Politics as revival meeting

A premise accepted here as true is that as western societies become more secular, politics (both left and right) have been adopted as the predominant religion of these societies. It follows that politicians are something of a priesthood interceding for the people, the state as the all-seeing/all-powerful god of the secular society, and the particular political ideologies as religious dogma. Jeff Medcalf has posted a comment on Eternity Road which makes the same observation:

Evangelism, Proselytizing, Tribal Markers and the Faith of the Left
By Jeff Medcalf

Instapundit points to a post by Jay Nordlinger at NRO, about how Leftist political tirades and snide asides have penetrated much of the art world and other public venues. It’s something I’ve noticed as well, and I heartily applaud Mr. Reynolds’ suggestion: when it happens, boo loudly and lustily.

But what really caught me about the collection of anecdotes Jay Nordlinger listed is how Lefty politics has become something very like Revival meetings, and what that says about the position of religious belief in our society. The Left is generally appalled at religious belief of any kind, at least, any sincere religious belief. This should not be surprising. The core of religious belief is the perception that one is a part of a much greater whole, vastly beyond our immediate comprehension, and that being part of that greater whole does more than give our lives meaning: it infuses our lives with a set of duties and prohibitions. The core of the Left’s self-identification (and I do not mean the Left to be synonymous with “Democrats") is the rejection of any duties and prohibitions imposed from the outside, even if that “imposition” is only by convention, and is not enforced. The Left’s key value is “if it feels good, do it.”

This is a profoundly selfish attitude, but it is also a profoundly religious attitude: it comes with a set of assumptions about how the world works that includes the idea that our lives are indeed connected to a greater whole, but that greater whole is humanity and the world, and it can be understood — and controlled — by the elect wise enough to do so: themselves. This approach leads to the politicization of all things: politics is neither more nor less than the means of interaction among humans with differing goals, and thus the means to controlling human interactions is necessarily political. But the Left is not merely religious in the essence of its creed, it is religious in form. The Left is evangelical (it spreads its word with zeal to all who will hear, often even when they are unwilling), proselytizes (seeks growth through conversion) and depends like almost all religions on “marker beliefs” that are so self-evidently wrong that they serve not as a true article of belief, but as evidence of membership and that you won’t rock the social boat.1 In fact, to someone who was raised in an evangelical and profoundly conservative community, and whose religious journey began with a rejection of all of the tenets of evangelical Protestantism, the Left’s public ceremonial reminds me of nothing so much as evangelical Protestantism in form.

And given that their political journey begins with a rejection of all of the tenets of evangelical Protestantism, I’m fairly sure that comment will tick them off.

1 These marker beliefs appear in almost every religion. Christianity’s most prominent marker belief is that three equals one. “Fluffy bunny” Wiccans — environmentalist social non-conformists looking for a religion that just happens to be identical to their political and personal preferences — have corrupted Wicca in many ways, most notably though is their marker belief that nature is benign.