‘Idolatry’ can be understood both
literally and metaphorically, but with the same effect. Literally, it is the worship of human-made
deities—crafted idols. From the
perspective of religions that state that there is only One God, Creator of
heaven and earth, things visible and invisible, idolatry involves not only
turning to other deities but also inventing religion to suit cultural tastes
and human needs. Metaphorically,
idolatry involves placing anything above God—or replacing God with something
else.
The history of Christianity in many
parts of the world has involved a Christian challenge to other religions over
the centuries. In the 8th
century, St. Boniface chopped down the sacred oak of the god Donar of Germanic
tribes in the Frankish Empire. As the
story goes, a wind came up and helped to topple the tree. With no challenge from Donar, the tribes
turned to Jesus Christ instead. Such
encounters with pagan religions have often been repeated. Christians do not believe in forcing people
into the faith, but they also insist that there is only one true faith and that
this will challenge all other religions.
Such challenges to idolatry were
also part of Israel’s encounter with other cultures and religions. The One True God demanded singular devotion
to Himself of all peoples, tribes, nations, and tongues. In the 9th c. BC, Elijah the
prophet similarly challenged the 450 priests of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah
on Mt. Carmel. They built an altar for the
sacrifice of a bull to Baal and pled with him to supply the fire. Elijah did the same for the true God and also
drenched the wood and sacrifice with water three times. No matter how much the prophets of Baal
danced about, pled, and cut themselves, no fire came down from heaven to consume
their waiting sacrifice. Fire did come
down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice of Elijah, God’s prophet,
though. It consumed the wood, stones,
dust, and water in the trench around the altar, so mighty a display of God’s
reality did it present (1 Kings 18). A
religion that claims that there is only One God is, whether in words or in
actions, a direct challenge to the religions of others.
In a Postmodern world, where
truth is deemed relative and religion a matter of, at best, private belief, a
direct challenge to the beliefs of others is viewed as offensive. Early Postmodernity wished to see culture as
softly inclusive, whereas late Postmodernity has become aggressively exclusive
against all claims of truth. It wants
more than toleration: it requires plurality.
It sings the praises of social diversity. It celebrates subjective claims over
facts. In this, it places the creature over
the Creator. Truth is denied; his or her
truth is affirmed and protected. Nature
is denied; orientation is the new truth.
Take, for example, the jailed
father in Canada who committed the crime of not calling his son his ‘daughter’,
and not agreeing to his using puberty blockers.[1] This version of ‘social justice’, of course, has
nothing to do with justice in the world created by God. It is the very stuff of Eve’s and Adam’s sin—to
wrest the definition of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ from God and attempt to become like
God by determining morality by oneself—by made-up identities rather than how
God created us.
The move to idolatry in the
Post-Christian West in the name of social justice is also seen in the historical
revisions of the so-called Cancel Culture.
Christianity is seen as an abusive power that undermined other cultures
by preaching One God. The logical
development of this is to appreciate the pre-Christian cultures around the
world and, of course, that means some sort of reintroduction of pagan deities. For example, a current issue being considered
by the California Department of Education is a newly proposed ethnic studies
curriculum that is intended to accomplish ‘social justice’ by ‘decolonizing’
American society.[2] White Christians (note both terms are abhorrent
to this Cancel Culture) are considered to be guilty in their collective past
for ‘killing’ Native American deities and teaching Christian faith
instead. Preaching the Gospel is now
viewed as a form of cultural destruction—social injustice. The co-chair of the curriculum and primary author
of this curriculum, according to an article in the Christian Post, is R.
Tolteka Cuauhtin. He asserts, ‘White settlers
thus established a regime of coloniality, dehumanization, and genocide.’ To right this social injustice, he seeks a ‘countergenocide’
against whites that will ‘name, speak to, resist, and transform the hegemonic
European neocolonial condition.’
This is not the stuff of early
Postmodernity, which might have sought some sort of inclusion of diverse
religions, including Christianity. Now,
social justice is so understood that it cannot abide any exclusive claim from
Christians. Christianity is seen as a
tool of white supremacy, colonialism, hegemonic power. To counter this, Cuauhtin proposes through this
new curriculum to reintroduce Aztec gods.
In a direct challenge to the First Amendment’s separation of Church and
State, students will, if the curriculum is approved, according to the Christian
Post article, be introduced to and participate in a chant to an Aztec god,
Tezkatlipoka, who has been appropriated as a god giving power to now social
justice warriors. The Aztec religion is
also being recommissioned for social justice as deities for ‘healing
epistemologies’ and a ‘revolutionary spirit’.
‘Social justice’ has, in this case,
literally become idolatry. Another
example of this trend toward idolatry might be cited from within Christianity
too—or, at least, within some parts of Roman Catholicism. Catholic missions is known for bending far in
the direction of religious syncretism, and there has been a shocking example of
this even in Rome. Once again, ‘social
justice’ is involved in the story. Pope
Francis’s ecological concerns for the earth became an open door to introduce
pagan deities from South America during a Pan-Amazon Synod in 2019.[3] This blatant act of sacrilege has about it
all the marks of Post-Christian, Postmodern culture: environmental concerns twisted
away from our Creator and developed around other gods, inclusion of other
religions, sensitivity to other religions, and, of course, that ever-present,
sacrosanct term—‘diversity’.
And so, what sounds so pure and
good, ‘social justice’, actually becomes an avenue for the introduction of
idolatry, both literally and metaphorically.
People are caught like deer in the headlights of the current
culture. The beams of social justice are
turned on, and to run is to admit injustice, but to stand one’s ground is to
face being shot by the hunter. One is
damned either way, all the while the agendas of social justice, which are no
justice at all, are driven right in.
Worse, however, the idolatry of manmade deities, if not actual deities
of pagan religions, are also introduced.
[1]
See Michael Foust, ‘Father Jailed after Calling Transgender Child His ‘Daughter’
and Using Wrong Pronouns,’ Christian Headlines (March 18, 2021); online
at: https://www.christianheadlines.com/contributors/michael-foust/father-jailed-after-calling-transgender-child-his-daughter-and-using-wrong-pronouns.html.
[2]
The description of this curriculum is taken from Brandon Showalter, ‘California
“Ethnic Studies” proposal teaches kids white Christians are evil, chant to
Aztec gods,’ in Christian Post (Friday, March 12, 2021); online at: https://www.christianpost.com/news/calif-ethnic-studies-plan-teaches-kids-to-chant-to-aztec-gods.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1YYEydJdGLKc07zDrnoo--KUxkxLscvDamqyDDhIALKksqQr0RWCLdWiA.
[3]
Among the many articles that captured this shocking event, see, e.g., George
Neumayr, ‘The Strange Gods of Pope Francis: His project is to weaken Catholic
faith while strengthening the UN-Vatican alliance,’ The American Spectator (October
10, 2019): online at: https://spectator.org/the-strange-gods-of-pope-francis/.
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