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The Observer

What happened to the Pop cultural Spiritual Leaders of Yester Year?

Posted by Joshua Claycamp on

This is an AI generated transcript. It's accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

It's Tuesday, April 5 2022. I'm Joshua Claycamp. And this is the observer of Kamloops Christians reflection upon the news from a biblical perspective, in order to help Christians understand how we need to think and feel about current events. As we are approaching the Easter season, I thought it would be appropriate to begin this morning's edition of the observer by reading from Isaiah 55, in which God says to us all through the prophet Isaiah,

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain in the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth is shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Indeed, Lord does say to us time and again, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways, your ways.

We need to hold this in our minds as we turn to the events that are confronting our society over the weekend. An article was written by Douglas Todd in the Vancouver Sun posing the question Where have all the popular spiritual leaders gone? And what is filling the void? Indeed, this is a question which behooves us to ask ourselves, not only as Christians but as Canadians living within this particular secular society that we are living in. Douglas Todd and his article poses the question what is going on with Canadian spirituality? And as we begin to reflect upon this article, I want to pose this hypothesis. One thing for sure, that we can say is that we are not thinking God's thoughts after God. We are not evaluating society and current events from a perspective that puts God first in our thoughts. But then the question remains, well, what is first in our thoughts? Douglas Todd again, writing for the Vancouver Sun, where have all the popular spiritual leaders gone and what's filling the void? He begins just over a decade ago big names spiritual leaders, the Dalai Lama, thick not Han Eckhart Tolle, a Deepak Chopra, Rhonda Byrne Desmond Tutu.

These were individuals routinely making the headlines but the halcyon days of the Dalai Lama, perhaps the biggest pop spiritual figure of the mall packing stadiums in Vancouver, Los Angeles and around the world have fast faded. He says there's not nearly as much mass culture focus on trendsetting spiritual figures, as there was in the past, a decline confirmed by, among other things, Google Analytics, which measures how often celebrities names are searched out on line. It's not just because some of these admired figures like Han and tutu have recently died and others like the Dalai Lama are slowing down. They're traveling. Only a decade ago, Han tutu, Chopra and Tolay were routinely drawing 1000s when they spoke in North American cities. But now the name of Salt Spring Island based Tolay, for instance, draws only an eighth of the Google searches that he had, in 2008. A similar drop in online interest has befallen Indian American mystic Chopra and Byrne, author of the phenomenon the secret, there are no new spiritual stars taking their place. Even the name of Pope Francis, who hovers above in a different fame category than almost everyone except the global leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is not being searched nearly as often as it was from 2013 to 2016. What is the extent of this fall in pop spirituality and institutional religion in North America and our observers on to something when they say that the religious void is being replaced by a quasi religious phenomenon, identity politics, and a new form of social justice theory?

Now before we continue with Todd's article, I'd like to propose my own answer to this question. Indeed, I think that pop spirituality has faded, especially the popular spirituality of the previous decades, such as the secret to the Dalai Lama, and Deepak Chopra and all the rest. I do think that this spirituality has faded. And I think that what's beginning to replace it is a form of secularism. which taught identifies as a kind of quasi religious blend of identity politics, and a new form of social justice theory. But when we say secularism, what exactly is it that we mean when we use this term, I think it's important as Christians that we define our terms. And it's important to have these terms firmly fixed in our mind when we seek to engage our neighbors or our fellow co workers. And I think the best place to turn in terms of trying to understand secularism and how to define secularism is none other than Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor, in his monumental tome, a secular age, he traces the development of secularism, the modern secularism that we face today, and he juxtaposes it with an analysis of the fall or the diminishing returns, we might say, of religious identity and a theistic worldview.

