Watching the Sunset in the West
The New Racism
Recap and Introduction
We have looked at four men and their perspectives on culture, progress, and prosperity. Needham and Diamond were on a quest, triggered by their cross-cultural experiences. In a way, they were both surprised by European privileges in science, education, health and wealth. Needham found several of the prerequisites to scientific progress in the biblical perspective on history and authority, which began to dominate European culture through the Protestant Reformation. Diamond discovered that some people groups found privilege in the geography and resources of their geographic location.
When St. Paul addressed the philosophers of Athens, he revealed to them that God created all the people groups, allocating to them their times and places. In that perspective, God Himself created an unequal distribution of potential prosperity.
Holland and Mangalwadi were on their own journeys of discovery, when they were surprised by the powerful impact of the Bible on many areas of life. For Holland, this was a surprise, as he had bought into the secular mindset that Christianity was bad for human flourishing and that the real glory time for mundanity was to be found in the ancient empires of Persia, Greece, and Rome. For Mangalwadi, it was a surprise as he had first dismissed the possibility that simple country folk could be used by God to effectively communicate the Truth that wise men and professors could not find.
Vishal Mangalwadi, however, does not take the privileges of prosperity for granted. Looking at the biblical pattern of history, he learns that the fear of (respect for) God brings wisdom, love for fellow humans, health and wealth. Yet, he also realizes that abandoning this way -by rejecting God’s self-revelation- must lead to great loss. From one perspective, this is God’s punishment, but at the same time the natural outcome of human foolishness must be the loss of the acquired blessings as cultures unwittingly are on their self-chosen paths to destruction and despair.
Although India gleaned her greatest blessings through the coming of the Bible, Vishal now sees the opposite trend happening in India, Europe and the Americas today. Having witnessed the rising sun in the East, he now sees the sun setting on the West.
What are the recent trends?
1. Ethnocentrism vs. cultural relativism: deconstructing and reconstructing the hives
When I was enrolled in my first sociology/anthropology course, I learned that Western culture used to have a strong tendency to ethnocentrism, where one’s own (sub)culture and its habits, traditions, and convictions were embraced as culturally and/or morally superior to those of other (sub)cultures. Yet, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels some three centuries ago already exposed the folly of ethno-eccentricities and prejudices. 1
When most people during the 20th Century abandoned this attitude (as increased travel and media exposure of other cultures started to break down the traditional barriers), people in (former) colonizing countries for instance, began to comprehend the negative impact of ‘foreign occupation’, and tolerance and understanding were seen as major factors in an effort to world peace. In my home country, prior to the late sixties, the population was effectively split up into ‘socio-cultural silos’ each of them with its own worldview, expressed and propagated through political parties, organizations, radio and TV programs, newspaper and magazines. These silos were identified by religious and/or political affiliations, like: Catholic, Protestant, Communist, and Democratic. Most of this social structure was deconstructed during the seventies.
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains that people tend to be very selfish (like chimps); yet, they are also ‘hivish’ (like bees)2. As social beings, they do need support and positive reinforcement in their ideas and pursuits, and therefore they tend to look for movements, associations, or clubs of folk with similar values or aspirations. Why are people willing to spend much time and money to attend conferences if they could see the presentations online? The experience of being part of a crowd, with which we feel united in a big community, collectively singing, shouting, clapping, gives us ”a sense of pervasive well-being… a strange sense of personal enlargement; a sort of swelling out, becoming bigger than life, thanks to participation in collective ritual.”3 So, when the old religious and political hives were crumbling, the population began looking for new affiliation options, new hives, focusing -for instance- on humanistic and environmental goals. And, lately, under the direction of Social Science activists, personal identity has primarily zoomed in on gender, race, and the sense of oppression from privileged people.
2. Secularization: God has been squeezed out of public life. 4
In the post-Christian west, there has been a long yet persistent trend of secularization. This is not just a reluctance to converse about God, but a prevalent, presumed, yet imposed worldview that pretends we are better off without (a serious awareness of) God. This is a self-imposed and/or spiritually induced conviction in the masses, suggesting that there is no relevant reality beyond the (material) here-and-now of personal feelings and observations.
If there is no spiritual reality, God, angels, or demons, then humanity cannot know or learn anything through divine or demonic revelation. Then, we can only gather knowledge from personal feelings or (other) observations (as well as by accepting secular presuppositions and their philosophical conventions).
This also implies that the Bible cannot be trusted as God’s own revelation by infallible inspiration, but it is at best the deposit of earlier generations in their quest to comprehend the world and themselves, as it was manifested in their times and places.
