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Barna profiles a generation on the cliff’s crumbling edge — 78 million US Millennials

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Barna’s current report, “New Insights into the Generation of Growing Influence: Millennials In America,” is a portrait of a generation adrift, dancing on the edge of a cliff, and reflective of generations of civilisational betrayal by intellectual, policy/political, media and educational leadership leading to a destabilised culture. And so, this cannot wait, triple bereavement life crisis or no, this needs to be highlighted and preliminarily assessed here at UD:

The report’s snapshot summary tells the grim story in outline:

And:

Also, we may add on Religious identification, affinity and affiliation:

We can start with the obvious, as within living memory of those of us who were of age to notice, between 1989 and 1991, Marxism’s credibility as a principle of economic organisation collapsed before our eyes. So, if the immediately following generation does not understand such after its seventy years of chaos, tyranny, state led murder of over 100 millions and outright economic failure, we are dealing with a generation that were deliberately misled by ideologues who cared not a whit for that horrific track record. One that is actually worse than that of Communism’s kissing cousin, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi, for short). (And yes, they meant the “Socialist.”)

So, first and foremost we are dealing with a deeply manipulated generation robbed of objective truth about pivotal worldview, policy, history, ideology and personal matters. That indicts at least two to three full generations of intellectual, policy, media and educational leaders and influencers, with implications across the full span of the pillars of community influence:

Likewise, the Overton Window speaks:

Where, the modified political spectrum is therefore also instructive on the peril:

So, it is unsurprising to see the overall outline being sketched. Selecting key points:

  • almost half of those born 1984 – 2002 prefer socialism to capitalism
  • a majority (likely with a large opposed minority and that’s the obvious trend-direction) “held a positive opinion of Jesus Christ, the United States of America and the Bible”
  • Confirming that inference, 40% “don’t know if God exists, don’t care if God exists, or don’t believe that He exists.” (God, the necessary and maximally great being at reality’s root is the single most important point of knowledge of reality; where, a serious candidate necessary being either exists as framework to any possible world or is impossible of being, the latter never having been shown. So the hyperskeptical indifference is telling on intellectual breakdown.)
  • Unsurprisingly, in this light, only 1/3 claim to “believe in God as the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect and just creator of the universe who still rules the universe today”
  • parallelling this, “Roughly two-thirds . . . align themselves with the Christian faith”
  • likewise, “[j]ust over one-quarter of them said they do not associate with any religious faith”
  • “39% of 18-24 year olds identify as LGBTQ” (Historically, in the West, 1 – 3% have been practicing homosexuals but this proportion globally ranges from vanishingly small to 100% forced participation through institutionalisation, in different cultures.)
  • “[t]hree out of four . . . believe all religious faiths are of equal value”
  • on “social issues,” 40 percent [a now familiar figure] identify as liberal or progressivist, with 29% as conservative.
  • they identify as Democrats vs Republicans 2:1, revealing the predominant ideological influencers of their formative years
  • “[m]ost Millennials reject the existence of absolute moral truth and identify feelings, experiences, and advice from family and friends as their most trusted sources of moral guidance” (That is, they drift with the cultural flow and thus those who dominate education and media.)
  • likewise, three out of four “said that they are still searching for their purpose in life,” reflecting the influence of worldviews and cultural agendas that are antithetical to purpose, other than arbitrarily selected desires
  • “[o]f the nine cultural influencer categories tested, none of them were trusted by a majority to “always or almost always tell the truth or do what is right.” (This cynicism reflects disintegration of social and cultural capital built up over generations.)
  • “[t]he least trusted entities were entertainment celebrities, popular social media personalities, and elected government officials” (So, the influences come through peers and opinion leaders in families and groups.)
  • “The most highly trusted influencers were their parents and friends”
  • 2 out of 3 “admitted to avoiding interaction with someone if it was likely to produce conflict,” which tends to block change based on mutually critical reflection and to reinforce cultural echo chambers
  • issues they prioritise indicate “never let a crisis go to waste” media domination of their thinking: “CORONAVIRUS MANAGEMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE, RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, ABORTION, THE ECONOMY”

The need for a sound counter-culture is patent. END

Comments
@48 So KF, let's see if I understand Cicero correctly: The first duties are "implanted in [our] nature" by God, which results in an inner "voice of conscience" which informs us about our first duties. So, the first duties do not emerge from our nature, they are, as you put it, "written in our hearts" by God. Is my understanding correct?Origenes
November 10, 2021
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Sev and CD, Do you honestly believe that your thoughts are of no real consequence and that they are just chemical reactions that are reacting to stimuli? Do you really believe that? Can you possibly believe that? If so, how could you ever possibly trust your conclusions? How could you even make a definitive judgment on anything. Sev, you completely hand waived off so much stuff. You called something absurd (but you can't define absurd objectively). You still think that mankind is good (at least some of it?) and left alone it wouldn't corrupt itself? Adam and Eve's sin was they wanted to become God. It was a power grab, and a self-destructing one. Your objection here is pretty trivial and easily reasoned, but reason and logic don't have any foundation in your worldview. Puddle of molecules doing a dance.... You cannot possibly think that you are just random chemical reactions. You just can't. That is absurd. And you haven't lived a minute of your life consistently under that lie.zweston
November 10, 2021
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What was the answer to my question in @43? Or do you mean to say that there was actually no answer to my question?
