_RcSq_QeG3w_VneRwoSUnR4EhTyz8GgvbtGciwqvU9IfVbQO5lvY_j884E4PB-AA075VOse6AiT3b34.QymjfSYu4HcZFa7Es6g3wg-aS10OTo1LuIhirZmvBPY&#038;dib_tag=se&#038;keywords=john+daniel+davidson+pagan+america&#038;qid=1711675518&#038;sprefix=pagan+america%2Caps%2C998&#038;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a new paganism<\/a>. What comes amid the decline of the Christian faith is not some live-and-let-live secular liberal utopia, not a rational and atheistic political order with neutral public spaces and a culture of tolerance. Instead, we have a new form of paganism with its own moral precepts, obligations, and rites. And unlike the secular liberal order, which embraced tolerance and pluralism as an inheritance from Christianity, the pagan order will be intolerant in the extreme.<\/p>\n<p>Let me clarify my terms. By \u201cpaganism\u201d I don\u2019t necessarily mean a flood of new converts to the cult of Zeus or Woden (although that too is <a href=\"https:\/\/unherd.com\/?p=493283?tl_inbound=1&#038;tl_groups%5b0%5d=18743&#038;tl_period_type=3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">on the rise<\/a>, at least in Britain). The postmodern pagan culture that\u2019s now emerging won\u2019t look like the paganism of the past, but it will be no less pagan for all that.<\/p>\n<p>The pagan ethos, across immense spans of history and geography and cultures, has always been a rejection of reason and objective moral truth (along with the entire idea of objectivity), and a radical embrace of relativism and subjectivity in every realm of life. Paganism embraces a divinization of the here and now, of things and even people. Its creed, so far as it has one, can be summed up in the maxim: Nothing is true, everything is permitted.<\/p>\n<p>What that means in practice, of course, is a society in which power and force, not democracy or human rights or universal moral principles, rule the day. This is why the most advanced pagan societies have always taken the form of slave empires. They are societies in which power alone determines what is right. In such societies, the ruling class is free to do as they please as regards the underclass, who are obliged to adhere to the state morality and do as they\u2019re told.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2b9a66ed037d23cdefc6bea1c3f9cb28 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-2b9a66ed037d23cdefc6bea1c3f9cb28\"><\/div>\n<p>Understood in that light, we can see the outlines of a modern form of paganism emerging in our time, especially on the political left. The official morality of the left forbids any dissent from the LGBT agenda and its claims about identity, for example. This is why lawmakers in deep-blue states like California want to make it a crime if parents don\u2019t affirm their child\u2019s \u201cgender identity.\u201d This is why public schools, captured by leftist ideologues, aggressively indoctrinate students in gender theory, and even socially \u201ctransition\u201d children without the knowledge of their parents. We are going to see more of this, not less, as Christianity retreats from public life in America.<\/p>\n<p>What Biden\u2019s White House is trying to communicate by declaring Easter Sunday to be about transgender awareness is that the old moral order is being replaced by something new. If you don\u2019t adhere to the new morality, if you don\u2019t offer a pinch of incense to Caesar, you will be endlessly persecuted. If you don\u2019t believe me, ask Jack Phillips.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, it should be obvious by now that there are no neutral spaces anymore. There never were, really. Secular liberalism was a luxury only a predominantly Christian society could afford. Without societal norms derived from Christianity, sustained by the actual practice of the Christian faith among the people, liberalism decays. Recall that Christianity is the only moral system that has ever protected minority rights, for example, or ever declared that each person has inherent dignity. With the Christian faith, these ideals will die. And in the vacuum created by the faith\u2019s desuetude, something else is rushing in.<\/p>\n<p>The famous atheist Richard Dawkins doesn\u2019t seem to grasp this. A clip of an <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LBC\/status\/1774510715975368778?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">interview Dawkins gave recently<\/a> made the rounds Monday on social media. Commenting on the promotion of Ramadan instead of Easter in Britain, Dawkins expressed his disapproval and remarked, \u201cWe are culturally a Christian country. I call myself a cultural Christian. I\u2019m not a believer. But there\u2019s a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bb863eb18cbe36471271be00e972091d fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-bb863eb18cbe36471271be00e972091d\"><\/div>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <span class=\"KHA59WkYe2iLZLxJVMbgmRCZ1OvJQ2a1hF8wu4PU0TEQs9Hd6VrxfNu7DqPc0iKIBOkoUczgGoDXe3\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I&#8217;d choose Christianity every single time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Self-proclaimed &#8216;cultural Christian&#8217;, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RichardDawkins?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RichardDawkins<\/a>, tells <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RachelSJohnson?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RachelSJohnson<\/a> he&#8217;s &#8216;slightly horrified&#8217; to hear Ramadan lights were hung on Oxford Street rather than Easter lights. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZY2ePfpms1\">pic.twitter.com\/ZY2ePfpms1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LBC (@LBC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LBC\/status\/1774510715975368778?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 31, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/span> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>He went on to talk about how he loves Christian hymns and cathedrals, but also he\u2019s happy that the number of people in Britain who actually believe in Christianity is going down. \u201cBut I would not be happy if, for example, we lost all our cathedrals and our beautiful parish churches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Does Dawkins think these artifacts of Christendom, the cathedrals and Christmas carols, will endure without the faith that created them? Does he think that a post-Christian Britain won\u2019t revert to some form of paganism or Islam? He seems to think that cultural Christianity can survive without the faith that created and sustained it. He\u2019s wrong, as anyone not blinded by their priors can plainly see. Once the faith goes, it isn\u2019t long before the cathedrals and parish churches go too. In Britain and across Europe, beautiful empty churches are being repurposed as concert halls, coffee shops, and luxury apartments. There simply aren\u2019t enough Christians to keep them as churches.<\/p>\n<p>Much the same thing goes for our own country. America was founded not just on certain ideals but with a certain kind of people in mind, a predominantly Christian people, and it depends for its survival on their moral virtue and piety, without which the entire experiment will collapse. Without a national civic culture shaped by the Christian faith, and without a majority consensus in favor of Christian morality, America as we know it will come to an end.<\/p>\n<p>With apologies to the likes of Dawkins, Christianity\u2019s decline across the West doesn\u2019t mean that secular liberalism, much less atheism, will triumph, but that a new religious creed will take its place. And make no mistake: This new form of paganism will bring with it all the violence and oppression common to every pagan empire across the dreary ages of the world. Instead of citizens in a self-governing republic, we will find ourselves slaves in a pagan empire.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7fea9700359f98479770a8c100fb1175 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-7fea9700359f98479770a8c100fb1175\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Biden intentionally highlighted Transgender Day of Visibility on Easter, a significant day in the Christian calendar. This strategic decision sparked discussions as it coincided with Easter, showing support for the transgender community on a day celebrated by many Christians. The White House&#8217;s action raised debates on the timing and implications of promoting the transgender agenda<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":2211135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Transgender-Day-of-Visibility.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2211134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Transgender-Day-of-Visibility.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211134","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\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}