More recently, post-modernity has made western culture dismissive and suspicious about any and all truth-claims. Since there cannot be reliable revelation or communication from beyond the here-and-now, every person or people group must create its own ‘truth’.
Sigmund Freud argued that (since there are no gods) dreams cannot be or contain spiritual revelations; they must be expressions from the subconscious ‘self’. Nevertheless, the Bible warns us for deceiving spirits that tell us lies and try to use us for harm. It is those powers that Christians are to resist and fight, not enemies of flesh and blood. 5 In the last days, there will be a greater prevalence of lying spirits. 6
As cultures abandon all respect for God, they become most vulnerable to the lies, which are subconsciously whispered into minds that have been told that such things cannot happen. Since they have been taught there are no spirits, they let down their guards to deceiving spirits and so, they are their easy prey. So, if God’s enemy wants to create havoc in post-Christian societies, he only has to give confusing messages into receptive minds, which then will be accepted as basis for their personal identities (defining who they really are). And these illusions then will be forced upon the groups in which they try to function. Apparently, this has been happening in the Western world through the…
3. Redefinition of the Self
The deconstruction of the family and the redefinition of the self are closely linked to the sexual revolution. Mary Eberstadt has demonstrated how the sexual revolution has resulted in great loss in family and society, so that young people desperately seek new solidarity and connection in politicized groups.
Charles Taylor, in Sources of the Self, 9 noted a shift from traditional identities to modern identities. In traditional societies, people derive their identities from their immediate communities. Who-you-are and how-you-see-yourself is then primarily the result of the family, group, and community where you were raised. In (post)modern societies, people refuse to derive their identities from others; they must explore and discover for themselves who they are and want to be. So, in Western cultures today the question “Who am I?” is first of all linked to one’s felt association with one of many gender options, although race or skin color seems to be competing for first place in the current confusion.
4. Social Justice and Critical Race Theory
When we looked at Jared Diamond’s presuppositions and conclusions, we noticed an interesting if not surprising change in the popular views about race and racism. The generation of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., sought fair treatment of colored people with the right to vote and equal access to all public institutions. He dreamed of a future where American citizens would not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character. The earlier bias among people of European descent had been that colored people were less capable for positions of learning, leadership, teaching, and governing. This was gradually displaced by a presupposition that all people groups have equal potential in excelling in such areas. And so, Jared Diamond recognizing the intellectual creativity of the Papua people, sought the cause of inequality in prosperity in an unequal distribution of privilege in geography and resources in the natural environment.
Nevertheless, since the turn of the millennium, a whole new perspective has flooded into society from Neo-Marxist teachers in the Social Sciences. And, in that view, King’s dream is rejected, for today ‘skin color is everything’. 10 Prof. Robin DiAngelo explained that those, who see people as individuals rather than by their skin color are in fact ‘dangerous’.11 So, today, the only accepted cause for the unequal distribution of wealth is the true nature of ‘whiteness’, which is by definition oppressive and abusive of all others. This conviction is not derived scientifically, yet it is propagated by all (and only those) ‘stories’ that fit their faith commitment. In fact, using rational arguments, statistics, and the scientific method are all evidence of ‘whiteness’,12 and therefore they cannot lead us to the proper truth.
From this perspective, therefore, “it is not o.k.” to focus on differences in nature- as Diamond did, for that would distract from the only “real” cause, which is the oppressive nature of Europeans. The fact that Diamond is white (and male) is then sufficient evidence for the Social Gestapo to see his evil intent in sustaining white supremacy.
Today we are told that we must not be colorblind. Rather, we must forever emphasize the differences between the races, for that is the only way we will agree that one race (white) is inherently evil in its intent and pursuit. So, we are all called to fight racism (as in the oppression of whites) with racism (as in: negatively discriminating against one particular race).
‘Whiteness Studies’ are now taught at all of the Ivy League universities in the US and other English-speaking countries. These are actually ‘Critical Theory’13 programs that presume a certain condition of racism that is connected to white supremacy. The aim is to make ‘whiteness’ the overarching problem in the world, thereby ‘problematizing’ hundreds of millions of people. 14
Os Guinness 15 and others have pointed out why freedom through the American Constitution has been so unique. It relies on, what he calls ‘the Golden Triangle’, where there remains a conviction that freedom requires virtue, which requires faith, which requires freedom, and so forth. In today’s pluralistic society we lost a common faith, so that we no longer agree on what constitutes ‘virtue’. Guinness argues that this must result in a loss of freedom.