There is most definitely is an answer. And has been given numerous times. What objectives do humans have? Two are 1) survival and 2) thriving. What contributes to these? There is your answer. The specifics will vary from culture to culture and geography to geography but these objectives are common to all and will have commonalities in how they are obtained. Aside: this in no way denies individuality but also affirms essential commonalities. For example, see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. But as I said few here or anywhere want an answer.jerry
November 10, 2021
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Origenes, let's see, duties:
1] to truth -- as in, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour . . . that novel and suspect notion 2] to right reason -- Eph 4:17 ff identifies that benumbed conscience and hard hearts thus clouded en-darkened defective reasoning are results of willful rebellion and v 15 points to truthing it in love empowered by the Spirit of Christ, where untruth is foundation of injustice 3] to prudence including warrant -- part of wisdom and a key virtue, inter alia subject of several entire books of the Bible 4] sound conscience -- a major scriptural theme 5] neighbour, explained by Moses, Jesus and Paul as pivotal to lawful behaviour informed by conscience and decalogue alike 6] fairness -- implication of 5 and a major biblical theme to do what is right, just, fair 7] justice -- often righteousness etc, a major theme
Now, that is not to say this comes from Bible texts, we have drawn on Cicero's remarks in De Legibus, which likely contribute to the intellectual climate Paul points to in Rom 2 and 13 when he points to lawfulness written in our hearts. Cicero of course is laying the foundation of law in intelligible, built in human nature. We are morally governed creatures and our individual and collective well being critically depends on our by and large living by such. The willful breaches in fact profit by being exceptional. If truth and right reason are disregarded civilisation collapses. Let me clip Cicero:
—Marcus [i.e. Tullus Cicero, in de Legibus, introductory remarks,. C1 BC, being Cicero himself appearing in his dialogue form work as a character]: . . . we shall have to explain the true nature of moral justice, which is congenial and correspondent [36]with the true nature of man [--> we are seeing the root vision of natural law, coeval with our humanity] . . . . With respect to the true principle of justice, many learned men have maintained that it springs from Law. I hardly know if their opinion be not correct, at least, according to their own definition; for . “Law (say they) is the highest reason, implanted in nature, which prescribes those things which ought to be done, and forbids the contrary” . . . . They therefore conceive that the voice of conscience is a law, that moral prudence is a law [--> a key remark] , whose operation is to urge us to good actions, and restrain us from evil ones . . . . According to the Greeks, therefore, the name of law implies an equitable distribution of goods: according to the Romans [--> esp. Cicero, speaking as a leading statesman], an equitable discrimination between good and evil. The true definition of law should, however, include both these characteristics. And this being granted as an almost self–evident proposition, the origin of justice is to be sought in the divine law of eternal and immutable morality. This indeed is the true energy of nature, the very soul and essence of wisdom, the test of virtue and vice.
[--> this points to the wellsprings of reality, the only place where is and ought can be bridged; bridged, through the inherently good utterly wise, maximally great necessary being, the creator God, which adequately answers the Euthyphro dilemma and Hume's guillotine argument surprise on seeing reasoning is-is then suddenly a leap to ought-ought. IS and OUGHT are fused from the root]
This indeed is the true energy of nature, the very soul and essence of wisdom, the test of virtue and vice.
So, this is built in as has been noted for years including in the still ongoing prior thread. We can go on through natural law theory down to Locke citing Hooker, Blackstone, the US DoI and onward. KFkairosfocus
November 10, 2021
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Jerry @46
Your question has been answered dozens of times. It was also answered on the last thread, actually still going on.
What was the answer to my question in @43? Or do you mean to say that there was actually no answer to my question?Origenes
November 10, 2021
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are the first duties external to us, like the laws of physics are external to us, or do they emerge as a consequence of our nature?
This has been all discussed in other threads over the last year and half with thousands of comments and nothing new will be added here. Your question has been answered dozens of times. It was also answered on the last thread, actually still going on. Just ignored. No one wants answers or understanding, just circles of rants mostly nonsense. ChuckDarwin is probably laughing because he started this with his nonsense. Time for another to enter and continue with more nonsense which will all go around in circles just as it has for over a year.jerry
November 10, 2021
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Your analysis that the millenial generarion is "robbed of objective truth" is wrong. The millenials are clobbered to death with objectivity, fact, science, during many years of education. Millenials are pretty good with objectivity, science. Millenials are clueless about subjectivity, because subjectivity is a creationist concept, and creationism has been banned in academics. My explanation perfectly explains the increased mental illness, atheism, bad opinions. That is exactly what one should expect of people who are clueless about subjectivity. Millenials have neither an idea of the ordinary human spirit making choices, nor God the holy spirit. So they ignore human emotions just as well as they ignore God. Really they are just "objectivists", denying the validity of subjective opinions.mohammadnursyamsu
November 10, 2021
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Origenes, Good question. Unless a particular human, at very least, can accept and hold the information that the Spirit of God attempts to bequeath, then such a transfer can't happen. The recipient has to be able to receive what is given. A lock has to be able to be able to accept the key. Can the H.S. transfer information about quantum physics to a dog's brain that the dog can use from there on out? I have no reason to think so. It would be interesting to hear an argument for such. --Ramram
November 10, 2021
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Are the Ciceronian first duties the fruit of the Spirit of God, or are they within the ability of every man? Put another way, are the first duties external to us, like the laws of physics are external to us, or do they emerge as a consequence of our nature?Origenes
November 10, 2021
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chuckdarwin: How the young don’t measure up, how they have no values, how they are incapable of governing themselves, etc. ad nauseum. The universities have been suffering from an onslaught of Marxist ideology for several decades now. It's having an effect. Given the fact that these young minds have never lived under any system that remotely comes close to Marxism/socialist-authoritarianism, they don't have the wisdom to know what they're getting themselves into. Whether or not the outcome will be desireable for them, time will tell. If history is any indicator, it won't be pretty. --Ramram
November 10, 2021
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LCD, you focussed ethics. That is worth recognising, and notice that in the unguarded rhetorical moment, Ram appealed to justice and sanity, i.e. to right reason and to due balance of rights, freedoms and duties; rather explicitly . . . illustrating the inescapability of Ciceronian first duties. Where, to justly claim a right, one first must show oneself in the right as there can be no right to compel another to taint sound conscience (e.g. by enabling lies and oppressions under false colour of liberation -- see Haclav's greengrocer in his epochal essay, power of the powerless). So too, these point to ultimate good and utter wisdom in the necessary being roots of reality as the only place and manner the is-ought gap can be soundly bridged. Which then opens up the answer to the cynical demolition of the heritage of our civilisation that has been part of the shaming and defamation technique used to undermine the good it has done. Including, of course the mass breakout from poverty that free market free enterprise in a lawful state has effected. KFkairosfocus
November 10, 2021
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Ram Any sane and just person would blame
:)) How do you know what a sane and just person would do ? Don't speak in the name of sane and just people.Lieutenant Commander Data
November 10, 2021
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Folks, I am gavelling needless distractive theological speculations and airing of opinions that too often lack soundness even as they thunder away with obvious deeply personal hostility, as if ex cathedra. This thread is about a focal matter that is too central, too important to our plight, too urgent for such distractions; besides, such objectors have long since insistently defied advice to go to other fora where there are panels of experts able and willing to explore the theological, rhetorical, evidential, presuppositional and philosophical turns and twists. All I will say is that for 1700 years systematicians have found that exacting, careful consideration and formulation are necessary to avoid endless twists and turns of error and absurdity. I have seen no evidence that those who have been so busily thundering away and clouding the true focus of the thread, have done anything like adequate reflection, e.g. is an original man as created in God's image a naive, simpleton and ignoramus or would he be instead a towering genius beyond a Newton by our modern standards. I refocus, therefore, by again clipping the OP:
We can start with the obvious, as within living memory of those of us who were of age to notice, between 1989 and 1991, Marxism’s credibility as a principle of economic organisation collapsed before our eyes. So, if the immediately following generation does not understand such after its seventy years of chaos, tyranny, state led murder of over 100 millions and outright economic failure, we are dealing with a generation that were deliberately misled by ideologues who cared not a whit for that horrific track record. One that is actually worse than that of Communism’s kissing cousin, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi, for short). (And yes, they meant the “Socialist.”) So, first and foremost we are dealing with a deeply manipulated generation robbed of objective truth about pivotal worldview, policy, history, ideology and personal matters. That indicts at least two to three full generations of intellectual, policy, media and educational leaders and influencers . . .
