Secular Spirituality, the New Legalism
By Peter and Helen Evans (12/27/05)
"The new legalism is directed not at criminals but at the moral structure of private life," says Michael D. O'Brien, author of “Father Elijah: An Apocalypse.”
His book is about a near-future society that has embraced secular spirituality to the point that the government enforces it. We pointed to the problem that occurs in society when we take God out of it and substitute the government for the highest authority in "The God-less Church of the Democrats." ("http//peterandhelenevans.com/articles-godless.html"). Mr. O'Brien lives in Canada. The conservative party there would look much like our liberal party and the liberal party there boasts that they are socialists.
He examines where such a society can go if unhindered, how individual rights can be trampled in the name of goodness and right, how the government will decide how children should be educated and, most distressing, what sins are also crimes. It's a chilling story and we highly recommend the book “Father Elijah.” Mr. O'Brien has the courage to bring to fiction an account of how this political/cultural climate is part of a much, much larger picture. Namely, the battle between good and evil which has raged on this earth since the Fall. Few works of fiction take this matter seriously, but “Father Elijah” is no-holds-barred.
The lines between the separation of Church and State are being blurred up North and have been blurred over and over again in Europe. Recently, Rocco Buttiglione, who was slated for leadership in the European Commission, was scorned and barred from membership because he truthfully said that he believes homosexuality is a sin. However, as an official of the European Union, whose membership comprises many different religions, he felt he could consider it a sin, but not a crime. He was allowing for the separation of Church and State. Yet, isn't it interesting that the very people we hear insisting on the separation are actually trying to bring about a combination of "Church" and State. However, the "religion" they intend to establish doesn't have God as its ultimate authority, but the bureaucratic elite of the government; in many cases, themselves.
On the homefront, last week over 1,500 people attended the four-hour funeral of executed murderer Tookie Williams. They expressed outrage that society "took him out". Even though Tookie didn't himself repent for his crimes, his supporters took it upon themselves to proclaim him absolved. They could apparently see something that the rest of us, who believe in right and wrong, couldn't. They made up some new rules for ‘compassion’ and ‘justice.’ It's part of a new secular spirituality. You may not have noticed it, but it's all around us; you may even have adopted some of its tenets without realizing it. Greater still, you may not realize it's a part of the larger, much older struggle here on earth between those age-old forces of good and evil. And it's coming to a government near you.
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