
The De-Evolution of Western Civilisation
Anthropologists have classically identified four rites of passage that exist within every culture on earth. The analogy often used—attributed to a French ethnographer, Arnold van Gennep, in 1909—is that of a large house which has a long hallway leading to successive rooms. As such, a member of society leaves one stage of life and enters into another at: birth, puberty, marriage, and finally, death, each of which are marked by important cultural ceremonies.
In the past decade or so, each one of these four sociological stages have, especially in the West, been systematically undermined by ‘social progressives’. As has been increasingly acknowledged, this is part of a much broader revolution commonly referred to as Cultural Marxism. For an excellent explanation of this movement, see Rob Smith’s review of Melvin Tinkers’ That Hideous Strength: How the West Was Lost.
Pope John Paul II labelled this trajectory as a “culture of death”. And sadly, that is precisely what it is. Let me briefly outline how each of these four rites of passage have been radically altered throughout Western Civilisation:
Firstly, at birth with the decriminalisation of abortion. One of the chief characteristics of paganism historically was its complete disregard for unwanted children, and especially those unfortunate enough to have been born with a physical or intellectual disability. As Georgi Boorman writes in The Federalist:
As Tertullian recounted, believers in the early Church would search through the heaps of refuse in Roman cities and rescue infants from among the refuse and broken pottery. There is archaeological evidence to support the fact that infants were thrown in the trash or into the sewer, sometimes deliberately killed instead of being out left to die by exposure. That children should never be trash was a revolutionary concept in the early centuries after Christ.
The fourth-century Roman emperor Constantine, who is generally believed to have converted to Christianity and was at the very least influenced by it, considered infanticide a crime. Later, Emperor Valentinian, also a professed Christian, officially outlawed the practice by requiring that all children be reared.
Tragically, one of the most dangerous places for a child today is within their mother’s womb. All legal protections have been stripped away under the Orwellian, and truly deceptive, title of ‘reproductive rights’. As a non-person, a baby now has no legal rights before they are born, and in a botched abortion not even then.
Second, at puberty with the promotion of transgenderism. Many cultures celebrate the transition a young boy or girl goes through at puberty with elaborate ceremonies and poignant rituals. In the West, this is often expressed through a secular twenty-first birthday party, or in a more religious context, First Holy Communion or profession of faith.
However, no longer does a child become something as simple or as binary as a ‘man’ or a ‘woman’ when they come of age. Now they can be whatever gender they subjectively perceive themselves to be, regardless of their biology. For example, the Australian Human Rights Commission has just released its “Guidelines for the inclusion of transgender and gender diverse people in sport“, which has also been endorsed by David Gallop, the Chairman of the Coalition of Major Profession and Participation Sports (COMPPS), which is made up of the following member organisations:
- Australian Football League
- Cricket Australia
- Football Federation Australia
- National Rugby League
- Netball Australia
- Rugby Australia
- Tennis Australia
Sadly, it’s young girls and women who will be the most negatively impacted by all this. Because the impetus will be for men who are transgender to be given the right to play on female teams, rather than vice versa. This will not only contribute to the death of women’s sport, but will also place a significant threat to their physical safety.
Third, Cultural Marxism has redefined the institution of marriage. Whereas from the beginning of time it has always been between a man and a woman, now it is between people of the same sex, even if they can’t naturally reproduce or sire offspring of their own. Sociologically, kinship relationships are broken with the addition of surrogate mothers and fathers.
What’s more, it undermines the fundamental right of a child to be raised by their biological mother and father. As Dr. David van Gend writes in his classic work on the subject, Stealing from a Child: The Injustice of Marriage Equality (Connor Court, 2016):
Injustice against the child is the central offence of ‘marriage equality’. We are guilty of stealing a child’s birthright when we institute motherless families and fatherless homes as an ideal in our law.
Finally, the fourth rite of passage that has been distorted by the Left is that involving death. Sadly, it seems likely that it won’t be too long before every state in Australia has legalised euthanasia. Whereas laws are ideally put in place to protect people, especially the most vulnerable, they are being increasingly weaponised to get rid of them.
Dr Hannah Graham (Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Sterling) and Dr Jeremy Prichard (Associate Professor at the University of Tasmania) have produced an excellent report which outlines the numerous ethical and pragmatic reasons as to why legalising euthanasia is so problematic.