There are a couple of different definitions that are presented within Charles Taylor's a secular age. I'll give you them all three of them. The first one this first definition for secular is that it is what we might consider to be a more classical definition of secular as distinguished from the sacred, that is, we have the heavenly plane, and then we have the secular or the earthly plane of domestic life. This classical definition seeks to separate life into two hemispheres, you have the hemisphere above the heavenly, and then you have the pragmatic, the practical, the everyday domestic life issues. Priests under this original definition of secular priests tend to hold the sacred domain, whereas butchers, bakers and candlestick makers carry out the more secular work. This is the first classical definition of secular. But then there's a more modern definition of the word secular as well to be understood as more a religious that is a neutral understanding an unbiased understanding, perhaps we might even call it an objective understanding as in a secular public square that is, an individual who adopts this more modern definition of secularism is seeking to enter into the public arena into the public square, sort of devoid of any religious attachments. They're not necessarily against religion, they're not anti religious, they're just seeking to be a religious that is to say, they're not approaching the questions of life and certain problems with regards to society from a religious attachment. They're trying to be what they consider to be neutral, that is unbiased, perhaps they might use the term objective as they consider questions and moral dilemmas of the present age. And this brings us to the third definite definition of secularism, according to Charles Taylor, and this is really where Taylor believes that our society, particularly the Canadian society has arrived at today. Taylor's notion of the secular, as we see it today is an age of contested belief, where religious belief is no longer axiomatic or assumed certainly not assumed. But it's not even something that has to be really wrestled with.

In other words, it's possible to imagine not believing in God as a legitimate form of life. And this is radically different to what we saw within Western civilization within North America, just a matter of say 100 years ago, or even less, where everybody understood that there were individuals who were immoral individuals who did not worship God. However, society as a whole understood that there must be some, quote unquote, higher power out there, there must be some deity there must be some god, that was presiding over all that was happening in the world, this really provided the foundation for Western civilization as we know it. And so the world that we inhabit here in North America here in Canada, should be understood as a world that has up until very recently operated out of something of a theistic worldview, this idea that there would be a reckoning, that there was a God out there, whether or not we understood him to be the God of Christianity who son is Jesus Christ, or whether we understood him to be some other kind of a God, we all understood, we all recognized and operated out of basic assumptions which undergirded the decisions that we made every single day. And those assumptions were essentially that there was a beauty and a necessity to living in moral lifestyle to adhering to certain forms and certain customs. All of this dictated by the fact that there was a deity a god that was out there watching. However, as society has progressed, particularly radically progressed over the last several decades. Taylor's understanding now is that we no longer live in an age of contested belief, where belief in God was something to be challenged. But now we are living in an age where it's likelier that individuals don't believe in God. It's not something that's contested. It's not something that's challenged. This lack of understanding that there is a God out there is assumed. In other words, we are now living in a world of exclusive humanism, where man is the measure of all things. We're no longer challenging as a society. We're no longer challenging belief in God. We're assuming that belief in God is not actual, it is not real. We're living in an age in which we believe that man is indeed the measure of all things. And this leads to this definition that Taylor begins to utilize of secularism, which is more of a religious doctrine. It's a doctrine that is associated with the secular that is living life on the human plane, that is candlestick makers, butchers and Baker's, and this doctrine of the secular that all that there is what we see is this doctrine of the secular therefore pushes for public schools, public institutions, such as schools and government to be a religious, roughly equivalent to the French doctrine of law EC day, and often expressed in terms of the separation of church and state.

And this is what Douglas is getting at in his article in the Vancouver Sun. He suggests that the religious void that is that is created by the absence of Deepak Chopra, and the Dalai Lama, among others is being replaced today by a quasi religious phenomenon he calls a quasi religious, that is essentially a blending of identity politics and a new form of social justice theory. He goes on to say in his article, quote, there is little doubt secularization continues in much of the West, that is this pushing out of God, this pushing out of spirituality, this pushing out of anything that might happen beyond the purely physical world that we can see and empirically measure. He goes on to say there is little doubt that secularization continues in much of the West, even in the unusually devout United States. And I have to chuckle at that comment. Todd thinks that the United States is unusually devout.

That is, he's suggesting that Americans are more religious than others. I haven't come from America know that that's just not true. However, he goes on to say that pew research finds that the number of Americans who say they have no religion has doubled since 2007. And they now account for three and 10 people in the United States and obviously a much higher ratio and other Western nations goes on to say I recently led a discussion on these topics at a salon organized by Victor Chan, author of the wisdom of forgiveness, who wrote the Dalai Lama to to to lay Rabbi Zalman Schachter Shala me Buddhist Matthieu Ricard, author Karen Armstrong and many other spiritual figures to Vancouver more than a decade ago and when I mentioned these findings to Chan's diverse dinnertime discussion group at the terminal City Club, participants offered valuable feedback while acknowledging secularization one young participant, a realtor observed that Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter are these days filled with people sharing quote unquote quotables from the likes of the Dalai Lama, Han bertolet and others, their online presence, she said continues to be huge. Another discussant at this table also justifiably noted a certain type of secular spirituality in the form of mindfulness meditation, and yoga, and that these things have become common in North American society. Yet still another suggested maybe there aren't as many big names and spirituality as in the past, because quite well, we're moving away from mass culture from a time when, for instance, Elvis Presley or the Beatles could so completely dominate everyone's attention.

