Every era produces its own type of fallacies to address the anxieties of the day. During the inter-war period, a number of contradictory philosophies held the world in thraldom. Their message retained a captivating power, even after generations, despite its deceptive nature.
Charles Colson recounts how Camus and Sartre captured the admiration of people on American campuses in subsequent generations: life has no intrinsic meaning, and there is no God. Meaning and purpose must be boldly created through the individual’s actions. A person’s experiences, actions, and courage alone can make meaning. So let us enjoy life when we can!
Sartre’s thoughts could freeze you to death: humans are “on a shattered and deserted stage, without script, director, prompter, or audience, the actor is free to improvise his own part.”
When he said this, he merely mirrored the world scenario of the day under colliding loyalties to capitalism, communism, socialism, nazism, fascism, racism, anarchism, nihilism. Proclaimers of the Word remained silent or were happy enough with euphemisms.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer had suffered greatly under the Nazis. He sat stunned, reading Psalm, 74:8-10: “They burnt all the meeting places of God in the land. We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long. How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?” He was reflecting on God’s word in Nazi Germany. Millions perished under the Nazis.
DEVALUATION OF ALL VALUES
Nietzsche’s story of the “death of God” has had many interpretations. What he meant was the “devaluation of all values”. The distinction between right and wrong, justice and injustice was becoming meaningless. There was no objective guide to choose between the belief that humans are created equal and the conviction that exploiting the weak is the way to the future and ensuring GDP growth for the nation. These are the philosophies that dominate world thought even today.
Nietzsche proposes a solution to God’s death: replace Him. “God remains dead…Must not we ourselves become gods simply to seem worthy of it?” Pascal had feared such attitudes. Nietzsche wanted the Christian to get rid of his ‘slave morality’, the fear of breaking the law. He should, on the contrary, create his own laws. Such a Superman alone can exercise his will to power. Reckless elements in society were thrilled with such statements. Gradually, they found acceptance in wider and wider circles.
Reinhold Niebuhr criticized American education for its emphasis on moral relativity and the downgrading of values. James Hitchcock rejected all rules, authority, and demands for obedience. In the 1960s, there was a call to freedom for sex and drugs, which also influenced literature and art. The rising opinion was: no lasting values. Colson speaks of four decades of erosion of values. Social behaviour amounted to saying, ‘God is dead’. Respect for other religions came to mean non-religion… lack of respect for Christianity itself.
Church attendance fell in the West. A value-free society came to mean a liberal, progressive, and enlightened outlook. Therefore, there remains nothing objective to guide us on how to live together. Seeing such aimless developments in the world in the post-war era, Churchill died with the words “There is no hope.”
Here is where the convicting power, transforming power, of the Gospel has to be awakened, not only in the West but the world over, where such anarchy of thoughts, ideologies, interests, and convictions has led humanity to a state of helplessness. “Wars proliferate”, violence manifests itself in hundreds of ways, corruption mounts, power dominates, opportunism rules the world: think of Trump, Putin, Xi, Erdogan, or Modi. There are no rules, says Trump, only deals!
BE A LIGHT TO THE WORLD
Be a light to the world. Matthew, 5:14-15. Do good things, let them be seen. Change the world from where you are. It is not that Christian leaders must claim superior wisdom, but rather that they must be acquainted with facts and figures, situations, processes, and possibilities. They must search for solutions with the rest of society. Interpreting events and processes is extremely important before launching action. Politically partisan people tend to embellish facts and interpret events according to their own political interests and one-sided views. Emotionally led masses blindly follow leaders who present attractive populist programs and promises to them. Irresponsible newspaper men seek to serve the interests of one group or the other according to their own political or commercial allegiance.
Ideologically biased media tend to give a lopsided presentation of a situation or an incident. We know from experience how a wrong interpretation of a case of violence can aggravate anger and anxiety and lead to further violence. If Facebook, Twitter, or Reddit turn to spreading “misinformation”, we cannot remain silent. We need to become “gatekeepers”, defending helpful norms and becoming guardians of ethical values.