For instance, while it starts with the individual being given the opportunity to die, it quickly results in them being pressured into fulfilling their obligation to do so. As Dr Pritchard, in an op-ed for The Examiner writes:
“In coming decades we face a rapidly aging population, a shrinking tax base and increases in health problems like dementia… euthanasia could form part of government planning for service provision for people nearing end-of-life… If that sounds far-fetched, consider two cases from Oregon where patients’ applications for medical treatment were rejected, but followed by departmental notifications informing the patients they were eligible for assisted dying.”
All of which is to say, Pope John Paul II was entirely correct. We have imposed upon ourselves a ‘culture of death’ since the four main pillars holding up the ‘house’ of Western Civilisation have been systematically dismantled and undermined.
a. Abortion = death of babies
b. Transsexuality = death of gender
c. Same-sex marriage = death of procreation
d. Euthanasia = death of the inconvenient
I would say welcome to Aldous Huxley’s dystopian Brave New World, but I don’t think that even he would have believed we would have done to ourselves what we have. Or so quickly. And as such, Western Civilisation is now on the brink of collapse.
[Photo by George Desipris on Unsplash]10 Comments
Leave A Comment
Recent Articles
28 March 2023
6.2 MINS
JP Sears — the well-known ‘freedom-fighter’ comedian — released a bombshell video last Friday (24 March 2023) titled, ‘I Changed My Mind About God — Here's Why’. This is big news. His brand, called ‘AwakenWithJP’, uses comedy to push back against today's fashionable and crazy. [...]
28 March 2023
2.9 MINS
A recent incident at Stanford University offers another example of how DEI ideology and the suppression of free speech have pervaded university campuses. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is a modern, man-made doctrine that aims to create a more just society by supporting people of [...]
28 March 2023
8.7 MINS
Sometimes I read the newspaper and can’t work out whether to cry at the state of the world or laugh at how crazy things have become. Reading a column on the Let Women Speak movement at the weekend I mostly shook my head in disbelief. [...]
28 March 2023
3.6 MINS
The leftist Libs really are toast – long live the suspended Moira Deeming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtZljvnweB4 Today was D-Day for Deeming – Moira Deeming, the beleaguered Liberal Party MP whose Christianity and conservatism are basically anathema to the lefty Libs – at least to the woke Lib party machine. [...]
28 March 2023
3.4 MINS
Australia’s Christian schools are under threat from “woke bigotry”, warns Senator Ralph Babet, who spoke up in their defence this week. In a passionate two-minute speech yesterday, UAP Senator for Victoria Ralph Babet offered a strong defence of Christian schools on the floor of the [...]
27 March 2023
0.9 MINS
Moria Deeming has been suspended from the Victorian Liberal Party for nine months. Her crime? For helping to organise a rally recently -- Let Women Speak! -- which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Just to be clear, neither Deeming nor the other keynote speaker, Posey Parker, [...]
27 March 2023
5.5 MINS
The topic of holiness is not one many Christians gravitate towards. Yet it is perhaps the key feature of the God we serve, and the attribute of God we most need to understand and aim for. And millions of words have been written on this [...]
Thank you Mark for this informative report. If we as a society have succumbed to political correctness at the expense of sociological correctness, we are reaping what we have sown as cowards. Right is right & wrong is wrong as the basic standard that protects all of society instead of pandering to the whims of the minority who are also protected by these norms of society that establishes boundaries. That disregard of boundaries leads us to the dismantling of society.
Great article and yes l wrote on fb a similar post. We are no longer humans but robots used by others power. None of these four contribute to human value and undeserving but the opposite. No longer seen as deserving of life. Sad times for those who cannot stand for themselves – the unborn, those ill and the aged community. I thought research has promoted longer living so what has happened. Was that just bs. I believe so. ????
[…] we stand against the ‘culture of death’ in our nation in all its forms. We repent for being asleep as Christians, when You asked us to […]
[…] and freedom for all. It is also vital to realise that, as classical Marxism was replaced by neo-Marxism as a result of the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, the concept of critical theory morphed […]
[…] year’s Mardi Gras parade was the quintessential expression of Cultural Marxism as forces united to attack their common enemy: Western civilisation in general, and mainline […]
[…] Christensen and I went on to have a lively discussion about the current trajectory of Western civilisation; the growing divide between Christianity and culture; and whether or not Christians are now facing […]
[…] the decline of Western civilisation over many decades, the ‘existence of God’ and the truth of His Word have steadily been […]
[…] that Marxism failed because capitalist values were still too deeply embedded in every aspect of Western society. A culture-wide revolution was needed, he argued, if Marxism were to succeed — a reshaping of […]
[…] is open season on any figure of the past who contributed to Western civilisation, and whose moral failings — […]
[…] decline is never terminal, though it might get grim. History’s decline – with its occasional bright […]