Such a deep-rooted, sustained, willful betrayal is plain from the contrast between massively evident, accessible, living memory facts . . . and living eyewitnesses . . . and where a generation has been misled. It is equally patent that such betrayers can have only negative credibility; to rebuild a sound knowledge base we must go elsewhere. So, the real issue is where to go to build a counter culture. And the historic answer comes back:
Eph 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous [--> morally numb] and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity [--> addictive cycles of ever escalating perverse thrill seeking as the spreading numbness due to envenomation with fatal sin robs them of even the intensity of sensual pleasure . . . if you doubt, try rum as key case in point]. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self,[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. [ESV]
KF PS: FYI, CD et al, precisely 100% of the cited findings from Barna imply or express worldviews and linked cultural/policy agenda so too ideology themes with fate of civilisation import; kindly compare the pillars of influence model and the Overton Window political spectrum analysis. That worldviewish mentality and analytical pivot are strategically focal if our civilisation is to find a sane way forward. PPS: As a direct comparison, where are the large scale, publicly funded museums laying out the history and lessons of the Marxist age, dedicated to the memory of its 100 million victims??? Does not that wall of silence tell us all we need to know about why we see the result as above? Let me propose a name, the Milada Horakova Memorial Museum. I ADD: I went looking for a first forum and in looking at Craig's Reasonable Faith, found this all too familiar sounding exchange https://www.reasonablefaith.org/forums/index.php?topic=6058049.0 In general, I think RF may be a first place for those looking to deal with genuine -- as opposed to mere rhetorical bomb-throwing -- concerns; https://www.reasonablefaith.org/ Over the years Craig has dealt with any number of issues and questions. His YT channel may also be helpful https://www.youtube.com/user/ReasonableFaithOrg I also suggest that LeaderU is a good place and point to find other resources http://leaderu.com/ Stand to Reason is useful https://www.str.org/home and I have found Copan's work on the God as moral monster argument worth pondering, e.g. as a start here: https://evidenceandanswers.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/Episode-277-278-Is-God-a-Moral-Monster_Article.pdf Again, this is in the context, go to where there are panels of experts willing to take time and effort to address issues that have led many to perplexity. UD, for many reasons starting with absence of such a panel and a very different primary focus on import of empirically observable signs of design in cosmos and the world of life grounding a design inference, is not that forum. As for this thread, it is on a crucial sign that brings out what has gone wrong with the world of thought and policy in our civilisation over generations. kairosfocus
November 9, 2021
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Seversky Re: the Genesis story of Eden You make some good points. Moreover, it is curious that Yahweh leaves the innocent and naive couple (they didn't even know they were naken) alone with a crafty serpent for which the naive couple is no match. It's like leaving your 5 year old naive child alone with a savvy child molester, after giving the child instructions to resist all attempts at molestation, and then cursing the child molester (rightly so) and the child when the inevitable happens. Any sane and just person would blame the parent as well as the molester. Maybe even moreso. --Ramram
November 9, 2021
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Zweston/30
from Sev: “Like I said before, Christianity is a belief system built on the purported depravity and brokenness of humanity. ...
I believe it was actually CD who wrote that post but I have a few observations about the topics you raise in reply.
1. Mankind is depraved…Do you doubt this? Is it not observable to you? We try to say it is the system that brings man down, but what government or organization hasn’t been overcome with greed, disfunction, etc? The common thread is humanity, not a “system” Name one good person (actually, name a standard that is authoritative first)
No, mankind as a whole is not depraved although some people undoubtedly are. This is crude stereotypical thinking. It is as if I were to allege that the whole of Christianity is represented by the Westboro Baptist Church. There are a disturbing number of so-called Christian pastors who preach hate-filled bigotry and white nationalism, there are televangelists who use the "widow's mites" donated by their congregants to buy personal business jets and there are those who have been convicted of fraud and sexual offenses. But although such people are evidence of a corrupted faith they do not represent the whole of Christianity. There are many good Christians who try to live by the highest principles of the faith rather than personal gain. It is their lives that should be held up as an example of what is best about the faith to confront the distorted, nationalistic version that has arisen in this and other countries.
2. You technically had control over your eternal destiny…but you sinned. And you still sin..probably every day like the rest of depraved mankind. Also, you have the choice available to you right now to spend eternity in a perfect and new earth by simply repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Jesus. You don’t have to live one more second in a damned state. It’s your choice.
