Reading my sociology textbooks makes me wonder: is the resistance to Orthodox practices I have seen in some friends and even family members a result of the American idea of democracy? If democracy is the best, and greatest form as we are taught and adhere to, if the US is doing it right (as we are taught so carefully not to be communists or autocratic in any way), then a faith that doesn't specifically focus on the worth of the individual only is in opposition. I am not saying I think democracy is incorrect, I mean to say I was thinking about the differences between autocratic government and democratic government. The definitions of each are interesting to contrast, and just leaving paraklesis, having asked repeatedly that the Lord have mercy, I cannot help but think about this as it relates to the Church.
If classic democratic ideology says that an individual is born free, that they are not subject to the rule of others, and that the only legitimate basis for rule is consent to be ruled, and if America is regarded as a democratic society which is founded on classic democratic ideologies, then I see how it would be hard for some to accept Orthodoxy in fullness, especially in adulthood. When you have been taught it is correct to be an individual, free of rule, born with personal freedoms to do what you like, how hard it must be to look at Orthodoxy without fear. Orthodoxy does not revolve around one person, or their separate identity and worth alone, and constantly (thought not to the exclusion of the individual) looks toward that individual's value as a part of a larger Body.
Democracy is defined also in my text as "existing at the pleasure of the people and having no authority or purpose except as defined by the people". When combined with economic ideologies, the democratic ideology suffers, and so have the pleasures, purpose, and authority then become corrupted? I think it is safe to say that Protestant history shows this ideal of democracy, that the church exists for the pleasure of the people and largely has no authority or purpose except as defined by the people. If my thinking is anywhere close to any reality, then the teachings of Christ are also in opposition to classic democracy.
Just rambling. Back to the books. Pray for me.
2 comments:
Excellent
Personally, I think you are on to something. "Individualism" is the pendulum swing and especially here in America the continued fragmentation of political views is mirroring the "every man is his own pope" culture of evangelicalism. No structure or "institution" has power over the individual except as the individual has approved it by participation in the process and then protest and disobedience ensues if one's vote was overridden by another's. It is hard to have one foot in a Church that is "authoritative" and the other in a philosophy and culture that says the individual is the supreme being.
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