The gods of secular humanism

It has been argued that we are religious beings; that we inevitably set up some god to serve even if we appear to abjure all gods. The wasteland of secular humanism gives rise to its own gods, one of which is perfection. Lists of rights, extreme precautions and the politically correct serve this idea. Having become the creator of our own world we want it to be perfect. The irony is that by turning away from God we have fallen into bone biting religious traps and damaged our freedom.

There is certainly a new censoriousness at large. One cannot now speak doubtingly of anthropogenic climate change, gay marriage, abortion and the role religion in the Middle East. Liberalism has become illiberal. We badly need an iconoclastic spirit to sweep our lives free of false gods. Ancient Israel knew about this and so does the Church at its best. But don't hold your breath, the secular gods are firmly entrenched and will continue to demand our allegiance. In an unpredictable world they represent our collective attempt at control. There is more and more behaviour that has been determined by health and safety committees that rob us of our initiative. Often, small risks demand unreasonable precautions.

The risks, of course, are to our bodies. Mega epidemiological studies are performed in order to minutely detail risk factors for our health. Indeed, we are daily bombarded with medical advice about diet, exercise and the like to the point that most of us stop attending to them. This is what thoroughgoing materialism looks like. What is missing is something far more important than a small increase in the risk of getting cancer; it is damage to our souls or to our psyches, as the New Testament would have it.

We may live much longer than previous generations but we are not sure what to do with the extra years; they are simply an extension of meaningless existence. We have traded lived intensity for longevity. Our inability to deal with death means that we live in fear. It is that fear that drives our obsession with the body leaving the psyche neglected.