This is simply absurd. What was the Original Sin, the appalling one for which your God chose to punish the whole of humanity in perpetuity?Curiosity. They wanted to know the difference between Good and Evil. That's all. Where did this capacity for curiosity come from? It must have been put there by their Designer, in other words, God. So God punished them - and us - for exercising their God-given capacity for curiosity. Moreover, God lies about the whole thing. He pretends to be shocked and surprised when he finds that they have disobeyed Him. Yet, this is an omniscient deity according to Christian belief. He knows everything that has ever existed, that exists now or will ever exist. So He must have known exactly in advance what Adam and Eve would do. Yet He punishes them - and us - for it. And people like you think that is fair and just. He warns them that on the day they eat the fruit they will die. Yet, instead, He tosses them out of the garden of Eden on their ears and they live on for hundreds of years. He lied again. Yet people like you take his word as gospel
3. God is only arbitrary to you…what objective standard would you give as an evolutionist for arbitrary? You have to adopt and steal from the idea that things are coherent and make sense (theism) in order to beat up on it.
People had become aware that the world was an ordered place from simple observation, long before Christianity emerged. They watched the changing of the seasons, the movement of constellations in the sky, the migration of animals, when a river delta flooded. They noticed that a weight on the end of a piece of string could be used to provide a vertical reference line, KF's favorite plumbline. No faith was required because they could be observed by anyone who took the trouble to look.
In summary, your worldview has no standard to judge anyone as good or bad (and I’d be shocked if you genuinely thought mankind was good by nature). You have no standard to define anything as arbitrary accept an assumption that things should be orderly, intelligible and consistent, which your worldview cannot really account for
We believe we can develop our own moral standards, presumably the same way as your God developed His. You, on the other hand, are admitting you would not know the difference between good and evil unless your God told you which was which.
And you think that because young people are saying Christianity doesn’t work, therefore it must be lacking-this is a fallacy. In materialism, we can’t really worry about consistency, logic, or reason… nor is there any reason to. We are all just meat robots. We are all dogs fighting for the scrap of meat the universe threw out. Who cares if it’s good or not…
Young people are being driven away from Christianity by the dismal examples set by many who are the public face of the faith in this country. CD is right. It's not atheists or Marxist that are undermining Christianity, it is the faith itself for failing to purge the temple of the moneylenders and living instead by the Samaritan example. That is what would bring the younger generation back. The question is, are there enough left who actually believe in and are prepared to live according to the example set by Jesus in the Bible?Seversky
November 9, 2021
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Upright BiPed @32, Unfortunately, so true. There seems to be no attempt at critical thinking, only the broadcasting of the same, tired, unsupported assertions and frequently debunked stereotyping and misrepresentations. When asked a question, we get questions back and "homework assignments" in reply, which when presented after a lot of research, they will immediately dismiss without engagement by accusing us of quote mining, irrelevance, misunderstanding, misrepresenting, and so on. Such "conversations" remind me of engagements that are very similar to the evasions of early AI programs. It's not inconceivable that some personas might even be deep-learning AI trollbots. For example, check this out: https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/03/25/learning-tays-introduction/ -QQuerius
November 9, 2021
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Zweston @30,
Still love this article…even atheists know we need the church: https://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/the_turning_tide_of_intellectual_atheism
Indeed. I especially appreciated Andrew Wilson's observation:
Not so long ago, the atheists who retreated to their Darwinian towers and bricked themselves up to fire arrows at the faithful wanted to be there. Their intellectual silos were a refuge from faith because they didn’t want Christianity to be true.
So true. And now the "Woke" mob have created an ever-shifting ethos of vacuous and contradictory assertions described by Douglas Wilson in the link you provided: Douglas Wilson Blog and Mablog from yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ9n76E2BpA
Zweston: I will say he says some kind of inflammatory things, that I may not ever say or hold to myself, but I overall appreciated his take
Likewise and I agree. But the fact remains that, just what we frequently see in some responses here, the real issue involves their ideological poisoning that makes people willing to throw logical reasoning, falsifying evidence, and their unsupported assertions under the bus when challenged or no longer useful to their cause. Logic, evidence, and their assertions are just temporary masks. I don't agree with Douglas Wilson's point that the problem lies with lukewarm and spineless Christian clergy. In my opinion, it has more to do with the prevalence of non-practicing nominal Christians who just go along with the crowd. However, I do agree with Wilson's analogy to the actors in Pro Wrestling and that the supposed "saviors" in the political arena are actually part of the show themselves. -QQuerius
November 9, 2021
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One final note, I don't know about other churches in America, but the Church that I personally attend on Sunday mornings is packed for both services, with a healthy percentage of young adults and children attending. This following study seems to back up my personal experience
No, Non-Believers Are Not Increasing In America - APRIL 24, 2019 Excerpt: The stats are given as often and with as much confidence as they are wrong. The story goes that our nation is growing more secular with every passing day. Christianity is tanking, and atheists and generic non-believers mushrooming.,,, Stark gets more precise: “The entire change [toward none-ness] has taken place with the non-attending group.” “In other words,” he adds, “this change marks a decrease only in nominal affiliation, not an increase in irreligion.” Stark says the wealth of data he has studied, as well as that his peers have, “does not support claims for increased secularization, let alone a decrease in the number of Christians. It may not even reflect an increase in those who say they are ‘nones.’”,,, In fact, Professor Barry A. Kosmin, director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, the man who coined the term “the nones,” expresses frustration that the larger press has not really gotten the story right on what belief group is actually seeing the largest size increase. He told me, “The rise of nondenominational Christianity is probably one of the strongest [religious growth] trends in the last two decades” in the United States. He added that the percentage gain among the “nons,” or nondenoms, is “many times larger” compared to those we have come to know as the nones. Read that again. The growth of nondenominational churches has been many times larger than that of the nones. Is it likely that one group that is growing—the nones—are gaining folks from a particular group that is growing at even greater pace? That answer would be no. Greg Smith, the long-time associate director of research at the Pew Research Center, adds heft to the conclusion that evangelicalism is actually growing. He confidently explains that while the more liberal mainline churches have been tanking dramatically, losing from 5 to 7.5 million members since 2007 (!), things are completely different for evangelical and non-denominational churches.... The Harvard/Indiana University researchers found the same thing, explaining “evangelicals are not on the decline” but “grew from 1972 when they were 18 percent of the population, to a steady level of about 28 percent” from the late 1980s to the present. This “percentage of the population” measure is very significant because it shows not only growth in terms of real numbers, but enough growth to keep up with or even exceed the rate of population growth. That’s not nothing. https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/24/no-non-believers-not-increasing-america/
