What do socialists, Marxists, "transhumanists," Mark Zuckerberg's Metaverse, the LGBTQ movement, "woke" academic and corporate leftists, Davos economic elites, and the left wing of the Democratic Party have in common?
They are all invested in a progressive, secular worldview based on the idea that humans are evolving toward higher levels of being and just need help getting there.
Implicit is the idea that God is an antiquated superstition, not the benevolent, omniscient Creator of the universe. Another progressive idea is that the natural world no longer reigns; reality is all in our heads.
Transhumanism "seek[s] the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values," according to whatistranshumanism.org.
Now, there's the rub. What do they mean by "life-promoting principles and values?" Abortion, euthanasia, gender dysphoria and socialism? "Woke" progressives push all these evils while silencing dissent and altering language.
Major media now use the absurd phrase "pregnant people," not "women," and obediently use plural pronouns like "they" and "them" for individuals. We're supposed to pretend men can get pregnant and legitimately win women's swim meets. We're told to "follow the science" (except for biology).
A Gallup poll says 21% of Gen Z and 7.1% of all U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ. For decades, studies pegged it as under 2% even while activists falsely claimed 10% to increase political clout. Constant promotion of LGBTQ behavior obviously entices young people to try it. The sharp rise in LGBTQ identification should blow away the "born gay" hoax. Yet they cling to it, daring us to believe that 10 to 20% of the population has been LGBTQ all along, just reluctant to declare it. God's creation of two complementary sexes and marriage? We've "evolved." Anyone who says otherwise is a hater and bigot.
This is all about man's evolution into a more advanced species, like the transhumanists predict. How did we get here?
Whatever else we may think of Darwin's theory of evolution, it was gasoline on a raging bonfire of the vanities, a worship of man instead of God that began in revolutionary Paris, culminating in the birth of Marxism. That malign materialistic philosophy insists that we are always evolving toward a higher plane. Cultural Marxism must destroy any lingering institutions and values to make way for the new order.
Eventually, we won't need government, since fallen human nature will give way to unbounded, benevolent souls. If you believe that, feel free to "defund" your police department.
Marx's prideful "we shall be as gods" outlook has killed more people and spread more misery than any other. And why not? Satan himself came up with it. Soul-killing envy is the beating heart of progressivism, which holds God's natural order in contempt.
C.S. Lewis warned that every power gained by man is also a power over man. In his magnificent novel "That Hideous Strength," scientists run amok, like the boys in William Golding's "Lord of the Flies." As Dostoevsky also observed, humans invariably go rogue when unrestrained by God.
Technology and science free us in many ways, but they can pervert what it means to be human. Mr. Zuckerberg's Metaverse uses artificial intelligence-generated sensations to replace the natural world. As the Daily Mail puts it, the aim is to give people "godlike powers."
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal explained the immersive nature of the Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset: "If the crystal-ball predictions pan out, we'll soon all be wearing them to transform into digital avatars and work, play, shop and more in the so-called metaverse."
Meta, formerly Facebook, lost $3.3 billion for its virtual reality unit in the fourth quarter of 2021, but it will eventually take off. One reason is that our culture is so dark, with a limitless menu of gloom, ugliness, violence and bizarre sexuality.
If we were to conjure the perfect scenario in which we could sell virtual reality, transhumanism, gender dysphoria and other escapism, this would be it.
On the other hand, good things may be on the horizon. Parents are waking up. Leftists are terrified of the next election. Bible-based churches are growing, which bodes well for redeeming America. There is a fast-growing "clean" entertainment field, as exemplified by Pure Flix movies, Dry Bar Comedy and Babylon Bee satire. "Wokeness" is wearing thin.
And then there's the big picture, which we need to keep in mind to preserve our sanity.
"Why do the nations rage and imagine a vain thing…. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; He shall hold them in derision" (Psalm 2).
"Put them in fear, O Lord, That the nations may know themselves to be but men" (Psalm 9:20).
"In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
A version of this column ran originally in The Washington Times.
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