Popular spirituality, in other words might be fragmenting like so much of western society. And maybe that helps explain why figures in pop spirituality are no longer ascended at a mass scale, but how non household name guides like Pema Chandran, Richard Rohr, Jack Kornfield, and still others hold significant appeal. For many Christians, we need to step back and we need to look at all of this and we need to remind ourselves that indeed, there is still spirituality taking place in as the secularism that takes root in our society continues to push God out of the equation. It does not fundamentally alter human beings such that they no longer have what one philosopher called that God shaped hole in their heart. We are all looking for God, we are all looking for someone that we can worship or some ideal in which we can place ultimate value. And as we see this happening in in Canadian society, where the secular is supplanting the spiritual or the sacred. One of the things we need to realize lies that Canadians are searching for something to replace that hole, that gaping hole with, they're trying to find something to replace God with. And they're searching, they're searching for someone. And in response to this, we as Christians need to offer to them the invitation that God offers to all of us through the prophet Isaiah, He makes the statement, you my thoughts are higher than your thoughts and my ways are higher than your ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts, God says. In other words, God is inviting us in terms of our thought process, not to discount Him, not to suggest that he's not there. And that is not to allow the secular to push out the sacred. God is offering an opportunity for us to continue to think, to continue to think after him the thoughts that he thinks. Now, of course, we could never never think the way that God thinks. However, he encourages us to engage in a form of conversation with him. He encourages us to consider him. He encourages us to look to him in our day to day thought process. And as Christians, we'd be wise to do that. And we'd be wise to invite our neighbors and our co workers to do that together with us. But of course, this is becoming increasingly difficult for us to do.

Another article published by the Canadian Press indicates that Canadians are becoming more and more divided, particularly over the last two years with the rise of the pandemic and COVID-19 and the Miki Juric. Writing for the Canadian press writes, a new survey suggested that Canadians are in fact becoming more divided with some saying issues have led them to reduce contact with friends, or family. The National phone survey that was conducted by the Canadian hub for applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan asked 1011 people about the issues that divide them, the most about three out of every four respondents or 75% said that they believe society has become more polarized, and the majority of those respondents said that the COVID 19 pandemic, and specifically the restrictions that are associated with the COVID 19 pandemic, ama, in addition to the 2021 federal election were among the two most divisive issues over the past year. So 75% of Canadians believe that Canadian society is becoming more divided. And of that 75% of Canadians who think that society is becoming more divided, the majority of them put it to two issues. The first issue is the federal election. And the second issue is the pandemic and the restrictions that are associated with the pandemic. Now, what is even more stunning about this particular survey is that about 40% of those surveyed, said that they have reduced contact contact with friends or family over an argument about the pandemic or politics.

Now, as Christians, we have to step back and we have to reflect upon this. Of course, it is with some humor that I note that previously in a previous generation, the common refrain was that there are two things that are never talked about. One is politics, and the other is religion. In other words, Canadians and Americans generally avoided those two subjects, we're not going to talk about politics. And of course, we're not going to talk about religion, because we're going to fight over those things. And we see that while politics is still a pretty divisive issue, it is religion has been supplanted with COVID-19. And indeed, as we reflect on COVID-19 and the government mandates that are associated with it, when we see that it is taking on something of a quasi religious nature.

