A Critique of Religion and Its' Versohnung Secular-Civil Equivalent Ideologies

A Buddhist master called Wenyi from the 10th century told a story: 

Once there was a monk who lived in a small temple. On the door he had written the character "spirit". On the window he had written the character "spirit". On the wall he had written the character "spirit". The master said, 'On the door you should write the character "door". On the window you should write the character "window".  And on the wall you should write the character "wall".'

The Moral: Beware of 'totalitarian' Grand Narratives and all things you're not supposed to make fun of (ie - why idealogues lose their sense of humour on certain subjects).

Excerpts from the above Hans-Georg Moeller video:

So what is religion, or what is civil religion today? First, I think it's some form of dogmatic non-negotiable master narrative that frames some sort of moralistic worldview. Then, importantly, it's strongly emotionally charged. It channels affection, it channels emotions like love and hate, it establish us and them distinctions. And you see this both in the Christian religion, but also, as I said, like in populism or in Woke-ism as civil religious post-Christian phenomena. Then, it's publicly displayed and celebrated in speech, in certain symbols, and specifically in ritualistic behavior, right? Traditionally, we have the Christian rituals and the Christian symbols. And today we have something like virtue signaling, or, in the case of the conservatives, like jingoism and nationalism. Then, it is also both civil religion, and religion, that are used to adorn economic and political actions. Christianity was used to legitimize and adorn Imperialism, right? The boats that brought the opium to China would also bring weapons and bibles.

Similar, as we showed in other videos, civil religion today is used to adorn not only capitalist corporations and their woke branding, but also even the CIA. Then, it is emphasized in education. Traditionally in Europe, schools and other educational institutions were run by the church. And today there's a very strong source, for instance of woke-ism in educational institutions.

It has to be added in Christianity we have different schisms. Later on, importantly, the schism between Protestantism and Catholicism. In Islam we have the schism between Shi'a and Sunni. And as mentioned, in contemporary civil religion, we have this schism between more left-wing woke-ism and more right-wing populism.

Perhaps the shortest definition of what Religion and Civil Religion is, is that religion and civil religion is that what you're not supposed to make fun of.

I think like Christianity in the past, and civil religion today, also produces false relief from suffering, right? It reassures society of its values, right? Defense of individual autonomy, democracy, but at the same time, it distracts from economic issues, poverty, joblessness, a critique of the commodification of everything. It all seems less important than these moralist messages. So somehow it sustains a capitalist economy by focusing on moral, rather than socio-economic problems.

Then secondly, there is an aspect of intolerance and aggression attached to it. Civil religious narratives very strongly frame both internal and external "them versus us" conflicts, right? Woke-ism and populism fight one another, on the one hand, but then, externally, they join in some form of new Cold War. Nowadays, for instance, against China, which is seen as a threat to certain core Western values that unite the woke-ism people and the populist people, again, having to do with something like individual autonomy and democracy. So it seems now that some form of new Opium War might become possible which again will be fought in the name not of Christian values, and not of the Christian master narrative, but in the name of the post-Christian civil religious narrative.

Then, civil religion, like traditional religion, provides some form of ecstasy, some form of highs. Like cocaine, it makes people feel good about themselves, gives them the moral high ground, right? You see this in virtue signaling, but you see it also in Trumpism, whatever, in the capital riots where people feel a strong sense of entitlement and feel very good about them.

So civil religion today, as the people's cocaine, also attaches itself, like traditional religion, to every aspect of life. At least it can do so, right? The media today, for instance, no longer simply report. They spice everything up with religious framing, right, depending on which media. If you watch CNN, you have a tendentially a woke-ist framing, if you watch Fox, you have a tendentially rightist, populist framing of basically everything and anything.

Then, how individuals express themselves through, for instance, memes, also, is very strongly indicative of certain civil religious persuasions. Then, of course, it also determines who you hang out socially with, right? It determines, in this sense, your social life. Then, it determines often the brand choices you make. Some certain brands are more woke, and other brands are more traditional, then, very importantly, sexuality and gender are also highly charged. Just as it was the case in traditional religion, now they're highly charged with "civil religious meaning", right? How you practice your sexuality and how you see your gender almost becomes a form of revelation and display of your civil religious faith. So again, civil religion, like traditional religion, can turn people into possessed and obsessed addicts, it doesn't necessarily do so, but it can do so. And, importantly, it defines people's identity.

It lends itself, not always but sometimes, to obsessive self-profiling, right? You identify yourself, and others, in terms of civil religion. It becomes a major profile marker that is hard to avoid, it's difficult to evade, right? It's difficult to find any neutral ground. And, thereby, the civil religious framework is increasingly internalized by users. It gives a strong boost of the sense of selfhood and of your experience of yourself. There is a strong investment in it. So, in this sense, I like the metaphor of cocaine better than the metaphor of opium when it comes to civil religion, rather than to traditional religion, because it very strongly boosts the perception of individual identity.

As we saw with Marx, traditional religion, Christianity, was still somehow tied to sincerity-based enactment and identification with roles, specifically family roles. However in civil religion, there's a much stronger emphasis on the individual and the shaping of an individual's profile, rather than the shaping of traditional role identities. And cocaine, too, as a drug of choice today, where opium isn't that widely consumed anymore, also I think highlights a kind of narcissistic individual self-display.

So, what to do about civil religion? Inspired by both Marx and Zen Buddhism, I think it's important to acknowledge and understand its function. It's also very important to critique it publicly. Then, it's important to develop a capacity to resist, and also subvert it. And finally, as for cocaine and alcohol, for civil religion, especially on Christmas, the advice is to consume responsibly.