Moreover, although atheism, via propaganda, may be, (or may not be), gaining some influence in America, it is interesting to note that, on a worldwide basis, atheism is shrinking, and has been shrinking for decades now. Thus whilst atheists may have, (or may not have), some gains here and there, overall, atheists are losing the war and have been losing the war for a long time. And thank God for that! :)
Pew Study Shows Atheism is Dying While Islam Projected to Dominate by the Turn of the Century JOHN SANIDOPOULOS | 02 JUNE 2018 Excerpt: We often hear from atheists how religion is dying out as mankind comes to see the clear light of reason. Atheist “intellectuals” speak disparagingly about religion and predict that mankind is on the cusp of a new age in which religion will simply disappear as science, technology and reason are in the ascendant. The facts indicate exactly the opposite. It is religion which continues to grow around the world while the statistics indicate that agnosticism and atheism are dying out. A new report chronicled here by Pew Research at the Daily Telegraph tells a very interesting story. While the numbers of those who are “religiously unaffiliated” is predicted to rise in Western Europe and the United States, in global terms their numbers are shrinking as Christianity and Islam continue to wrestle for spiritual domination in the world. According to the Pew Research Centre, the religiously unaffiliated – referring to atheists, agnostics and other people who do not identify with a religion – are declining as a share of the population. Sixteen per cent of the population was unaffiliated to a religion in 2010 and Pew predicted by 2050, this would fall to 13 per cent, mainly because individuals in this group are older and have less children. http://www.pravmir.com/pew-study-shows-atheism-is-dying-while-islam-projected-to-dominate-by-the-turn-of-the-century/
Whereas Christianity, again when looking at the entire world population, is continuing to grow at a healthy rate:
Think Christianity is dying? No, Christianity is shifting dramatically By Wes Granberg-Michaelson May 20, 2015 Excerpt: Over the past 100 years, Christians grew from less than 10 percent of Africa’s population to its nearly 500 million today. One out of four Christians in the world presently is an Africa, and the Pew Research Center estimates that will grow to 40 percent by 2030. Asia is also experiencing growth as world Christianity’s center has moved not only South, but also East. In the last century, Christianity grew at twice the rate of population in that continent. Asia’s Christian population of 350 million is projected to grow to 460 million by 2025. The global religious wildcard is China. Even today, demographers estimate that more Christian believers are found worshipping in China on any given Sunday than in the United States. Future trends, while difficult to predict because so much is below the religious radar, could dramatically drive down the world’s religious “nones.” The growth of Pentecostalism in Latin America is estimated to be at three times the rate of Catholic growth. Non-Catholic believers now account for 2 percent of Latin America’s 550 million Christians. Today, Brazil not only has more Catholics than any other country, but also more Pentecostals, reflecting Pentecostalism’s astonishing global growth. Tracing its roots to the Azusa Street revival in 1910, and comprising 5 percent of Christians in 1970, today one of four Christians is Pentecostal or Charismatic. Or think of it this way: one out of 12 people alive today has a Pentecostal form of Christian faith. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/05/20/think-christianity-is-dying-no-christianity-is-shifting-dramatically/?utm_term=.9ef31bdab313
Of supplemental note: "Here’s How Badly Soviet Atheism Failed in Europe"
Pew: Here’s How Badly Soviet Atheism Failed in Europe In 18 nations across Central and Eastern Europe, religion is now essential to national identity. (massive study based on face-to-face interviews with 25,000 adults in 18 countries} Jeremy Weber - 5/10/2017 Excerpt: “The comeback of religion in a region once dominated by atheist regimes is striking,” states Pew in its latest report. Today, only 14 percent of the region’s population identify as atheists, agnostics, or “nones.” By comparison, 57 percent identify as Orthodox, and another 18 percent as Catholics. http://www.christianitytoday.com/images/76841.png?h=717&w=380 http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2017/may/pew-atheism-failed-central-eastern-europe-orthodox-identity.html
Again, thank God for that.
Isaiah 9:6-7 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.,,,
bornagain77
November 9, 2021
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Upright BiPed, Chuckdarwin is not really here to defend the science of evolution. He is here to, first and foremost, attack Christianity. Indeed, there is no real science for Chuckdarwin to actually defend since Darwinism does not even really qualify as a hard and testable science in the first place,
“There are five standard tests for a scientific hypothesis. Has anyone observed the phenomenon — in this case, Evolution — as it occurred and recorded it? Could other scientists replicate it? Could any of them come up with a set of facts that, if true, would contradict the theory (Karl Popper’s “falsifiability” tests)? Could scientists make predictions based on it? Did it illuminate hitherto unknown or baffling areas of science? In the case of Evolution… well… no… no… no… no… and no.” – Tom Wolfe – The Kingdom of Speech – page 17 Top Ten Questions and Objections to ‘Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics’ – Robert J. Marks II – June 12, 2017 Excerpt: “There exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. Hard sciences are built on foundations of mathematics or definitive simulations. Examples include electromagnetics, Newtonian mechanics, geophysics, relativity, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, optics, and many areas in biology. Those hoping to establish Darwinian evolution as a hard science with a model have either failed or inadvertently cheated. These models contain guidance mechanisms to land the airplane squarely on the target runway despite stochastic wind gusts. Not only can the guiding assistance be specifically identified in each proposed evolution model, its contribution to the success can be measured, in bits, as active information.,,,”,,, “there exists no model successfully describing undirected Darwinian evolution. According to our current understanding, there never will be.,,,” https://evolutionnews.org/2017/06/top-ten-questions-and-objections-to-introduction-to-evolutionary-informatics/
Indeed, Darwinism is actually "anti-science". As I pointed out on another thread this morning, "if, (as Darwinists hold as a core presupposition), there is no (real) rhyme or reason for why anything occurs, i.e. no teleology for anything in the universe, not even for your own thoughts, then searching for a rhyme or reason for why anything occurs in the universe, or in life, or even in your own thoughts, is an extremely futile endeavor and Darwinian Atheism, at its core, is therefore a ‘science stopper’ in the most fundamental way possible. Darwinian Atheism (via its outright denial of teleology), simply makes scientific rationality itself. impossible."
