The New Political Christianity

Western civilisation has not succeeded because its liberal and secular principles are Christian; it has succeeded because Western Christians have accepted its liberal and secular values, writes Adam Wakeling.

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Quillette is an Australian-based online magazine that focuses on long-form analysis and cultural commentary. It is politically non-partisan, but relies on reason, science, and humanism as its guiding values.

Quillette was founded in 2015 by Australian writer Claire Lehmann. It is a platform for free thought and a space for open discussion and debate on a wide range of topics, including politics, culture, science, and technology.

Quillette has gained attention for publishing articles and essays that challenge modern heterodoxy on a variety of topics, including gender and sexuality, race and identity politics, and free speech and censorship.

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[DavidMotherland]

Re: scientific method/Protestants- Gutenberg predates Luther, Copernicus and Galileo were Catholics, Bacon was Anglican. Not sure what you would call Newton. However
precedence must go to the Prophet Elijah, who proved by the experimental method that the Prophets of Baal could not start an alter fire by invoking him, but Elijah, by calling upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, could indeed cause it to burn. Although this was published long ago I know of no one as yet who has reproduced the results.

[JesusPeopleSF]

As a Christian, I have never felt so alienated from what is popularly known as "christian." It seems unrecognizable whether you look at the political left or right, or the theological left or right.

[ToursPoitiers]

This video needs an update. The scientific method evolved in the 13. And 14. Century in the monastic scholarly area. It was monks and priests who advocated for empiricism and experiments as testing statements. Galileo, Leibniz, Descartes, newton were ALL Christians and took their motivation to understand the world frlm the christian philosophy of "book of nature". Also was the separation between state and church already virulent in the high middle agea around 1000-1200. This is shown in the so called Investiturstreit. This constant quarrels between Pope and Kaiser led to the establishment of universities to gain juridical well taught employees for both the pope and the Kaiser

[hismajesty]

As a Christian, “political Christianity” has some limited utility in evangelization, but it’s spiritually vapid if it’s just to “own the libs” or something dumb. Christianity has been the guiding principle I’ve tried to follow for as long as I’ve been sentient, and it’s sad to see some people try to embrace it but miss the point completely. Prayers go out to those still in that awkward movement. I hope they can be Christian for salvation, not politics.

[infesta]

I appreciate the topic, arguments and effort put into this video. Also, good length. Thank you. 🙏

[billbadson]

7:44
_"Our economy could not function without the practice of lending at interest."_

Nor can it function with the practice of lending at interest, save for the world-enslaving system of perpetual, intentional currency inflation.

[j]

From a health perspective, religious people report, on average, better physical and mental health compared to non-religious people. There has been substantial research done on this in positive psychology.

[mayormccheese]

There used to be an old Sesame Street cartoon where a man hated frogs and wished they'd all go away. They did, but then his backyard was filled with flies. He realised that he needed the frogs to eat the flies and asked them back. At they end of the cartoon he says "I still hate frogs, but they're better than flies." This is how a lot of clever-boy atheists in the West feel about Christianity. They begrudgingly realise they need them, because morality is hard, and Pride flags aren't going to cut it.

[jamesl]

There is a risk that the significant numbers of genuine adult converts now joining the church will just be simplistically lumped together with these nominal/cultural/political 'Christians' despite the huge contrast.

[Sr]

What’s missing here is the distinction between pure Christianity and nominal Christianity. You can’t blame Jesus for all the bad things done in his name. Just because someone / a group/ a political leader calls themself Christian doesn’t mean that whatever they do is in any way indicative of Christianity

[Papamarmottin]

Christianity has been declining because no one feels the necessity to give it another shot. That's why I'm here, I suppose.
Now, I'm a humble person, I've never had much faith in anything, nor any reason to call for God. My deepest acquaintance with the celestial was when mother read to me the holy scriptures, until I fell asleep.
But one day, as a dog handler, I was confronted with very violent people. Of course, my dog and I were trained, but there was a church just above where the drunken riots took place, and God knows I prayed to him then, and I've never stopped since.
Those who've never seen unholy acts take place can deny God, but when they're put upon by those who would ignore him, they pray very much, because it's all they have left.

[Planeet-Long]

10:10 You forget that most people in the developed West undergo some weird mental gymnastics where Eastern Europeans and Latin Americans are seen as "non-Western" and "culturally alien" despite having near identical cultures and also being Christian. This narrow definition of "the West" essentially paints these regions as being as culturally foreign to them as Islamic countries or India are.

[TesterBoy]

Jesus is the truth incarnated. And he demands your entire life. If the price is not your life, then you are for not a true follower of Christ. True love is a denial of self. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” Matthew 16:26.

[IntellectualDorkWeb]

Thank you for calling out the BS of the Intellectual Dork Web.

[liamwinter]

I can't help but feel it's being pushed by a design for a agenda.

[TayoBiz]

One thing for sure, Christians, and to be honest, anyone with any sense should call out what happened at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. Blatant disrespect to a religion.

[IsaiahSellassie]

Sophomoric fluff. Observations, assertions and a deductive conclusion from the tenets of Quillette's own religion. Namely, enlightenment fundamentalism. Pinkerism might be another word for it. The idea that something described by the abstract noun, enlightenment is a revolutionary departure from prior antecedents---mostly framed in Christian terms, although some predate Christianity---a dramatic pivot in history rather than another milestone in a long, continual series. Hence, the coinage western civilization, as distinct from the encompassing and meaningful whole, Christian civilization.

I suspect this sense of departure or pivot derives mainly from the extraordinary developments in science, engineering and industry. The enlightenment fundamentalist usually speaks of these as if they are droppings from the Platonic ether where the god Enlightenment resides.

[AndyJarman]

The author of this video (Adam Wakeling) seems unaware of the different motivations behind actions when describing Christianity as the cause of great 'good' and great 'bad' events.

It may well be that liberalism has forgotten the spirit that enabled it to flourish.

I do not believe "alternative religions rush in to fill the void".

I believe that the Christian message (found from reading the text) is fundamentally important because without it what Christians call "evil" is frequently the default setting of the human condition.

It may be that a new humanism is evolving in response to the Godless mind virus of cynicism.

Somehow a message of hope beyond material wealth and security needs to be retained in the liberal project.

Peterson appears to be parsing back the accretions of mediævalism and creating a myth of the importance of values the mammalian condition requires in order to flourish.

We nurture our young, we band together, and we defend ourselves.

These sorts of drives must be placed within a story in order they can be passed on.

Story telling is a consequence of our need to form groups for mutual advantage. It's a very mammalian way of behaving.

Unfortunately, since we are not mediæval anymore, and skepticism is so easily replaced with cynicism, we have a need to reinforce the myth of our identity.

I believe we have to accept that we run on myths, and are free to chose which myth we want ( a Christian idea now paraded as cultural relativism).

Nonetheless for society to prosper we do need a common grand narrative.

I think Peterson is helping us forge this by mining the Christian text and illuminating its value and its values as the monks illuminated their texts to make them more accessible.

[arnowisp]

Accepted it's Liberal and Secular Values? You this idea that Providence has evident these truths. That all men were created Equal? An idea found in the Bible but non existent in some religions like Hinduism that literally had a Caste system that was clearly incompatible with this idea?

[Planeet-Long]

Liberalism (both economic and social) and science developed despite of Christianity, not because of Christianity.