Gen Z is less religious; here's why that's dangerous.
The fall of theism gives way to new forms of religion.
The following is an article that was first released on X. This piece was inspired by @EdKrassen's post. 😂
It's increasingly common knowledge: Gen Z is less religious than generations prior. I often wonder, "If there's a God-shaped hole in Gen Z's hearts, what will they fill it with?" If you ask me, I'm worried that they're abandoning their moral compasses in favor of new ones revering the state instead.
https://twitter.com/ryanburge/status/1640480162868256769
https://news.gallup.com/poll/240725/democrats-positive-socialism-capitalism.aspx
https://www.axios.com/2019/10/28/millennials-vote-socialism-capitalism-decline
Statism gives Gen Z a lot: a sense of purpose, community, protection, sacred cows to ritual worship like democracy or equity, and moral authority. All things we as people prefer, that religion normally offers.
Some public polling suggests I'm on to something here.
Further, Newsweek may have put it best with this title:
Gen Z is Embracing Dictatorships
Separately, 51 percent of Gen Z agreed with the statement that they would be "willing to give up some democratic powers if it made government function more effectively" against just 17 percent who were opposed. The statement was also backed by millennials, with 42 percent agreeing and 24 percent disagreeing.
However, the statement was opposed by 34 percent of Gen Z and 53 percent of boomers/silent generation, against 29 percent and 20 percent, respectively, who supported it.
Okay, even if my worries are valid, so what? I don't like democracy and prefer monarchy over it, but there's a fine line between monarchy and dictatorship.
History does repeatedly show statism eventually growing out of control, leading to totalitarianism and mass suffering.
China. The Soviet Union. Germany. Italy. Cambodia.
The list goes on, but you get my point. Most people don't want to think about the worst humanity has to offer, but there are valuable lessons in the macabre.
Most of the people who did terrible things thought they were the good guys doing the right thing for the greater good, and even when it was obvious that that wasn't true, some still clung on to that belief regardless.
When times are tough, people fall into patterns of behavior revolving around what feels good and familiar: collectivism and authoritarianism. I think I might know why.
In moral psychology, as part of dual process theory, there is the Central Tension Principle. In short, when people are faced with moral dilemmas, they prefer deontological thinking if their decisions require directly harming someone. However, they revert to utilitarianism if their decisions only require indirectly harming someone.
I think this partially explains why states can start off small and grow into totalitarian nightmares over time.
Most naturally succumb to the siren song of statism for some reason or another. In a democratic society without strict moral rules in place, people participating in the political process regularly don't directly harm people by supporting destructive policies, so they keep voting the same way. They sincerely believe that they're doing the right thing to help the greatest amount of people.
That will spiral out of control in practice, as it is doing now, because we can't even agree on what's true or good to begin with. So, someone somewhere somehow is still going to feel like they were harmed, and then the backlash effect and tit-for-tat dynamic slowly begin. It's death by a thousand democratically-imposed paper cuts.
Moving forward
At least a couple of things should be done to reverse this decades-long societal freefall we're been in.
Acknowledge the bread and circus-induced insanity
Young people are increasingly rudderless right now in American society, stuck in a malaise of mediocrity and mental illness caused by a myriad of environmental and cultural factors.
Plenty of the food and drinks we have now are processed junk coated in
Social media and the internet deprive people of face-to-face social contact while loneliness grows.
We're getting fatter as a nation.
Americans are being economically hollowed out by criminal politicians and bureaucrats doing the bidding of wealthy special interests.
Shortened attention spans
And lots, lots more...
Abolish or privatize the Department of Education (DoE)
Besides social media and the web, where do you think this toxic stuff is coming from? Wokeism is a great ideology for growing the power of the state under the guise of creating a "fairer", more "equitable", and "socially just" society. It's infected the government too, as the DoE is still injecting wokeness into school and college curriculums across the country by embracing DEI and intersectionality. At it's core, this is another case of far leftists tricking the moderate left by weaponizing their empathy.
Young impressionable minds gobble that woke shit right up because it feels good and they don't really know any better, especially if they don't have strong role models to look up to anymore. So, public schools and colleges are out of the question. Homeschool, private schools, and trade schools from now on.
Emphasize stronger role models
Single moms and deadbeat dads supported by a welfare state is not an optimal way to run a society, but it's become the norm. What can I say? Normies regularly vote in their self interest, as demonstrated by the COVID "stimmy checks".
Protect religious liberty
This YouTube video by @sleepy_devo helped illuminate that for us to stand a chance in repelling utilitarian authoritarianism, we need to trigger that hidden deontology many utilitarians still have deep down.
Despite its own ability to madden crowds, religion is a powerful tool that makes it easier to reject secular utilitarianism in favor of some kind of deontology like natural law or the 10 Commandments. This is problematic for non- or anti-religious collectivists, who aspire to create some kind of utopia where the authoritative blob is not hamstrung by what they perceive to be intolerant norms that hold up unjust & oppressive hierarchies like familialism and capitalism.
In the long run, statism and religion as we know it are fundamentally incompatible, far leftists believe that religion must be subverted to conform to whatever latest and greatest statist grift is underway.
With religious liberty, we can fight back better. Despite how enraging this can be to them, as long as religious right-wing people don't go overboard by embracing the far right authoritarians known to advocate for aggression against peaceful people who morally disagree with them (I'm looking at you, Groypers), then the left's attacks on religion will remain the invalid, moronic and unhinged fearmongering that it is.
End game
Not only have we entered a Second Cold War, we're also in a cold Second Civil War. Young people are increasingly listless, sporadic, and mentally unhinged. Despite the rise of the therapeutic state as a way for the ruling elites to anesthetize the masses and buy themselves some more time to loot the Titanic before it finally sinks into the Atlantic, people are slowly waking up to the bullshit and lashing out. However, short of some kind of intergenerational mass cultural rebellion, there ain't a damn thing we as normal everyday Americans can do to resist this turnkey totalitarianism, so we better get started. Thanks for reading.
Editor note: adjusted incomplete subheading.