As should be needless to say, if, (as Darwinists hold as a core presupposition), there is no rhyme or reason for why anything occurs, i.e. no teleology for anything in the universe, not even for your own thoughts, then searching for a rhyme or reason for why anything occurs in the universe, or in life, or even in your own thoughts, is an extremely futile endeavor and Darwinian Atheism, at its core, is therefore a ‘science stopper’ in the most fundamental way possible. Darwinian Atheism simply makes scientific rationality itself impossible. And that is why Darwinian Atheists are crucially dependent on faulty Theological presuppositions, instead of any real time empirical evidence, in order to give their ‘scientific theory’ some semblance of being rational and therefore some semblance of being scientific. Without Theological presuppositions all rationality is lost.https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/and-now-david-hume-cancelled-jerry-coyne-reports/#comment-740103
As is obvious from their repeated, even obsessive, attacks on Christianity, (and from their repeated failure to meaningfully address the science), the main reason that Chuckdarwin, Seversky, JVL, et. el. are here is, first and foremost, to attack Christianity. The science is a distant second to their primary motivation of attacking Christianity. As they have repeatedly made clear, Chuckdarwin, Seversky, JVL, et. el. implicitly believe that the world will be a much better place if we could just get rid of Christianity and only have 'no religion', i.e. atheism, instead. Which is, of course, insane. Darwinian influenced atheistic ideology has been, bar none, the greatest horror visited upon mankind EVER!
Hitler, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao – quotes – Foundational Darwinian influence in their political ideology July 2020 https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/michael-egnor-on-the-relationship-between-darwinism-and-totalitarianism/#comment-707831 Atheism’s Body Count * It is obvious that Atheism cannot be true; for if it were, it would produce a more humane world, since it values only this life and is not swayed by the foolish beliefs of primitive superstitions and religions. However, the opposite proves to be true. Rather than providing the utopia of idealism, it has produced a body count second to none. With recent documents uncovered for the Maoist and Stalinist regimes, it now seems the high end of estimates of 250 million dead (between 1900-1987) are closer to the mark. The Stalinist Purges produced 61 million dead and Mao’s Cultural Revolution produced 70 million casualties. These murders are all upon their own people! This number does not include the countless dead in their wars of outward aggression waged in the name of the purity of atheism’s world view. China invades its peaceful, but religious neighbor, Tibet; supports N. Korea in its war against its southern neighbor and in its merciless oppression of its own people; and Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge kill up to 6 million with Chinese support. All of these actions done “in the name of the people” to create a better world. - Atheism’s Tendency Towards Totalitarianism Rather Than Freedom What is so strange and odd that in spite of their outward rejection of religion and all its superstitions, they feel compelled to set up cults of personality and worship of the State and its leaders that is so totalitarian that the leaders are not satisfied with mere outward obedience; rather they insist on total mind control and control of thoughts, ideas and beliefs. They institute Gulags and “re-education” centers to indoctrinate anyone who even would dare question any action or declaration of the “Dear Leader.” Even the Spanish Inquisition cannot compare to the ruthlessness and methodical efficiency of these programs conducted on so massive a scale. While proclaiming freedom to the masses, they institute the most methodical efforts to completely eliminate freedom from the people, and they do so all “on behalf” of the proletariat. A completely ordered and totally unfree totalitarian State is routinely set up in place of religion, because it is obviously so profoundly better society. It is also strange that Stalin was a seminarian who rejected Christianity and went on to set up himself as an object of worship. It seems that impulse to religious devotion is present in all, whether that be in traditional forms or secular inventions. https://www.scholarscorner.com/atheisms-body-count-ideology-and-human-suffering/
Whereas, on the other hand, Christianity has been the greatest force for good that the world has ever seen.
