The Culture War is a Symptom of the Cosmic War

James Macpherson - 31 January 2024

If we want to save the West, we need to start talking about the Christian God.

There’s a lot of talk about the culture wars.

But the culture wars — fights over everything from the meaning of Australia Day to the definition of women — are symptomatic of something much larger, and far more important.

The culture wars are a natural consequence and subplot of the main narrative which, of course, is the cosmic war.

The real story right now is not the West’s rejection of its Christian roots.

American philosopher Thomas Nagel summed up the attitude of many in the West when he said:

“I want atheism to be true, and I am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers.

“It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that.”

It wasn’t that science had disproved God, as some argued (indeed hoped) that it would. Far from it. The more we learn about the universe, the more compelling belief in God becomes.

The West’s abandonment of God has far more to do with desire than with data, with selfishness than with science.

We prefer a universe without rules, boundaries or constraints. We are so wedded to the idea of individual autonomy that it seems wholly undesirable that anyone should ever tell us what to do.

The idea of a God who might disagree with our personal life choices is highly offensive.

So we abandoned any idea of a cosmic reality, and now the ripple effects of that decision have become a cultural tsunami.

In Denial

In waging a cosmic war against the Christian God, we have said a firm ‘no’ to two things: authority and absolutes.

We have said not to authority since, if there is no God above me, who is anyone to tell me what to do?

The crisis in authority — be it in the church, the political system or in law enforcement — is not because a few priests fiddled with children, or because politicians broke promises, or because police took bribes.

Institutions have always been corrupted because institutions have always been populated by flawed human beings.

The crisis of faith in our institutions has been primarily because, as a culture, we have rejected authority. We are loath to recognise it, let alone honour it, let alone submit to it.

What becomes of a culture in which no one recognises authority?

We have also waged war on absolutes since, if there is no God beyond me, then how can you ever judge me, or indeed anything? By what measure will you evaluate me?

And who is anyone to say what is ‘normal’ since — if there is nothing beyond us — there is no standard to which you can point.

Thus, everything is up for grabs. You say a woman can’t have a penis. I say she can. And the argument can never be resolved because, without a God beyond us, the entire issue has become a matter of personal opinion.

Trans women are women. Trans women are women. Trans women are women. Trans women are women.

The left chants slogans, believing that if they say something often enough, reality will bend to conform to their opinion. And it’s entirely logical in a universe where nothing exists beyond their own opinion.

But what becomes of a culture in which no norms can ever be agreed upon?

So the culture wars are interesting and important, but they are merely symptomatic of the cosmic war.

And therein lies the problem for conservative political commentators. We bemoan the culture wars every night on TV, but we are playing around the edges. They are not addressing the root issue.

Moreover, we continually express surprise that the culture wars keep rolling on. Just when we think the culture has reached peak stupid, it gets even stupider. And we cannot understand it.

Bud Lite goes woke and then broke, only for another corporation to do the exact same thing.

We bang our heads thinking, ‘Why don’t they ever learn? It makes no sense.’

But since when did rebellion against God make sense? The culture war is not guided by principle since it is, at heart, a rebellion against all principle — being cosmic in nature.

Professing to be wise, they became fools.