This is what Douglas Todd was talking about in his article, pop spirituality has been replaced with, as he says, a blending of identity politics and a new form of social justice theory. And if this survey that was conducted out of the University of Saskatchewan is any indication, then Douglas Todd is probably on to something. Indeed, Canadians are dividing to the tune of four out of 10 40% are dividing over issues pertaining to politics, or COVID-19 restrictions, respondents in Quebec were more likely than those in other regions to believe that society is becoming polarized Disaronno, the author of the study attributed that result to moderate and liberal views that are inherent in the province. But another individual said, quote, we see a lot of identity politics is taking hold in Canada, and that has been taking hold in the United States as well, particularly in the last two to six years. And we're seeing this carryover more and more into the everyday lives of Canadians and it's becoming a problem. The survey suggested people in the prairies were more likely than in any other region to believe that the issues of fighting climate change and banning assault weapons were dividing Canadians. But in central Canada, however, respondents didn't think that a ban on weapons was really all that divisive of a topic. And I think what the authors of the study are alluding to is that in the in the prairie provinces of Canada, of course, we're talking about Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The issues that they consider to be divisive are issues of climate change and gun ownership as we consider those three provinces. And we understand that they're relatively conservative provinces. We know that individuals living in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are likely to own a firearm. And so as there is legislation being pushed out of Ottawa that seeks to further restrict and regulate to control firearm ownership, undoubtedly, these individuals living in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, are kind of believe that things like, of course, firearm control is a divisive issue. However, the study went on to suggest that individuals living in the eastern provinces This is Ontario and Quebec, do not believe that gun control is particularly a divisive issue. And of course, those are the more liberal provinces where they would be in favor of gun control and climate, government policies that address climate change.

Of course, all of this points to the fact that we live in an age of lumping lumping. In biology taxonomy is the study of classification, the classification specifically of living things, we need to sort them out so that we can think more clearly about them. Because after all, there are just too many of them for us to function otherwise. But it's not always been obvious how living things should be classified. Should creatures with wings all go into one category? Those with two legs go into another category. But then again, what about birds which have two wings and two legs? what category do we put birds into? Now we are blessed that taxonomy got its start with Aristotle, who, while not perfect, was rather more systematic and sensible about these matters than most others have been since his time. But even when there is general agreement about what the best system of categorization is, as there has been among biologists more or less since Linnaeus in the 18th century, the problems of taxonomy are scarcely solved. But we also see that this comes down to us as people. We also try to lump individuals together, hence the term lumping. We're engaging in a form of taxonomy. We're trying to group individuals according to certain ideas or certain beliefs, perhaps certain geographical regions where they live.

All of this is referred to as the socio socio economic condition of lumping. lumping, of course is a powerful strategy for Information Management, and a certain filtering out of you might say, individuality, that's just simply the price we have to pay in order to get all of this data under some sort of a manageable control where we can understand it. lumping can be desirable for a variety of different reasons. But it can also be desirable for perhaps almost the opposite reason for which it was originally intended. That is as a category or a strategy of inclusion. Consider as an example, the rise in the past half century of the movement in America for gay and lesbian rights. First, people spoke of the common interests of lesbian women and gay men. And then someone asked, Well, what about bisexuals? And then, of course, someone else said, Well, you're forgetting the transgendered, after which yet another person said, Look, I'm not comfortable being identified as lesbian or gay, or bisexual or transgendered, I'd really just rather prefer to be identified as queer. And thus the acronym of initials was born, LGBTQ, and of course, this isn't the end of it. There are strong advocates even today for more initials to be added onto the end of that. Other add ons have been suggested. But the point of it all is that these initials exemplify lumping, not for necessarily dismissing or ruling out, but for grouping people together for the sake of solidarity for the making of common cause. And the implicit argument behind the idea of the LGBTQ community goes something like this, we may be a highly diverse group of people in most ways, but in one major way, we all belong together. And this is the way in which we all belong together. Our sexuality is not treated fairly or respectfully in mainstream culture.

But whenever lumping by solidarity occurs, and it occurs in many different contexts, whenever it occurs, the unity that is created by the solidarity that comes about through lumping. Well, it's a fragile it's a fragile unity constantly threatening to separate some feminists say that transgender Women don't know what it's really like to be a woman since they enjoyed male privilege until they decided to try something else. In the eyes of self proclaimed queers. bisexuals always have an open door to normalcy, and so forth and so on. And moreover, people might question whether or not categories of sexuality are the only relevant ones here, you then have the the issue of race or ethnicity. For example, black lesbians might note, indeed, probably already have noted somewhere, that the solidarity that arises from sexuality doesn't make a whole lot of racial difference go away.

Political and social conservatives tend to make fun of this sort of thing. "Haha, the revolution is eating itself," they would say. But their own categories are just as fragile as the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump revealed. Conservatives don't always like to stick together on all of these issues, there could sometimes be other pressures that drive them apart. And so all social taxonomies all ideas of lumping all categories of lumping are prone to these forces of consolidation and dissolution, assembly and disassembly because unlike biological taxonomies, they're all temporary. They're all contingent, and I might say even biological tax taxonomies at this point, are equally contingent.

