Individualism is the New Religion

What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion? What if I told you voting Republican really wasn’t His mission? What if I told you Republican doesn’t actually mean Christian, and just because you call some people blind, doesn’t automatically give you vision?

I am quoting Jefferson Bethke’s unconventional “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus” which impacted over 26 million YouTube viewers by emphasizing the importance of just “loving Jesus” and not worrying about religious norms or standards of worship. With some distance now since it first became so popular, I want to talk about why, exactly, it was received with such enthusiasm.

Let’s think about our culture’s take on love for a moment. We want sex without love and pornography with no relationship. There is even a cuddling industry with total strangers (no seriously, look it up here). We have successfully deconstructed everything which makes love cohesive, intelligible and life worth-living, and instead have chosen only the parts we want. Why? Because we refuse to commit. It’s scary. It means we can’t always get what we want; it proclaims “for better” but never “for worse”.

This is a result of a new monster developed in this country. It rages when not fed, whines when not given full attention, and will stop at nothing to fulfill its every desire. I like to call him the Individual. This is the extreme of a wonderful regard for the dignity of each person unique to democracy but is now a whole new breed of selfishness.

And see, our view of love based on the relativism borne out of Individualism is why we want to abolish religion. If we can love others in whatever way we see fit, why can’t it be the same for God? Well for one thing, the Individual is not of such a nature that he can redefine love, whether it be God or a lover, brother, parent, or poor man on the street. Love is really hard. Love requires sacrifice and hard work and often times, it needs a lot more will-power to stay alive than passivity to emotions and whims. But gosh, the thought of a country which no longer esteems objective love really does frighten me. When love instead becomes relative, the strength that used to be provided by it at the core of our society will be replaced with the mentality that desperately cries “God is who I want Him to be!” This is the Individual’s religion which is truly promoted today.