Stories
The Lathe of Heaven is a sci-fi book by Ursula Le Guin. 16 In it, a young man has the gift of effective dreaming. When George Orr dreamt that his abusive aunt died in a car crash, he woke up in a new reality. There was all the evidence that this had happened years before, and everybody knew it. Only George realized that it had not been so, and since he had dreamt this new reality into being, he felt guilty of her death. When he visited a psychiatrist, Dr. Haber, he was placed under hypnosis, and told to dream the things that Haber thought should make a better world, first for himself and then for humanity and the planet. When he told George to will an end to racism, he woke up to the new reality, where all people had the same, gray skin color. When humans, like Dr. Haber would have the power of god, then by solving one problem, they would create others, even bigger ones. I guess, that even with the illusion of such power, we are quite capable to make a real mess of things.
There is another, a different story; God’s story according to the Bible. God created a world of great diversity, also in human appearance and ability. People with greater God-given privilege, also have a greater responsibility towards God and fellow humans. Jesus has shown the way of humility and sacrificial love, and he is urging his followers -through the words of his apostle- to follow him also in this. 17
St. Paul describes the church as a body, where the members make up a diversity of parts, which are called to function together in harmonious cooperation. 18 In a sense, the same is true for society: we can only prosper together if some are natural leaders, others willing followers; some innovators and others calling for cautious reflection. Jonathan Haidt, although he considers himself a liberal, argues that America needs to listen to and learn from conservatives for the prospering of society. Yet, unfortunately, the common faith and virtue is seriously lacking in an increasingly polarizing culture. In this beautiful variety, we are to treat each other with love and respect, helping each other to prosper, making sure that everyone has access to the basic requirements of food, water, and shelter.
Nevertheless, the apostle Paul taught the Thessalonians that, “If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat.”19 When we read the Book of Job, we notice here, too, that Job makes distinction between the needy, who cried out for help and the useless rabble. 20 Both groups may be poor, but supposedly, when you help the first, they are thankful, while the second would demand more. The first respect and seek mercy, the second despise this and seek destruction. Even Jesus warned his disciples not to give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces. 21
Referring to data from Seattle, Sowell concludes:
“Many of the beneficiaries of the welfare state have sought to fill the void (for people stripped of personal responsibility and purpose in their lives) with drugs, sex, violence and other self-indulgences, or joining in mob rampages over the grievance du jour. Far from an assurance of subsistence producing a relaxed sense of security and contentment, it seems instead to have produced a sense of inchoate grievance against a society that left them adrift, with no intrinsically meaningful role in life, while others have both meaningful achievements and visibly higher standards of living than whatever is given to them as basic necessities- and all this amid unceasing emphasis on invidious comparisons and on how wrong it is that some have so much more than others.”
In the novel Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, 23 pastor Stephen Kumalo visits Johannesburg, where his son, Absalom, was sent to jail for the murder of a white man. He had been set up for a burglary by his cousin, the son of John Kumalo, a black anti-apartheid activist. Sadly, the murdered man had actually tried to help young black men to find a positive purpose in their lives. Pastor Stephen Kumalo is assisted by the young, charismatic priest, Theophilus Msimangu. After they talked to John, the activist, Msimangu muses,
“I see only one hope for our country, and that is when white men and black men . . . desiring only the good of their country, come together to work for it. . . . I have one great fear in my heart, that one day when they are turned to loving, they will find we are turned to hating.” “Msimangu doubts John’s convictions, and instead of calling him a champion of justice, Msimangu calls John an example of power’s corrupting influence. Msimangu warns that power can corrupt black people as much as it corrupts white people. It is exactly this corruption that keeps South Africa in its predicament, and in this passage Msimangu unveils his dream of a selfless Christian faith that will bind all people—black and white—together.”24
Return to the Light
Prof. Jonathan Haidt has written a number of insightful books. Although he sees many problems in the recent trends in the West, he has faith that human reason and goodwill as well as evolutionary forces will help us overcome these problems. Nevertheless, reason and goodwill may be in short supply when we see ‘the madness of the masses’, whipped up by hatred and revenge, as all the ‘sins’ of the past in a certain area must be dredged up without limit. And so, white men everywhere are told to wear the dunce caps they are said to deserve for all the wrongdoings by people of the same race and gender. And, for those who trust in evolution to solve our problems, perhaps we should learn the lesson of the dinosaurs.
The West has abandoned God, so now humanity must pull itself up by its own bootstraps, which is -of course- impossible to do. For a while, we may continue the good traditions, because we know they work well for the flourishing of society. However, when there is a big influx of people from other cultural backgrounds, 25 where corruption and deceit may be considered normal and necessary for personal wellbeing or in times of crisis, or when the good traditions appear too costly for personal survival, reality will hit home: We are not truly so dignified, as we used to believe.
