In this
modern day and age, politics infiltrate almost every aspect of our lives; how
we live, who we associate with, what we do, and, importantly, what we believe. In
this modern world where Christian values are in decline, it is an unfortunate
consequence that main atheist and agnostic individuals are unwittingly worshipping
their political party. Even some Christians and other religious follow this
practice, setting a dangerous precedent wherein political values are placed
over religious morals.
What
happens when one places their political values over their religious ones? To
put it bluntly- they put societal expectations above the expectations of God-
valuing earthly pleasure and affirmation over spiritual sanctity and
development. According to recent studies, the Churchgoing population has
decreased rapidly in the past two decades, being originally between roughly 70%
to suddenly being only 50%, and still declining, and atheism and agnosticism
have increased dramatically, being 25% of the American population.[2] This statistic shows that there has been a decline
in those who care to follow God.
In many
ways, political values have become a ‘faith,’ one that conflicts with Judeo-Christian
values in a uniquely dangerous way- one that enforces an “us or them”
philosophy; do you follow all aspects of your political party, or do you
continue to follow your faith, even if some aspects of church values put you at
odds with the political values enforced by your party (I.E. being pro-life)?
Many of those who choose the latter are met with severe backlash: encouraged to
be silent or threatened, accused of their words being a form of violence
against others.[4] This encouragement
to be quiet is especially targeted towards Christian religions and harkens back
to the English Reformation, wherein those of Catholic faith were discriminated
against, treated as second class citizens, and overall viewed as though they
were lesser human beings.
Finally
and most alarming is the destruction of the family unit. Many youths in the
modern age are effectively brainwashed by politics, encouraged to take an
approach to politics wherein their values must be taken as absolute- and this
means that any disagreement with friends, or even family, will result in a
destruction of the family.[6] This brainwashing
is a concern due to the implications it holds for the next generation; how dramatically
it can affect a family’s wellbeing, and the damage it can do to spiritual
health. So many learn of faith through their families- but if the family itself
is deemed evil, there is nothing to stop someone from then determining that the
Christian faith which encourages those ‘evil’ values must to be wrong. And so
what is there to say that alongside denouncing these ‘wrongthink’ political
values, shouldn’t the faith that shares similar values also be scorned?
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