Puritan Barbarians

I sometimes marvel at how Christianity ushered in a change from orthropraxy (public/overt displays of piety; salvation through good works) to orthodoxy (private/discreet piety; salvation through faith). That pendulum is clearly swinging back in the other direction, as present-day morality is defined almost exclusively by engaging in ritualistic behaviors that have little or no relationship to actual moral worth. What we are left with is a most curious species, the Puritan Barbarian.

For example, someone today can achieve a high level of esteem despite being profane, promiscuous, dishonest, and cruel in his private life -- all he has to do is engage in some or all of the following public rituals comprising the new and artificial "morality":

• Vote on a regular basis (and preferably sport a pin or a sticker announcing this fact);

• Fret about "global warming" and push everyone to adopt a "green" lifestyle (e.g., recycling, driving an overpriced and underperforming car, installing solar panels on one's home);

• Refrain from smoking (only tobacco -- other substances are fine);

• Advocate the use of violence vis-à-vis governmental policies to impose greater "fairness" on society and/or the world, usually by re-distributing private wealth but also by invading foreign countries to make them "free";

• Eat healthful or "organic" foods;

• Loudly and frequently bemoan the supposed sins of Western civilization (i.e., cultural Marxism);

• Perhaps most important of all, denounce anybody who questions these rituals as a heretic.

Notice how all of these center around the physical and the tangible. Having lost his soul, the Puritan Barbarian fetishizes the body -- either his own, the public's, or the planet's. In so doing, the Puritan Barbarian has seized the mantle of morality away from the quiet folk who strive for personal integrity. Therefore, in the modern calculus, Bill Clinton is more moral than Mother Theresa. Although Clinton may have borne false witness and committed adultery with a grin on his face, he let gays stay in the military and vetoed a ban on partial-birth abortion! Those deeds surely rank higher than a life of meek, chaste, and self-denying servitude.

And why is this happening? Why does orthopraxy again rule the day? The answer is simple: because it's easier. True integrity and purity require far too much effort from people weaned on self-gratification, so the adoption of herdlike rituals offers a cheap and easy path to salvation.