So, when a culture persists in abandoning respect for God and his self-revelation, it must gradually but certainly loose its humanness and dignity. Democracy and its freedoms, respect for human life, care for the elderly, handicapped, and mentally challenged people will ultimately fade. And, those who used to feel oppressed and were therefore drafted for the revolution, will not be the real winners. In the end, only the privileged instigators will prosper. Just look at the outcome of the French and Communist revolutions. Learn the lesson of the pigs in Animal Farm! 26
When we realize that God has put his stamp on us, we will be ashamed of our own sins. Then, when we accept this bad news, we may be prepared to consider the God-given rescue plan: Embrace His Grace, Follow Jesus and have all your moral debts forgiven and all guilt and shame removed.
“Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (Romans 8: 33-35a)
When Msimangu is impressed by Rev. Kumalo’s servant heart, he says, “You are a good man!” But, shaking his head, Kumalo replies, “No, I am not good…, but God has put his hand on me.” He refers to God’s grace of forgiveness. God is not turning a blind eye to evil (which finds its root in the ultimate evil of not respecting God), for that would be a corruption of justice. No, he paid for our guilt through his own humiliation, torture, and death. And, we may all benefit from this Sacrifice by true faith in Jesus Christ. So, there are two levels of grace: God put the stamp of His identity on all of us and He put his hand of grace on those of us, who discern the Gospel for what it is: Good News for Humankind.
When we embrace God’s sacrificial love in the atoning death of his son, we want to serve Him in loving thankfulness. That is the true good that is God’s gift for us: this is real privilege! When we accept it, we are empowered to love our neighbors, regardless of their skin color.
For the Christian, this is a bizarre thing: When God calls his children (created in his image) to recognize their guilt in abusing Him in spite of all his good gifts, few will accept their guilt and feel the shame. Nevertheless, those who do this will receive full forgiveness and receive a new life.
Yet, when the mob calls people to recognize their guilt for sins of oppression, committed in the past by those of similar privilege as theirs, most readily accept their guilt and express their shame. However, they are offered no forgiveness and no hope for a life, free of guilt.
Pray that many may come to seek Christ, who is the Truth. For only He can set us free, and then we will be free, indeed (John 8:36).
Footnotes:
2. Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind- Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. (Random House, 2012) chapter 10.
3. McNeil, as quoted in Jonathan Haidt, Ibid. p.256.
4. Charles Taylor, Our Secular Age. Colin Hansen, Ed., Our Secular Age: Ten years of Reading and Applying Charles Taylor. (2019, Montoya)
5. Ephesians 6: 11, 12: … Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
6. 1 Kings 22:22; 2 Kings 19:7; Ezekiel 13:8; 2 Thessalonians 2; 1 Timothy 4:1-5; Revelation 16: 13, 14
7. Romans 1: 24, 25. Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
8. Mary Eberstadt, Primal Screams – How the sexual revolution created Identity Politics. (Templeton Press, 2019).
9. Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity. ( Harvard University Press, 1989).
10. Douglas Murray. The Madness of Crowds; Gender, Race, and Identity. (London, 2020) p. 121.
11. Diana Soriano, White Privilege lecture tells students white people are “dangerous” if they don’t see race. The College Fix, 6 March, 2019., as quoted in Douglas Murray, Ibid., p. 173.
12. These were listed on the “whiteness chart”, included at the end of this chapter, published by the Smithsonian African American Museum, but later removed after sharp criticism from American conservatives.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/african-american-museum-site-removes-whiteness-chart-after-criticism-from-trump-jr-and-conservative-media/2020/07/17/4ef6e6f2-c831-11ea-8ffe-372be8d82298_story.html
13. Critical (Race) Theory is essentially a Marxist perspective in a new outfit.
14. Douglas Murray, Ibid. pp. 123, 124.
15. Os Guinness, A Free People’s Suicide- sustainable freedom and the American freedom. (InterVarsity Press, 2012)
Ursula K.
16. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven- a Novel. (Scribner; 2008)
17. Philippians 2: 1-18.
18. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
19. 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
20. Job 29: 12-17, 30:1-15.
21. Matthew 7: 6.
22. Thomas Sowell, Discrimination and Disparities. (New York, 2019), p. 184.
23. Alan Paton. Cry, the Beloved Country. (Scribner, 2003)
24. Sparknotes.com
25. Thomas Sowell, Ibid. p. 80.
26. George Orwell, Animal Farm. 1945
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