21 Positive Contributions Christianity Has Made Through the Centuries By D. James Kennedy (excerpted from "What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?") (1) Hospitals, which essentially began during the Middle Ages. (2) Universities, which also began during the Middle Ages. In addition, most of the world’s greatest universities were started for Christian purposes. (3) Literacy and education for the masses. (4) Capitalism and free enterprise. (5) Representative government, particularly as it has been seen in the American experiment. (6) The separation of political powers. (7) Civil liberties. (8) The abolition of slavery, both in antiquity and in more modern times. (9) Modern science. (10) The discovery of the New World by Columbus. (11) The elevation of women. (12) Benevolence and charity; the good Samaritan ethic. (13) Higher standards of justice. (14) The elevation of common man. (15) The condemnation of adultery, homosexuality, and other sexual perversions. This has helped to preserve the human race, and it has spared many from heartache. (16) High regard for human life. (17) The civilizing of many barbarian and primitive cultures. (18) The codifying and setting to writing of many of the world’s languages. (19) Greater development of art and music. The inspiration for the greatest works of art. (20) The countless changed lives transformed from liabilities into assets to society because of the gospel. (21) The eternal salvation of countless souls. - per Dr. D. James Kennedy Defense of all 21 claims: (Dec. 2019) 1-5 https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/historian-christianity-has-been-the-worlds-greatest-engine-for-moral-reform/#comment-690247 8-11 https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/historian-christianity-has-been-the-worlds-greatest-engine-for-moral-reform/#comment-690251 12-16 https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/historian-christianity-has-been-the-worlds-greatest-engine-for-moral-reform/#comment-690252 17-21 https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/historian-christianity-has-been-the-worlds-greatest-engine-for-moral-reform/#comment-690256
Thus it is simply insane for Chuckdarwin, Seversky, JVL, et. el. to turn a blind eye to the unimaginable horror visited upon mankind by their chosen worldview of Darwinian Atheism, and pretend as if the world would be a much better place without Christianity in it.bornagain77
November 9, 2021
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. It should be pointed out here, among Chuck’s many self-serving proclamations, he is on an ID website doing exactly what materialist ideologues have been doing (and forcing on the entire public) for the past 60+ years. He is deliberately refusing to engage in the scientific evidence of design in biology. He ignores the science, and he ignores the history of science. How many times have you run from the questions, Chuck? When the first ever aaRS constraint on earth was synthesized from description, how many of the other constraints had to be in place?Upright BiPed
November 9, 2021
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JVL I appreciate you pointing that out. I did think of the Amish, etc. but their membership is de minimus. On the other hand, the LDS Church claims almost 17 million adherents and also claims to be one of the fastest growing denominations, although that claim has been challenged because they also have high attrition. Setting aside the in-fights among Christians as to whether Mormons are actually Christians, they are the only major denomination that seems to show a clear cradle to grave strategy to indoctrinate and hold on to younger members, including Millennials. Kairofocus Almost 60% of your "key" bullet points reference either explicitly or implicitly religious themes vis a vis Millennials. From where I sit, despite the fact that you want to focus on non-religious societal factors that are destroying our society, which you claim explain the data collected in the survey, the 800 pound gorilla in the room is the nature and transmission of religious belief within the religious community. That is the de facto focal point of Millennials leaving or not adopting Christianity as a belief system. You need to clear up internal causes before you go off on other explanations. Also, some of the findings are neither remarkable nor should cause concern. I would venture a guess that in every college to young adult cohort you would find a majority that are progressive/liberal, predominantly Democratic, support liberal agendas such as LGBTQ rights, climate change advocacy, pro-choice, etc. It is common for younger folks to flirt with Marxism and even more common to investigate socialism. That is the nature of being young. Winston Churchill once said that if man is not a liberal when he is young, then he has no heart, and if he is not a conservative when old, he has no head. The Christian right and the apologist community have been pushing this latest iteration of an "unprecedented moral crisis" since the rise of the Moral Majority in the 80s. It represented the unfortunate reversal of Christian policy to steer clear of politics and has polluted American politics ever since. There was no crisis then, nor is it a crisis today. Ciao--I'm donechuckdarwin
November 9, 2021
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from Sev: "Like I said before, Christianity is a belief system built on the purported depravity and brokenness of humanity. A belief system that says you have no control over your eternal destiny and are at the whim an arbitrary God. People are sick and tired of the narrative. With every succeeding generation, the narrative loses a little bit more of its luster. You can deflect and scream and rail at society and its various “isms” but in the end, Christianity will live or die on its own merits. It appears to be losing that battle…." You set up a strawman. 1. Mankind is depraved...Do you doubt this? Is it not observable to you?We try to say it is the system that brings man down, but what government or organization hasn't been overcome with greed, disfunction, etc? The common thread is humanity, not a "system" Name one good person (actually, name a standard that is authoritative first) 2. You technically had control over your eternal destiny...but you sinned. And you still sin..probably every day like the rest of depraved mankind. Also, you have the choice available to you right now to spend eternity in a perfect and new earth by simply repenting of your sins and putting your faith in Jesus. You don't have to live one more second in a damned state. It's your choice. 3. God is only arbitrary to you...what objective standard would you give as an evolutionist for arbitrary? You have to adopt and steal from the idea that things are coherent and make sense (theism) in order to beat up on it. In summary, your worldview has no standard to judge anyone as good or bad (and I'd be shocked if you genuinely thought mankind was good by nature). You have no standard to define anything as arbitrary accept an assumption that things should be orderly, intelligible and consistent, which your worldview cannot really account for. And you think that because young people are saying Christianity doesn't work, therefore it must be lacking-this is a fallacy. In materialism, we can't really worry about consistency, logic, or reason... nor is there any reason to. We are all just meat robots. We are all dogs fighting for the scrap of meat the universe threw out. Who cares if it's good or not... Also, for my Christian friends, I have really appreciated Doug Wilson's take on life lately. He is post-millennial, and I like his optimism and consistency. He brought up the dog fight analogy, so credit to him. Here is his 20 minute blog... normally they are 2 times a week about 10-15 minutes at a time. Stuff to think about regarding the woke and Christianity in our current culture. The problem isn't that non-believers are acting like non-believers, it is that the church isn't being the church. Still love this article...even atheists know we need the church: https://thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/the_turning_tide_of_intellectual_atheism Douglas Wilson Blog and Mablog from yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ9n76E2BpA I will say he says some kind of inflammatory things, that I may not ever say or hold to myself, but I overall appreciated his takezweston
November 9, 2021
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This has degenerated into a discussion of Christianity mainly because it seem ChuckDarwin wants it to be that. His is definitely a red herring argument and based on nonsense. One thing is obvious, the modern world arose in the Christian world and it was a once in a history of mankind event. It was not inevitable. It is fair to ask if Christianity was a necessary condition. The other obvious condition that was definitely necessary was freedom. The question is are both necessary? A related question is can freedom exist without Christianity? If so, then Christianity is also a necessary condition but not a sufficient condition. Christianity existed for over 1700 years before the modern world began. Charles Krauthammer wrote an article 12 years ago about this and that the modern could disappear titled
