There’s a new witch hunt underway. Occurring at the behest of an ascendant secular orthodoxy, the 21st century version is no less zealous in its fervor, its dogmatic absolutism, and its lack of concern for the evidence than the Puritan witch hunts of 17th century New England. Its victims? Small Christian colleges, faith-based homeschoolers, and Catholic charities, according to writer Mary Eberstadt.
In her new book, It’s Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and Its Enemies (Harper, 2016), Eberstadt argues that the long-running culture war over abortion and other kindred issues has, over the last decade, taken a sinister turn for the worse. In the past ten years, nuns have been forced by the federal government to include contraceptives in their health insurance offerings. Pastors in one of the country’s largest cities have been ordered to submit any sermons on homosexuality or other gender-related matters to the mayor’s office. Bakers have been sued and shamed out of business for refusing to provide wedding cakes at gay weddings, which now bear the imprimatur of state approval.
“Belligerent secularism, not religious traditionalism, is the true heir to Puritanism today,” Eberstadt declares. “It is standard-bearers within the progressive-secular alliance, not religious traditionalists, who now enforce dogma on the wider society, who police cultural precincts for heretics, and who shun and shame dissenters.”
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2 comments:
It's kind of ridiculous what modern day religion has become. It's like a side show, a mockery of the good book. Services filled with props like some sort of scripted play. People on television self promoting book and CD sales only, or sowing seed into their "ministry". Locally you have pastors that boast about how many people in their congregations but what is being taught there? If the word is effecting 600-700 so called members and they are influencing the people they come in contact with why are the streets so unsafe, moral decay everywhere? Truth be told the leaders of these organizations worry about what happens within their circles and behind their church doors at best and that is a far stretch.
The post author once again writes until something somehow makes sense.The general contents and subject matter we already know.Nothing has to manifest itself to enlighten the ignorant masses.They will remain ignorant regardless.
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