But nevertheless, they're all created, often by opposition, those who are subject to the same forces, the same powers that be find themselves grouped together, sometimes to their own surprise and discomfort. Now, when we look at what's happening in terms of the issues that are going on in Canada right now, we find that individuals who used to be lumped together by province such as the the middle provinces, the prairie provinces, now are experiencing a different form of lumping that is taking place even within those provinces. Previously, you'd probably expect everybody living in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, to pretty well have the same viewpoint on gun gun control. And indeed they do.

However, now COVID-19 has arrived. And those are those mandates that go with COVID-19. For the purposes of trying to manage public health, those mandates cut right through the population, because everyone now is forced by the pressure of the pandemic, to start reevaluating how it is that they are to look at the mandates whether or not they value the mandates or agree with the mandates. And so we see a new form of lumping taking place where even in traditionally conservative territories, such as Alberta, or Saskatchewan or Manitoba, we see other forces at play, which are seeking to break up those previous homogenous groupings of political solidarity. And we see a new political reality forming.

Now the reason I bring all of this up today on The Observer, is because as we consider all of these things, from a Christian perspective, headed into the Easter weekend, we as Christians know that even though we live in a secular age, and even though we live in an age in which the pandemic is radically reshaping, and remoulding, political alliances and ideological values, there is one thing which we as Christians all unite around, and that is Jesus Christ. We all hold to the fact that God is going to make an end to all that we see that he is going to put away once and for all, all sin and all treachery, that he is at some point in the near future going to heal all diseases and ultimately destroyed death, resurrecting His saints, to live together with each other, in bliss in harmony because as they live for all of eternity, they are living face to face with the one who defeated death. That is Jesus Christ. And so as we continue into the Easter season, I want to repeat to you where I began, Jesus speaking through the prophet Isaiah, seek, Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. Let us all return to Lord that the Lord may have compassion on us all. Let us all turn to our God, for He will abundantly pardon us. God says, listen to me, my thoughts are not your thoughts. neither are your ways, my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. As we look at all of this, we must understand that while we consider the COVID 19 pandemic to be particularly urgent, and indeed, while the mandates and the various policies that are associated with the pandemic tend to divide us and separate us from one another, God is above and beyond all of that, and he calls all of us to the worship of his son. He sends forth His word for us to consider it, as he says in that same passage of Isaiah, as the rain in the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout giving seed to the sower and bread leader, so is my word that goes out from my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish all that which I purpose and it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. And as we bring this episode of the observer to a conclusion, I invite all those who have not previously considered worshipping Christ, to turn to the Word of God, to consider what Jesus is saying, to understand how it is that death has been defeated in what Jesus has done on the cross.

And so one more thing as the Easter weekend approaches, I'd like to invite you to begin your celebration of Easter with First Baptist Church of Kamloops. On Friday, April 15, at 10am First Baptist Church will be joining with Christ community, church and Valley View Bible Church to celebrate Good Friday. This is a time where Christians around the world remember the horrible events of the crucifixion, reminding ourselves that while it was tragic, it was very necessary for our salvation. Ultimately, though, it is a season of somber lament, it is a time to praise God for his kindness and mercy in sending His Son to die for us on the cross. And additionally, I'd like to also invite you to join us at First Baptist church on Easter Sunday, April, the 17th. The worship service will begin at 1030 will hear of the Lord's resurrection in defeating death will hear of him coming back to life. And we'll hear many other resurrection stories as well. It's going to be an incredible weekend of worshiping God, and we invite you to worship God with us.

Thanks for listening to the Observer. I'm Joshua Claycamp. You can follow me on Twitter by going to twitter.com forward slash Joshua Claycamp. The observer is a ministry of First Baptist Church where Christians seek to discern the news differently. For more information on First Baptist Church of Kamloops just go to first Baptist Kamloops dot o RG or for more information on first Baptist classical Academy, just go to first Baptist gospel dot o RG and I'll meet you again tomorrow for more of the observer.

Tags: god, spirituality, christians, secular, people, society, secularism, dalai lama, pandemic, observer, kamloops, canadians, lumping, taxonomy, divisive issue

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