American Syncretism

[Ed Hurst]

Barna Research assumes that their evangelical worldview is "biblical." But even this outlook is in a tiny minority among Americans, according to a study they recently released (PDF). The good part of this study is that they realize Americans are syncretists. Americans have a muddled worldview pasted together from conflicting sources. There is no common value system, except what can be discerned within the narrow meaning available in MSM propaganda. As noted, there is no single, philosophically coherent set of assumptions about what is real, what is good versus evil.

You could not possibly argue or debate someone into accepting your viewpoint on anything that matters, because syncretism itself is a philosophical denial of a standard of any kind. Coherence is rejected from the outset. It's just whatever sounds good to the person involved. It's not even distinctly Western any more. And it certainly denies the authority of convictions.

All of which simply reminds us that we are an even tinier minority than Barna's alleged "biblical folk". It also indicates we stand stronger against the Devil's lies when we make an effort to remain coherent with the Hebrew culture of the Bible. The better you know it, the easier it is to discern deceptions.

[jaybreak]

Once in a while, with syncretism, maybe every few years or decades, there's a "focus" on what folks within a nation or culture need to believe. Usually they are socialized (hypnotized) into it with mass communications. 20 years ago, the dominant religious belief had to do with global warming, recently it's probably anti-racism or pro-LGBT. Every new thing syncretists need to focus on that comes along displaces the previous thing, but prior movements are retained and put in the background for most people until it's their time to refocus on it again. It's like a cycle of sacraments.