Consequences of Secularism: The Decline of Community and Wisdom

The Erosion of Communal Life

• 📉 Secularism has led to the death of communal life, with few secular groups meeting weekly, unlike religious communities.
• 🤝 Historically strong communal organizations like Rotary and Lions clubs are also fading in our secularized era.
• 🧠 A healthy, God-based life is argued to be more human-based and relational than a secular one.

Religion and Happiness

• 📊 Data consistently shows that actively religious people are happier than secular people.
• 🩹 The argument that religion is merely a "crutch" is countered by suggesting that even a "broken temperament" might need such support.
• 📉 Adherence to religious beliefs is associated with lower rates of suicide, less substance abuse, and lower rates of psychopathology.
• 📈 Studies indicate that women attending religious services weekly are significantly less likely to commit suicide and that religious involvement reduces the likelihood of abusing alcohol or drugs.
• 💰 Black men attending religious services are substantially more likely to attain middle-class status.

The Decline of Wisdom

• 📚 Universities, once founded on the pursuit of wisdom, now often focus on knowledge and social issues, neglecting wisdom itself.
• 🧠 The Bible is identified as the biggest historical source of wisdom, yet secular education often omits it.
• 💡 Wisdom can be learned through religious education at a young age, not solely through life experience.
• 🚫 Secular schools are described as "repositories of non-wisdom," fostering foolish ideas by encouraging individuals to fight society rather than themselves.
• 💔 The advice to "follow your heart" is criticized as dangerous, contrasting with religious teachings to follow what is good, wise, and right.

Moral and Societal Breakdown

• ⚖️ The post-Christian world has blurred the human-animal distinction, leading to views where humans are not considered more valuable than animals.
• 🗣️ This is exemplified by groups equating animal slaughter with historical atrocities and individuals struggling to prioritize saving a human over a pet.
• 🚻 The obliteration of the male-female distinction is another consequence, moving from biological differences to subjective identity.
• 🚫 There is no secular solution to evil; religious texts like the Ten Commandments and the principle of loving one's neighbor provide a moral framework.
• ⚠️ The consequences of secularism are described as moral and intellectual chaos, potentially threatening the survival of Western civilization.