The End of the Enlightenment

The 18th Century Enlightenment. The approach to humanity and reality marked by the flowering of reason, objective observation, and the abandonment of superstition. The philosophy behind the founding of our nation.

The Enlightenment is dying.

This is the conclusion of John Kelley who has published an article entitled, "The End of Enlightenment" published by Common Dreams. Kelley looks at the characters of both Pope Benedict XVI and George Bush as clear examples of how we are choosing to turn our backs on the philosphy of freedom and reason.

Unfortunately when we review history we realize that the battle for enlightened thought is a constant battle against those who would control the lives of others. We fail to realize most of the time that we have been living in a small microcosm of history that has more downs than ups, more devastation and war then peace and more exploitation than elevation of mankind. Our current run at moving up the evolutionary scale has stopped and we are headed down for a while, if not forever.

The selection of Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope Benedict XVI disheartened me greatly. Any sign that the church was going to come down on the side of humanity rather than authority has vanished. One of the last chances for a moral voice to salvage mankind from his own hand will not be there. Indeed, we may see the end of the Age of Enlightenment in my time. Am I not overreacting, you say? I think not.
...
Ratzinger's criticism of modernity, atheism, other forms of Christianity (“deficient”) and other world religions demonstrates a fear and prejudice of things outside of his experience as inferior. This prejudice is made of fear of the unknown, the uncontrollable, like the human spirit. Benedict’s view is to pluck out the offending eye, to make the church smaller, more orthodox, exclusionary and to fight the heretical ideas of free thought and action. If he was an isolated anachronism in the world that would be one thing, but he represents another converging river of power concentrated on authoritarianism in the world.

George “silver spoon” Bush also suffers from the same lack of perspective, only the attempt at intellectual discipline is missing. Seemingly a concrete thinker, Bush believes everything he says and believes in a simple right or wrong, black or white view of things. He sees himself as having a predetermined destiny to change history; a man to follow unquestioningly. His appeal is that he has such simple sounding answers for everything he appeals to average people who are scared of change in the world. Like Menken said, ”For every problem there is always a simple solution, and it is usually wrong." In a confusing, overwhelming world, simple seems good, and when you are scared so you cling on to simple. The reality is that he doesn’t have the intellectual ability or moral boundaries to prevent him from justifying to himself any action.
...
Joining these power hunters to repress free thought is James Dobson, Randall Terry, Ralph Reed, Pat Robertson and the other theocrats who are pursuing a “Christian Nation”. They want to have the FCC police public discussion to their acceptable subjects and information on birth control and abortion suppressed. They want to deny you a job based on not only your sexual orientation but also your religion. They have many allies in Congress, as illustrated by James Frist's appearance at their national judge bashing event. These people believe that they should have dominion over this country including its laws, your thoughts and your actions.

Kelley then gives some chilling quotes from the men to whom he has referred in the paragraph above. Here's just one sample:

"Let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good.... If a Christian voted for Clinton, he sinned against God. It's that simple.... Our goal is a Christian Nation... we have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want Pluralism. We want theocracy. Theocracy means God rules. I've got a hot flash. God rules." --Randall Terry

Here's how Kelley ends:

The candle of enlightenment is in danger of flickering out, and the dark ages again loom large on the horizon. Indeed human survival itself is in the balance. Time is short. You think I exaggerate, I think not.

I don't think he's exaggerating either. One thing that consoles me somewhat is that the Tibetan lamas actually predicted that we would be entering another dark age and have recently said that it has now begun. Those of us who value reason and awareness need to be particularly vigilant and work to provide a haven for others as we all endure these dark times.