Is there a connection between the war on men and the rejection of God?
The “Brainstorm” category is a pre-write of a major article I’m working on, which will be published exclusively to my Substack. These are intended to be a teaser for you, an opportunity for me to shape my thoughts a bit, and they also provide some points of thought and references for the reader. Subscribe to my Substack to be directly notified when the article is published.
I am intrigued and inspired by what Cardinal Sarah said in an interview with Catholic Herald in 2019. The start of the interview particularly sparked my interest and I feel inspired to write about what I found there.
(HEADS UP! I’ve started a special chat thread over at my Substack where you can exchange thoughts and ideas related to this brainstorm subject. Subscribers only)
“The spiritual collapse thus has a very Western character. In particular, I would like to emphasize the rejection of fatherhood. Our contemporaries are convinced that, in order to be free, one must not depend on anybody. There is a tragic error in this. Western people are convinced that receiving is contrary to the dignity of human persons. But civilized man is fundamentally an heir, he receives a history, a culture, a language, a name, a family.”
This is a very interesting statement by the Cardinal. I often wonder if the Western rejection of God and war against men, fatherhood and patriarchy are connected. They seem to have developed almost in tandem, although the war against God came first.
“Western people are convinced that receiving is contrary to the dignity of human persons.”
I’m not sure to what extent this statement is true, since I never thought about it before. I think he’s on to something though. The Cardinal isn’t talking about receiving money, or other material assistance. He’s talking about things that are more fundamental to human existence. While many Westerners are happy to leach off of their parents, receive an inheritance or free money (i.e. student loan forgiveness and the like.), we reject other inheritances out of desire for individuality—to make gods of ourselves.
“But civilized man is fundamentally an heir, he receives a history, a culture, a language, a name, a family.”
All of these are inheritances that the culture rejects. We reject history that conflicts with flawed interpretations that serve our political agendas, we reject language by forcing others to speak in ways that are deemed politically correct and acceptable, we express our individuality by socially divorcing ourselves from our family-identity and home-identity (I’ll elaborate on this in the article). But a rejection of another, more fundamental inheritance is also on the rise.
“Gender ideology is a Luciferian refusal to receive a sexual nature from God.”
A refusal or rejection of true sexual nature not only manifests in gender ideology but in the cultural distortion of human sexuality and sexual expression altogether. I begin to see a pattern of rejecting what is given to us by human fathers and our Divine Father.
Something I can add to this is the rejection of redemption, and a redeemer. In addition to being a rejection of a need for redemption (“Sin isn’t a real thing, anyway”), it’s a rejection of the conditions for God’s mercy—repentance, obeying God’s law, loving and being merciful toward others. More confusing than this rejection of redemption is that secular people fill the void left in the absence of a redeemer with false redeemers of other sorts, starting with the Self. Secular people become redeemers in the form of “social justice warriors” and call for their own redemption by the government, which is seen as their protector, liberator, and source of human rights. So the social justice economy provides their redemption and purpose, the government provides their dignity, and a type of “redemption” manifested in the protective role the government serves.
If the rejections God and fatherhood/manhood/masculinity are connected, does it follow that men (all men, not just fathers) have an important role in restoring the culture to God? I’ll discuss that in the article. I’ve started a chat thread on Substack for my readers (subscribers only) to contribute their own thoughts. Head on over and check it out.
I will pray and think on this a bit. Subscribe to my Substack (the form is below) to be notified when the article is published because you may not see the notification when I announce it on social media. Roughly 75% of my social followers do not see my announcements of new articles.
If you’re already a subscriber, check out this chat thread over at my Substack to share and exchange thoughts and ideas about conscience and what you’ve read in this pre-write article.