Progressivism Takes Its Place among the Major Religions

Many on the left will be repulsed by the notion that they are following the dictates of a religion. They view themselves as the ultimate secularists. It may be that they cannot see the forest for the trees. Progressives have great passion for their cause, and we have seen throughout history the way religion can incite the greatest passion, often leading to murders and wars. Perhaps if we look at Progressivism through the religious prism, we may better understand the actions of its minions. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all profess an all-knowing and all-powerful supernatural being: God. Progressives may say they do not belong to a religion because they do not believe in God. But Progressivism professes an all-powerful State. The State is Progressives' god and determines what is moral and immoral and has the power to destroy whom it wants.

Unlike with the pope in Christianity, there is no single authority figure in Progressivism. This does not disprove Progressives' religious nature. Islam has no single authority figure, either. Since Ataturk abolished the caliphate in the 1920s, no political figure claims to unite Islam. I suspect that George Soros considers himself the de facto Progressive caliph. Al Gore is an imam of the Green denomination. What about sacred texts? Christianity, Judaism, and Islam have the Gospels, the Torah, and the Quran, respectively. The Progressives have The Communist Manifesto. Christianity has a well organized clergy in the form of priests and ministers. The clergy in Progressivism is implanted in other professions. Progressive clergymen are found in abundance in the increasingly left-leaning universities. Many professors use their classrooms as their pulpits. They are aided and abetted by Hollywood, the media, and many politicians. Just like Judaism and Islam, Progressivism has dietary laws. As of yet, they are not codified and are fluid, based on the current fads. They all seem to agree on avoiding GMO foods. To do otherwise would be a sin against Mother Earth. There are fundamental differences between Christianity and Progressivism that make them incompatible with each other. Christianity teaches that mankind is sinful and cannot save itself. Progressivism believes that men can be perfected to create an ideal society. Christianity believes that God cares for each individual. Progressives believe in the collective at the expense of the individual. Christians believe in the Ten Commandments as a moral code. Moral codes are irrelevant to the collectivists. Christianity had great influence on our Founders, and its idea of individual freedom has become part of our national DNA. In order for Progressivism to conquer America and discard our Constitution, it would be necessary to destroy Christianity or render it impotent. We see this in many initiatives. The Bible tells us holy matrimony is between a man and a woman, without air-quotes. The Progressive response was to get the courts to allow marriage to be redefined to include same-sex couples. Maybe the next response will be marriage with your pet. The Bible defines only two sexes: male and female. Now we see the nonsense of multiple "genders." Christianity values the sanctity of life. We now have legal abortion and euthanasia. Unfortunately, many liberal churches are adopting many of these notions, and some are doubting the divinity of Christ. Much of the Christian flock has gone astray, and this makes the Progressives happy. There is a central tenet in Christianity that commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to love our enemies. This is agape love and has more to do with compassion and respect. Following this teaching is one of the things that makes being a Christian so difficult. We, as Christians, often succumb to the temptation to hate unjustly. But there is great wisdom in eschewing this kind of hatred. That raw passion destroys the hater and often leads to dangerous mob actions. Progressivism issues no edict to avoid hatred and prefers to use it as a tool. In that sense, Progressives are following in the long tradition of Islam. The Quran does not require you to love your neighbor. On the contrary, it states 109 times in various suras (chapters) to fight the unbeliever. These are not countered by an equal number of suras extolling peace and tolerance. Some suras incite violence, such as K 47.4: "When you meet the unbeliever, smite their necks." (Has Kathy Griffin been reading the Quran? Who knew?) There is disagreement on this, but Muhammad is often quoted as saying the apostate from Islam should be killed. Just as Muslims believe that the whole world should be converted to Islam, Progressives believe that the whole world should be converted to their leftist agenda. They cannot both succeed, but right now they are often on the same team to fight the influence of Christianity, their shared opponent. Progressives in America have been whittling away at our heritage for more than a century. And after eight years of Obama, who promised to fundamentally change America, the left became arrogant. They were convinced that their Marxist trajectory of history was within their grasp. They just needed to elect Hillary to seal the deal. They were already destroying the nuclear family, holy matrimony, harmony between the sexes, and the sanctity of life. They savored this anarchy. But along came Donald Trump to sabotage the agenda. Donald was considered one of them at one time, and now he has joined the other camp. He is now an apostate and is spewing heresy. He is an atheist to Progressivism. Progressives may hate Christianity, but it is much more efficient to focus their anger on the man in their faces every day: Donald Trump. They want to kill the apostate, either physically or politically. So Trump Derangement Syndrome can be thought of as an extreme religious intolerance. As a Christian and a physician, I am concerned about the health of those harboring this much hatred. It is not healthy. Maybe we can convince them to adopt an attitude of agape love for their enemies. It would be much more holistic, rather than hellistic. Maybe they can sit around the campfire and sing Kumbaya. When that happens, I want a front-row seat at the Air and Water Show to watch the pigs fly. In the meantime, I will just cling to my guns and religion. I sincerely hope we do not need the guns. Roger Taylor is a physician in private practice. He received his medical degree from the University of Chicago and has a plethora of interests.