Atheists, Individualists and Gnostics, Oh My!

"The battle for Christmas and the creep of the 'spiritual'" by Paul Allen is an article about the "War on Christmas" that gives me a bit of hope that there might actually be a war on, just, obviously, not the war against Consumermas Christmas people are being sold by media and politicians (read: the Manipulation-Propaganda Complex).

"It may look like Christianity is under serious attack from civic officialdom, but that’s not where the true danger lies.

The real bias against the Christian faith comes from the world of ideas. It is tempting to blame the 'new atheists,' writers like Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, who became bestsellers by arguing against God. But if Christians want to understand why people have abandoned the church, they should look beyond these very public atheists.

If my encounters with students mean anything — not to mention the data from Statistics Canada that identify growing numbers of people who believe in God yet don’t belong to a church or other worshipping community — there is a significant preference in our culture (among younger people at least) to identify ourselves as 'spiritual but not religious.'

If Christians want to show how Christianity is a plausible spiritual and religious option, they should think about personal commitment and history. Two problematic ideas are at work in 2011: first, a spiritual individualism that intentionally bypasses the Christian church's 2,000-year-old tradition of thought; and second, Gnosticism, the recurring spiritual outlook that is equal parts esoteric thinking and sheer historical detachment." [via]

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• Tags:atheists, christian church, christianity, christmas, christopher hitchens, Consumermas, culture, detachment, gnosticism, God, history, holiday, individualism, manipulation, Manipulation Propaganda Complex, paul allen, personal commitment, politicians, propaganda, richard dawkins, ritual, spiritual outlook, tradition, true danger, war