From a genuflecting Paul Kelly on the weekend:
In the litany of words about the census the core issue has been avoided — the almost certain link between the generational decline in the Christian faith as guide to the common good and the collapsing relationship between the people and the political system.
The reality is staring us in the face. Yet it cannot be spoken, cannot be entertained, cannot be discussed because there is no greater heresy and no more offensive notion than that the loss of Christian faith might have a downside.
Christianity has fallen from 88 per cent of the population in 1966 to 52 per cent today, and seems sure to slide soon below the 50 per cent threshold. It would be absurd to pretend this epic change does not have profound consequences for society since it constitutes the eclipse of a particular conception of human nature.
At the same time the past decade has witnessed a shattering of trust across the Western world including Australia between the people on one hand and politicians and elites on the other. This dysfunction in Australia has multiple causes within politics itself: the identity crisis of the major parties, the rise of negative politics, a self-interested Senate, leadership failures and internal disunity.
It is obvious, however, there is a deeper problem, that something more profound has gone wrong. The sense of a community of shared values is disintegrating. The most fundamental norms, accepted for centuries, are now falling apart as disputes erupt about family, education, gender, sexuality, marriage, tradition, patriotism, life and death.
The decline in our civic virtue is undisguised, respect for institutional authority has eroded, the idea of a common community purpose is undermined, trust is in retreat but the most important singular development is the transformed notion of the individual — the obsession about individual autonomy in every aspect of life: love, work, race, sex, culture and death. Put harshly but not inaccurately, it is narcissism presented as self-realisation and human rights.
…Pivotal to this transition is the progressive attack on the Aristotelian framework that made the West a success. This concept was articulated at various stages by the popes, notably Leo XIII and Pius XI. As outlined by Tulsa University professor Russell Hittinger, this envisages three “necessary” elements for human happiness: domestic society (marriage and family), faith and church and, finally, political society. A brief reflection might confirm the wisdom of this framework.
It is, however, now being dismantled in the new and manic crusade of human freedom. Progressive doctrine denies any preferred model for family structure since that would be prejudicial and discriminatory; it now approaches its ultimate objective in the realm of faith — to drive religion from the public square and reject the role of religion and church as a mobiliser of social capital in a secular society.
The final logic is that everything depends upon politics. As the society of family and marriage becomes mired in confusion, as the society of church and religion is the target of assault, so the society of politics is being asked to assume a role and burden utterly beyond its capacity and guaranteed to leave community-wide unhappiness.
The tripartite design that made the West such a workable and successful proposition is being torn part. Once dismantled, it cannot be put back together. This is being done in the name of justice, rights and progress. There was an inevitability about the decline of Christian faith, but there was nothing inevitable about the dismal pretender that presents as its replacement.
He has a point. There’s certainly been a very serious erosion of the public good. But is it god’s fault? We’ve seen an even worse disintegration of public morality in the US yet its Christian faith remains very high:
We could go on about the enormous violations perpetrated by the church upon human beings but let that lie. The formulation of happiness offered by Paul – domestic society, faith and church and, political society – can easily be rewritten as family, spirit and politics. There is nothing intrinsically hostile towards that mix in heterogeneity.
While the devolution of Christianity into individual rights is certainly part of the story, it sure ain’t all of it. Preferable is the take of former IMF economist, Fred Hirsch, who introduced a subtle treatment of these issues into modern economic literature in the 1970s. In Social Limits to Growth, Hirsch argued that the modern market economy is successful only to the extent that it stands on the shoulders of a pre-capitalist ideology. He was concerned that the growth and maturation of the market economy undermined the moral and ideological foundations upon which it depended. The market economy depends on respect for rules that cannot be enforced by law alone. It depends on the individuals being permitted to maximise their own wealth and incomes in certain defined ways, and on others in society foregoing the opportunity to take advantage of their own positions to do likewise. Hirsch presented a pessimistic prognosis for capitalism and the market economy “as the foundations weaken”, he concluded, ‘”the structure rises ever higher”.
The irony confronting Paul, then, is his boss and paper are the titanic exemplar of the Hirsch prognosis. Crucial is the rise of the narcissistic leader and his crusade to own and influence everything that is not bolted down, at the direct and deliberate cost of crushing the independent public good. Those charged with custodianship of said good – the media – are especially responsible.
Can we say that the Murdoch media and its creation of Fox News, populist titillation, love of corporate welfare, warmongering for profit, Islamophobia, assault on climate change science, attack on human rights and trashing of liberalism, not to mention illegal bugging of anyone it feels like, has done a good job of maintaining community (and/or Christian) standards?
If we are what we read then Kelly would better serve the public interest by burning his Bible and offering an open resignation from the evil empire.
Finally, replacing God with the human being at the centre of reason is hardly a step backwards. It may come with it’s challenges, including some tendency towards selfishness, but it is a precondition to dealing with the technological advancement of the species. As science pushes back the habitations of god to ever darker and more obscure corners of the cosmos, the challenges confronting the species also grow in scale to the planetary level.
Climate change, clashes of civilisations and the ideology of freedom are not going to be resolved by a retreat to the pulpit.
However, there is hope that post-cultural curators of the earth can do it.
