The Other McCain

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The War Against Judgment

Posted on | August 20, 2020 | 4 Comments

 

Something that has been turning over in my mind lately is the way some people reject the entire idea of judgment — or, rather, they say they are against judging people. In reality, such people are often extremely judgmental. “Don’t judge me!” they angrily exclaim, but if you pay attention, you’ll notice these people never hesitate to judge you.

What is involved here is a combinary of hypocrisy and projection. The advocates of non-judgmentalism are hypocrites, in that they fail to live up to the standard they so ardently advocate, and at the same time, they project onto others their own particular failings. What they suffer from, really, is a lack of self-awareness that prevents them from being objective about their own attitudes, opinions, beliefs and preferences.

We see this phenomenon everywhere in our society now. Years ago, a pastor pointed out to me a very common trend in bible study classes. People would sit around in a circle, discussing the assigned scriptural text, and typically you’d hear, “Well, what this means to me is . . .” Everyone would then take turns sharing their own personal interpretation of the Bible passage, as if the text had no inherent meaning. That is to say, people want to put their own meaning into the Bible, rather than seeking God’s meaning.

The belief that words in the Bible have no objective meaning — true for everyone, everywhere, at all times, eternally — is part of what has undermined institutional authority in the church. And once this pastor pointed out to me this “what it means to me” intepretation (which was already widespread 30 years ago) as symptomatic of a spiritual disorder, I began to notice similar tendencies in other areas of life. Eventually, after reading Christopher Lasch’s landmark book The Culture of Narcissism, I recognized that what some would call “moral relativism” was a consequence of the Cult of the Self that emerged clearly as a social phenomenon in the 1970s. This was a result, as Lasch said, of the way major institutions of social authority had been discredited by the cultural and political upheavals of the 1960s. By the time President Nixon was hounded out of the White House, a crisis in our system of moral values had been raging for a dozen year, dating back at least as far as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. What had been celebrated as “The American Way of Life” was in tatters, and one symptom of this was the rise of religious cults. Americans in the 1970s embraced a variety of weird beliefs, including imported Eastern religions (Buddhism, Hare Krishna, etc.), revivals of ancient mysticism (Wicca, Kabbalah, astrology, etc.), and newfangled beliefs like Scientology. The suicide cult at Jonestown was just the extreme end of a vast spectrum of kookiness that erupted during that depressing decade. One reaction to this confusion was, obviously, a surge toward conservative Evangelical churches. While liberal “mainstream” denominations (Episcopalians, Methodists, etc.) dwindled, the back-to-the-Bible churches flourished, a trend that reshaped religion in America for decades to come. Yet here we are now . . .

Anyway, I have noticed the “non-judgmental” phenomenon become increasingly incoherent and self-contradictatory. People are using what is transparently a double-standard in declaring their devotion to “social justice” — which, among other things, involves ignoring or defending the faults of designated victim groups — while demanding the abolition of police and releasing criminals from prison. It is obvious that this kind of “social justice” policy will result (and has already resulted) in the deaths of innocent people, including many members of minority communities, and yet the advocates of non-judgmentalism don’t seem to care.

A related issue: “Arguing by exceptions,” as I call it. If you ever try to describe some general rule or principle, or to make some general observation about patterns of human behavior, someone will interrupt to insist on an exception: “Yeah, but what about . . .?”

For example, everybody knows that the Democrats are the Abortion Party. They enthusiastically celebrate the murder of babies, and oppose every restriction on this bloody homicidal practice. Yet as soon as you make this point, someone will surely object, calling attention to some governor or congressman who is a “pro-life” Democrat. As if the existence of this one official (or whatever handful of officials can be called a “pro-life” caucus within the Democratic Party) somehow negates everything in the party’s platform and policies regarding abortion.

It goes on and on, in so many different ways. The erosion of clear standards — the loss of a shared value system — produces confusion, and makes what was once called “common sense” a scarce commodity.

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Category: Culture

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4 Responses to “The War Against Judgment”

  1. 21 August 2020: nature dies. - Dark Brightness
    August 20th, 2020 @ 3:14 pm

    […] The belief that words in the Bible have no objective meaning — true for everyone, everywhere, at all times, eternally — is part of what has undermined institutional authority in the church. And once this pastor pointed out to me this “what it means to me” intepretation (which was already widespread 30 years ago) as symptomatic of a spiritual disorder, I began to notice similar tendencies in other areas of life. Eventually, after reading Christopher Lasch’s landmark book The Culture of Narcissism, I recognized that what some would call “moral relativism” was a consequence of the Cult of the Self that emerged clearly as a social phenomenon in the 1970s. This was a result, as Lasch said, of the way major institutions of social authority had been discredited by the cultural and political upheavals of the 1960s. By the time President Nixon was hounded out of the White House, a crisis in our system of moral values had been raging for a dozen year, dating back at least as far as the assassination of John F. Kennedy. What had been celebrated as “The American Way of Life” was in tatters, and one symptom of this was the rise of religious cults. Americans in the 1970s embraced a variety of weird beliefs, including imported Eastern religions (Buddhism, Hare Krishna, etc.), revivals of ancient mysticism (Wicca, Kabbalah, astrology, etc.), and newfangled beliefs like Scientology. The suicide cult at Jonestown was just the extreme end of a vast spectrum of kookiness that erupted during that depressing decade. One reaction to this confusion was, obviously, a surge toward conservative Evangelical churches. While liberal “mainstream” demoninations (Episcopalians, Methodists, etc.) dwindled, the back-to-the-Bible churches flourished, a trend that reshaped religion in America for decades to come. Yet here we are now . . . […]

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    August 21st, 2020 @ 10:35 am

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    August 23rd, 2020 @ 2:03 pm

    […] The War Against Judgment Something that has been turning over in my mind lately is the way some people reject the entire idea of judgment — or, rather, they say they are against judging people. In reality, such people are often extremely judgmental. “Don’t judge me!” they angrily exclaim, but if you pay attention, you’ll notice these people never hesitate to judge you. […]

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