Let’s face it – what is going on in the world is often hard to understand. There is so much happening and so many contradictory sources and it takes effort to explain why so much of what is happening is bad. It is important to try, but at the same time it is easy to misunderstand things and get confused.
It feels as if there is a deluge of negativity, a constant storm of attacks on what was once true, and good, and beautiful. It is easy to despair, or to think there are grand conspiracies pulling the strings. Or on the other hand, to think everything that is going on can be explained away by complex natural forces that cannot be altered by any actions we take. Both extremes have elements of truth.
There are many factors involved in the current problems we see. Some do involve deliberate actions by individuals and groups. But, as with solving any problem, no matter how small, it is important to get to the heart of the matter.
Pragmatism
For instance, did you know that Russia, China, and Iran are not allies? In fact, they are partners of convenience because they have shared adversaries and converging interests. Recent reports about Russian nuclear strategies make clear that Russia sees a land invasion from China as an existential threat that would require a nuclear response, rather than, say, American actions in Europe.
Another example, closer to home, is the hostility Western governments seem to have towards religion. Part of this can be explained by the old secular anti-Christian obsessions of “advanced” libertarian elites. But government actions and proposals, such as the recent philanthropy report from the Productivity Commission to restructure tax-deductible giving to remove deductibility from some religious works, has a more mundane but even more insidious rationale.
The Commission’s draft report on philanthropy proposes stripping tax-deductible status from school building programs and works of religion in public schools, like chaplaincy programs. This is not a straightforward attack on religion. Instead, it is an example of a rationalistic economic modelling approach that fails to comprehend intangible things.
This disenchanted industrialist-mechanistic mindset is rife throughout the modern Western world. For this mindset, there is no greater meaning or purpose to life, and belief systems are private matters and optional extras. All that matters are numbers on balance sheets and what can be encoded in computerised algorithms. The things that make life worth living have no value. The things that give life meaning have no place because they cannot be quantified. They cannot be turned into data points and processed by machines and therefore they should be excluded from the overall business of government.
Essential Foundation
The truth is that religion provides intangible value by providing foundational meaning and understanding of reality. Arts, culture, education all play their part in this grand adventure. The bean counters at the Commission clearly cannot understand this. This type are shocked to learn that, if they undermine and attack traditional religions (that have had millennia to grow and develop), what develops in their place are bizarre cults and conspiratorial political philosophies that merge politics, society, and religions into a single ill-defined whole.
We made a deliberate decision a year ago that the core work of The Movement was to turn our focus on formation – on introducing people to deeper understandings of how the world works and showing how this is an expression of their beliefs. More than that, the practical everyday matters of politics and social engagement are strengthened and enriched by these deeper transcendent understandings.
I want to thank Anna Krohn and the Thomas More Centre team for their focus on this formation. We need it if we’re going to deal with the challenging flaws in our world. And thank you all for your support, and please reach out with any ideas or suggestions you may have.
May God bless you and yours.
