Innovation without truth is, well, without truth. It is instead a mere gimmick and, as such, fails to register in history’s ruthless separation of the wheat from the chaff. At best, it might resurface in a lackluster version of its once equally misguided former self. Speaking of which, there is a new #trend as younger people try to satisfy their need to believe in something aside from themselves, as their parents have often taught them, or to cope with the inevitable anxieties that are part of life.
They grope in the religious marketplace for something not quite so “established” and “normative” as Christianity, something, well, cooler. As if they are searching for the perfect countercultural outfit or posture, they might decide that being a witch or perhaps just a pagan seems cool. As a young child dressing like its parent, it reprises the hippie dippie chic without whatever modicum of imagination it once held.
This is a free country, as it should be, and we are all free to exercise our right to practice the beliefs we would like. However, let us also be honest in saying that all belief systems are not made alike. Returning to a pre-Christian pagan era is not simply idolatrous from a Christian perspective, it is valueless from any perspective, as it literally has no associated definitive values.
Although it is true that Christianity is the most popular religion in the world, perhaps its appeal is because it is appealing. It is reasonably argued that it is successful because it was and will always be the most authentically countercultural set of beliefs in the world. After all, we worship a poor man from Galilee who was crucified on a cross for preaching about truth, love and compassion.
Christianity does now fall into the category of “organized religions,” but perhaps that is also a testament to its past success and a necessity for its future success. After all, it is pretty hard to manage the spiritual lives of and other services for over 2 billion people and growing without organization or structure.
So, maybe a confirmation picture complete with crooked teeth or a bike-grease stained first communion dress is not cool, even embarrassing, but then what is cool without a certain amount of conformity-induced humiliation. So, on second thought, maybe it is cool, but it is just not #trending.
Also see Douthat’s (2019) remarks on the (overstated) #trend – https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/opinion/american-christianity.html
>>https://longinglogos.com/necessity-for-christian-witness-secular-society/<<