Decline Is a Choice Among these crosscurrents, my thesis is simple: The question of whether America is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes or no. Both answers are wrong, because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is written. For America today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice. Two decades into the unipolar world that came about with the fall of the Soviet Union, America is in the position of deciding whether to abdicate or retain its dominance. Decline--or continued ascendancy--is in our hands.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/decline-is-a-choice-270813 The technology that the modern world developed may not go away but who operates it may be very different from its original vision. There is no guarantee that the average person will benefit. No one can point to a better system in the history of the world than Christianity and free market capitalism. Yet millennials want to get rid of it. It is a Choice jerry
November 9, 2021
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I think I will park this right here:
RATTLE! | Official Lyric Video | Elevation Worship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrAdbH28gIg
bornagain77
November 9, 2021
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ChuckDarwin: I have only observed one denomination that is partially successful in transmitting and holding on to younger members, the LDS church (Mormons). You might have to include the Anabaptist successors: the Mennonites the Hutterites and the Amish. I'm not sure they are growing that much but I don't think they are in any danger of dying out.JVL
November 9, 2021
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PS: As to the obvious hostility towards and projections against the Christian worldview and its core gospel teachings and ethics, I suggest that the onlooker may wish to look here on, and here on.kairosfocus
November 9, 2021
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CD, you have set up and knocked over something that was not a focal argument, leaving or trying to leave the impression that this is focal. Sorry, it doesn't work like that. The key point remains unaddressed, why is it within thirty years of the ignominious collapse of marxist ideology . . . at Christmas 1991 the Communist Party was banned in Russia IIRC . . . it has been so whitewashed and promoted that a near majority of the generation that grew up since prefer socialism to capitalism? Where, more properly, the issue is free enterprise in a lawful state which has an unequalled, massively documented record of general prosperity, growth, development and improved welfare. That speaks volumes and it already indicts generations of intellectual, educational, media and political leaders and their willful work. With that in hand, it is not particularly difficult to see that the rot is wide and deep indeed, exposing that the tainted intellectual world has spread destructive and ill-founded ideologies that now clearly threaten shipwreck for our civilisation, if they succeed. The reduction of the US to Venezuela-like ruin would have horrific economic and geostrategic impacts across the world. And, the wrecking of resource-rich Venezuela is a TYPICAL consequence of socialist radicalism entrenched in power. Simply, the distraction of a heightened fourth generational civil war opens up severe geostrategic damage as China makes a move for the sort of blue ocean breakout that put Germany at odds with Britain in the run-up to WW1 and as Iran continues its push for nukes. And with nukes in play, the dangers are far, far more potentially devastating than in 1914, 1917, 1931, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941 or 1945. Those who have betrayed our civilisation, over generations now, need to face a reckoning that exposes their betrayal. This starts with the astonishing ideological manipulation of opinions that has tried to create the perception that socialist ideology is a superior principle of societal, economic, cultural and political organisation. Those who did that are guilty, guilty, guilty; irretrievably guilty traitors to civilisation in the teeth of living history. We owe it to the ghosts of 100 million murdered victims, we owe it to the ghost of judicially murdered Milada Horakova, to state that clearly and firmly. KFkairosfocus
November 9, 2021
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Kairosfocus,
Phillip Johnson: For scientific materialists the materialism comes first; the science comes thereafter.
Excellent observation! It points out the scientific consequences of ideological poisoning. -QQuerius
November 9, 2021
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That general breakdown due to willful betrayal of duty will have across the board impacts and is decisive for ruin if not drastically reversed and that, right quick. Hence, the focus. Your strawman distractor fails.
I'm sorry, Kairofocus, but you don't get to make the rules of debate or define what is or is not a "strawman." This is not a debate about post-modernism, CRT, Marxism, Darwinism or fascism. I don't need to be schooled in the arcana of those "isms." What this is about is a deep denial within the Christian community about the failure of the leadership to generate an effective way of perpetuating a belief system that is not just out of touch with the average Millennial, but is unpalatable or uninteresting to them. Like I said before, Christianity is a belief system built on the purported depravity and brokenness of humanity. A belief system that says you have no control over your eternal destiny and are at the whim an arbitrary God. People are sick and tired of the narrative. With every succeeding generation, the narrative loses a little bit more of its luster. You can deflect and scream and rail at society and its various "isms" but in the end, Christianity will live or die on its own merits. It appears to be losing that battle....chuckdarwin
November 9, 2021
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F/N: Something told me, compare Wikipedia and Enc Brit: Brand X:
Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict as well as a dialectical perspective to view social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought, there is currently no single definitive Marxist theory.[1] Some Marxist schools of thought place greater emphasis on certain aspects of classical Marxism while rejecting or modifying other aspects. Some schools have sought to combine Marxian concepts and non-Marxian concepts which has then led to widely varying conclusions.[2] Marxism has had a profound impact on global academia, having influenced many fields, including anthropology,[3][4] archaeology, art theory, criminology, cultural studies, economics, education,[5] ethics, film theory, geography,[6] historiography, literary criticism, media studies,[7][8] philosophy, political science, psychology, science studies,[9] sociology, urban planning, and theater.
Brand Y:
Marxism, a body of doctrine developed by Karl Marx and, to a lesser extent, by Friedrich Engels in the mid-19th century. It originally consisted of three related ideas: a philosophical anthropology, a theory of history, and an economic and political program. There is also Marxism as it has been understood and practiced by the various socialist movements, particularly before 1914. Then there is Soviet Marxism as worked out by Vladimir Ilich Lenin and modified by Joseph Stalin, which under the name of Marxism-Leninism (see Leninism) became the doctrine of the communist parties set up after the Russian Revolution (1917). Offshoots of this included Marxism as interpreted by the anti-Stalinist Leon Trotsky and his followers, Mao Zedong’s Chinese variant of Marxism-Leninism, and various Marxisms in the developing world. There were also the post-World War II nondogmatic Marxisms that have modified Marx’s thought with borrowings from modern philosophies, principally from those of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger but also from Sigmund Freud and others.
Neither is really solid but it is obvious that there is a particular skirting around of the cost in blood and tears. To begin to get an idea, contrast Brand X on Nazism (and yes, the far right fallacy regarding an explicitly SOCIALIST movement is a clue):
Nazism (/?n??tsi?z?m, ?næt-/ NA(H)T-see-iz-?m),[1] officially National Socialism (German: Nationalsozialismus, [natsi?o?na?lzotsi?a?l?sm?s]), is the ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP; or National Socialist German Workers' Party in English) in Nazi Germany. During Hitler's rise to power in 1930s Europe, it was frequently referred to as Hitlerism. The later related term "Neo-Nazism" is applied to other far-right groups with similar ideas which formed after the collapse of the Nazi regime.
The time has come for counter culture. KFkairosfocus
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