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If we want to save the West, we need to start talking about the Christian God.

There’s a lot of talk about the culture wars.

But the culture wars — fights over everything from the meaning of Australia Day to the definition of women — are symptomatic of something much larger, and far more important.

The culture wars are a natural consequence and subplot of the main narrative which, of course, is the cosmic war.

The real story right now is not the West’s rejection of its Christian roots.

American philosopher Thomas Nagel summed up the attitude of many in the West when he said:

“I want atheism to be true, and I am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers.

“It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”

It wasn’t that science had disproved God, as some argued (indeed hoped) that it would. Far from it. The more we learn about the universe, the more compelling belief in God becomes.

The West’s abandonment of God has far more to do with desire than with data, with selfishness than with science.

We prefer a universe without rules, boundaries or constraints. We are so wedded to the idea of individual autonomy that it seems wholly undesirable that anyone should ever tell us what to do.

The idea of a God who might disagree with our personal life choices is highly offensive.

So we abandoned any idea of a cosmic reality, and now the ripple effects of that decision have become a cultural tsunami.

In Denial

In waging a cosmic war against the Christian God, we have said a firm ‘no’ to two things: authority and absolutes.

We have said not to authority since, if there is no God above me, who is anyone to tell me what to do?

The crisis in authority — be it in the church, the political system or in law enforcement — is not because a few priests fiddled with children, or because politicians broke promises, or because police took bribes.

Institutions have always been corrupted because institutions have always been populated by flawed human beings.

The crisis of faith in our institutions has been primarily because, as a culture, we have rejected authority. We are loath to recognise it, let alone honour it, let alone submit to it.

What becomes of a culture in which no one recognises authority?

We have also waged war on absolutes since, if there is no God beyond me, then how can you ever judge me, or indeed anything? By what measure will you evaluate me?

And who is anyone to say what is ‘normal’ since — if there is nothing beyond us — there is no standard to which you can point.

Thus, everything is up for grabs. You say a woman can’t have a penis. I say she can. And the argument can never be resolved because, without a God beyond us, the entire issue has become a matter of personal opinion.

Trans women are women. Trans women are women. Trans women are women. Trans women are women.

The left chants slogans, believing that if they say something often enough, reality will bend to conform to their opinion. And it’s entirely logical in a universe where nothing exists beyond their own opinion.

But what becomes of a culture in which no norms can ever be agreed upon?

So the culture wars are interesting and important, but they are merely symptomatic of the cosmic war.

And therein lies the problem for conservative political commentators. We bemoan the culture wars every night on TV, but we are playing around the edges. They are not addressing the root issue.

Moreover, we continually express surprise that the culture wars keep rolling on. Just when we think the culture has reached peak stupid, it gets even stupider. And we cannot understand it.

Bud Lite goes woke and then broke, only for another corporation to do the exact same thing.

We bang our heads thinking, ‘Why don’t they ever learn? It makes no sense.’

But since when did rebellion against God make sense? The culture war is not guided by principle since it is, at heart, a rebellion against all principle — being cosmic in nature.

Professing to be wise, they became fools.

Two Possibilities

One of my favourite truisms is that what cannot continue will not continue.

The culture wars will end in one of two ways — either in spiritual revival, or a descent into violence that necessitates an authoritarian response.

There are green shoots of a spiritual revival.

Author and political commentator Ayaan Hirsi Ali recently announced her conversion to Christianity.

She said that, among other things, she had realised that a belief in the Christian God was the only thing powerful enough to hold society together.

Last week, British comedian and commentator Russell Brand announced his conversion to Christianity. He said he got sick of talking to himself, and so decided to start talking to Jesus instead.

Ali and Brand join other public figures like Jordan Peterson and Andrew Klavan, who boldly express their belief in God and, consequently, in the need for mankind to acknowledge authority beyond themselves and norms that don’t answer to lobby groups.

A return to faith in God would save Western culture from complete collapse. But without a spiritual revival, the culture will continue to fragment and divide — no recognition of authority and no acceptance of norms.

The result will be tribalism. And history tells us that tribalism always ends in violence.

Ironically, a culture that rejects cosmic authority will eventually require State authoritarianism to control it. We are seeing the early stages of that now.

Everywhere, the power of the State is growing. Politicians are insisting they need more powers to police every aspect of our lives.

If the cosmic war is not surrendered, then expect to see increasing authoritarianism in the culture. How else to create order among people who will not submit to authority and who will not recognise any truth but “my truth”?

And so, culturally, we find ourselves at a huge fork in the road.

If conservatives — whether believers or not — want to save the culture, then they must start talking about the Christian God — in the media, in the workplace, in our families.

Because all the craziness we are seeing in the culture is a direct consequence of the cosmic craziness released by the Thomas Nagels of this world. And there is a little bit of Thomas Nagel in all of us. That’s the real problem, and if that is not addressed, Australia Day and transgenderism are the least of our problems.

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Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.

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Photo by beytlik.