“THE WEST: POST OR PRE-CHRISTIAN?”: A POLYTHEISTIC VIEW

 

 

Since 2020, there has been a steady drumbeat of essays of how Christianity is under siege. In the Erasmus Lecture (sponsored by the Institute of Religion and Politics) for 2022, the Catholic Archbishop of Sidney (Australia), Antony Fisher, O.P. ponders whether the West is post or pre-Christian. (Note 1) Alarmed by the rise of secularization and the floundering hegemony of Christianity, he believes that the balance between the Church and the State is tipped more and more to secularization.

 

The Archbishop defines “secularity” as “not only a distinction but a degree of separation between church and state with each sphere and its agents having a certain freedom from the other.” He defines “secularization” as “the process of further separating these spheres, and minimizing or privatizing religion.” Fisher explains “whereas other civilizations identified sacred and profane power, Christianity has always insisted that some things be rendered unto Caesar and some unto God, even if we bring the one conscience to both spheres.” According to the Archbishop, not only is Christianity being marginalized, but that it has been pushed aside for “progressive orthodoxies.” (Note 2)

 

Archbishop Fisher considers Christianity to be the capstone of civilization. He contrasts that with Ancient Rome, which he says allowed for human sacrifice, cannibalism, slavery, and immoral behavior. Since in Rome, religion was also civic religion, people obeyed the authorities as sacral figures. Fisher maintains that the ancient Romans had a multitude of deities which exercised arbitrary power over life and death. Therefore, according to him, Roman ethics left much to be desired. Noting that many societies were only converted partly to Christianity, Fisher states that they still held onto Pagan values. These values are reflected in the movement toward secularization which includes relative morality. Fisher alludes to the destruction that Progressivism has made on modern society. (Note 3)

 

The Archbishop concludes his long essay with “Christianity must speak truth in love.” He writes, “Only such a Christianity can reunite a divided Church and culture, provide a foundation for a genuinely tolerant, pluralist society, and bring God and humanity closer together.”

 

Archbishop Fisher does what many Monotheists do. Since God in Christianity is the absolute moral center of right and wrong, the problem of evil needs to be dealt with. One way is to put the evil outside onto the secular or Pagan (Polytheistic) culture. Since the faith no longer needs to address evil within it, it can focus on the “outside evil.” Therefore, the usual response to any threat is the call to return to “traditional Christianity.”

 

Edward Butler in “The Way of the Gods,” writes “The strain of absorbing the weight of Europe’s own pre-Christian heritage, not to mention the encounter with living polytheist civilizations in every other part of the world, leads to a massive deployment of intellectual resources in defense of the existing paradigm, working to transform it in a controlled manner rather than allowing it collapse.” He continues, “In this way, the so-called ‘Classics’ also became safe for Christians to study through the notion that either they had no real religious significance at all, or that if they did, this aspect of them necessarily belonged to the merely historical conditions of their cultural production, as distinct with the fundamental truth of monotheism.” Butler stresses that the imperative to defend monotheism will distort any examination of Polytheistic cultures. This is apparent in Fisher’s assessment of Roman society.

 

Butler points out that Monotheists when faced with autonomous independent Pagan cultures will deflect the reality of Christian hegemony. The bad aspects of Christianity are foisted on the Polytheistic culture. The fragility of Christianity inspires its believers to control or at least double down on their efforts to discredit the Polytheistic culture. Otherwise, the Christian culture will become disoriented and unglued.

 

What has become apparent to me is that Archbishop Fisher’s essay echoes the writings of Jonathan Cahn and Naomi Wolf (Note 4), except that he blames the secularists instead of Gods. The uneasy feeling of being out of place is combined with a call to traditional religion. Oddly enough, various Neo-Pagans are also writing about the same unraveling of society. In their case, they are calling for a return to Progressive values. Both the Monotheists and Neo-Pagans seem to be unsettled since they perceive that their places of safety are under siege.

 

Is the West, pre or post Christian? Since I believe that Polytheism is the default religion of humankind, I think that Polytheism is reasserting itself. In that regard, the West is returning to its natural faith. As for the secularization that the Archbishop rails about, I think that is modernity’s reaction to Monotheism, which I consider to be an unnatural religion.

 

Notes:

Note 1: Read Archbishop Fisher’s essay here: https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/02/the-west-post–or-pre-christian

Note 2: He calls them “secular fixations – on autonomy, sexuality, victimhood, diversity, and inclusion (of everyone except believers).”

Note 3: Meanwhile, Neo-Pagans decry the rise of traditional Christianity which they believe threatens them.

Note 4: See my post, “‘Return of the Gods:’ A Polytheistic Perspective.”