The villain of this piece is closely associated with Opus Dei http://www.odan.org
He is highly praised by Rod Dreher who is in turn good friends with Paul Kingsnorth who makes much of his association with the First Things group the applied (macho) politics of which is described here:
I think the biggest issue is that secularism can be awfully lonely. Churches offer group cohesion and social support that are terribly appealing and the humanist/secularist response to this has been anemic at best. Sunday Assemblies tried bringing people together with singing, but only to pop songs. You could not compare the meek sing-alongs of SA to the tear inducing rapture of the megachurch. They tried to ape the means but divested it of meaning. Humanist groups offer lectures and community events but they focus on dry ethics and legislation. Nobody ever really cries at a humanist gathering, which means it's not touching the heart in a way to anchor the mind.
Now, I'm an atheist/non-theist (depending on the question), and a member of a local humanist group and I love every one of them, but I feel the disconnect. Post-pandemic, I've self ostracized socially, and seeking a reason to rejoin the humanist flock, (there is zero chance of a Christian conversion here, I'd go Sikh first if they'd have me) but the pull isn't quite strong enough. The Sunday meetings just seem boring. And I see the videos of rapture in the pews, the tears flowing, minds clinging to the ridiculous just to maintain that chemical connection. The power of it frightens me. What could I come to believe if I gave in to that feeling? How can I bring that feeling to the real, the secular, the humanistic?
I feel that part of this is sterility in the approach to the spiritual. Spirituality, as defined in terms of a relationship with the universe not in any woo, is vital to the secular experience of meaning. (Vervaeke Part eloquently, part clumsily elucidated this in his lecture series). Secularists fight against terms that the religious leverage to great effect like grace, faith, transcendence, worship, soul, etc. Taking these terms back and applying them to a very real relationship with the nature of existence can bring poetry back to the practice of a spirituality that does not rely on judgmental cosmic agencies or wishful thinking, while embracing the noumenal, the unknowable, the uncontrollable.
Group cohesion is a very strong ramp into the transcendental, strong enough to change and form belief. Humans are much more likely to adopt the opinions and beliefs of a group with which they identify, even very ridiculous beliefs or beliefs that go against prior principles. This is anathema to many of us that value truth over all but I feel we need a bit more of it so that we don't lose those that need a relationship with other people more than they need a solid relationship with the truth (Elon Musk is a very rich but lonely man, look at what he'll believe now just for likes. You can rail against him but still pity him, he has everything but fell into the trap laid by trying to find a group that would accept him.)
I've seen family who were ardently anti gun, suddenly take up arms after joining churches and aligning with ultra-conservative viewpoints. I've seen men figure out a way to believe in God just to join their wife's faith and save their marriage, and I suspect that the current imbalance of men joining churches has more to do with the celebration of a kind of macho masculinity comically expressed by black American flags and AR-15s because they believe the lie that any kind of masculinity is somehow toxic and these groups are giving them a version they can celebrate in reaction to the judgements they perceive from "the other side".
And then there are families. I have 6 kids and no community. Joining a church, praising Jesus, putting on the magic underwear, all would possibly greatly improve living, finding my kids friends, finding them opportunities. But I'm a stubborn sonofabitch, and so are my kids. And I couldn't tolerate eating potluck casserole while listening to the religious prattle on about God, or worse, sports. I do get tired of "deconversion" stories (the secular are as fond of telling you about their loss of faith as the faithful are of telling you about finding it. People are people.) but enjoy the conversation of the secular much more, so my solution is to find a better local secular community, and lacking that, building one.
Speaking of toxic macho-Christianity one of the leading edge examples of such is featured in these two essays:
http://www.nerdreich.com/unhumans-jd-vance-and-the-language-of-genocide
http://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2024/03/08/cpac-attendees-america-under-attack
The villain of this piece is closely associated with Opus Dei http://www.odan.org
He is highly praised by Rod Dreher who is in turn good friends with Paul Kingsnorth who makes much of his association with the First Things group the applied (macho) politics of which is described here:
http://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2019/03/22/resurgence-of-the-catholic-political-right-under-trump
Thanks, I'll look into those links.
I think the biggest issue is that secularism can be awfully lonely. Churches offer group cohesion and social support that are terribly appealing and the humanist/secularist response to this has been anemic at best. Sunday Assemblies tried bringing people together with singing, but only to pop songs. You could not compare the meek sing-alongs of SA to the tear inducing rapture of the megachurch. They tried to ape the means but divested it of meaning. Humanist groups offer lectures and community events but they focus on dry ethics and legislation. Nobody ever really cries at a humanist gathering, which means it's not touching the heart in a way to anchor the mind.
Now, I'm an atheist/non-theist (depending on the question), and a member of a local humanist group and I love every one of them, but I feel the disconnect. Post-pandemic, I've self ostracized socially, and seeking a reason to rejoin the humanist flock, (there is zero chance of a Christian conversion here, I'd go Sikh first if they'd have me) but the pull isn't quite strong enough. The Sunday meetings just seem boring. And I see the videos of rapture in the pews, the tears flowing, minds clinging to the ridiculous just to maintain that chemical connection. The power of it frightens me. What could I come to believe if I gave in to that feeling? How can I bring that feeling to the real, the secular, the humanistic?
I feel that part of this is sterility in the approach to the spiritual. Spirituality, as defined in terms of a relationship with the universe not in any woo, is vital to the secular experience of meaning. (Vervaeke Part eloquently, part clumsily elucidated this in his lecture series). Secularists fight against terms that the religious leverage to great effect like grace, faith, transcendence, worship, soul, etc. Taking these terms back and applying them to a very real relationship with the nature of existence can bring poetry back to the practice of a spirituality that does not rely on judgmental cosmic agencies or wishful thinking, while embracing the noumenal, the unknowable, the uncontrollable.
Group cohesion is a very strong ramp into the transcendental, strong enough to change and form belief. Humans are much more likely to adopt the opinions and beliefs of a group with which they identify, even very ridiculous beliefs or beliefs that go against prior principles. This is anathema to many of us that value truth over all but I feel we need a bit more of it so that we don't lose those that need a relationship with other people more than they need a solid relationship with the truth (Elon Musk is a very rich but lonely man, look at what he'll believe now just for likes. You can rail against him but still pity him, he has everything but fell into the trap laid by trying to find a group that would accept him.)
I've seen family who were ardently anti gun, suddenly take up arms after joining churches and aligning with ultra-conservative viewpoints. I've seen men figure out a way to believe in God just to join their wife's faith and save their marriage, and I suspect that the current imbalance of men joining churches has more to do with the celebration of a kind of macho masculinity comically expressed by black American flags and AR-15s because they believe the lie that any kind of masculinity is somehow toxic and these groups are giving them a version they can celebrate in reaction to the judgements they perceive from "the other side".
And then there are families. I have 6 kids and no community. Joining a church, praising Jesus, putting on the magic underwear, all would possibly greatly improve living, finding my kids friends, finding them opportunities. But I'm a stubborn sonofabitch, and so are my kids. And I couldn't tolerate eating potluck casserole while listening to the religious prattle on about God, or worse, sports. I do get tired of "deconversion" stories (the secular are as fond of telling you about their loss of faith as the faithful are of telling you about finding it. People are people.) but enjoy the conversation of the secular much more, so my solution is to find a better local secular community, and lacking that, building one.