The Left’s “ABC” (“Anything But Christianity”) Syndrome
The Left has an “Anything But Christianity” attitude because it wants to erase individuality and God-given human rights — both products of Christianity — to empower government.
Ever since the genesis of the so-called Left — a broad coalition of social, political, and cultural movements and organizations whose aim has been to establish socialism across the Western world — the most obvious trait of leftists in general has been their distaste for Judeo-Christian mores and culture. Leftists may disagree on a range of issues, but they are generally united in their hostility to Christianity, as well as their accommodation of nearly every other type of religion, from the philosophy religions of the East to the various shamanic and animistic traditions of the world’s aboriginal peoples.
What we might call the “ABC syndrome” (“Anything But Christianity”) is familiar to everyone on the Right. It is widely recognized that the campaign against limited government and against the Constitution has turned into an all-out culture war. This “culture war” is nothing new: French revolutionaries in the late 1700s attempted to purge France of Christianity and to impose radical secularist values on French society, as evidenced by their persecution of the staunch Catholics of the Vendée, their rejection of the Christian calendar, and their desecration of Christian churches, including the Notre Dame cathedral. Meanwhile, the founding theorist of communism, Karl Marx, considered religion akin to a harmful drug, famously calling it “the opiate of the masses.”
But why is the Left so hostile to traditional Western religion and culture, particularly Christianity? How can the Left’s hatred of Judeo-Christianity be squared with its enthusiasm for certain flavors of non-Western religion? Many leftists are fascinated with “New Age” religion, which attempts to blend features of eastern religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, with the shamanic beliefs of tribal cultures worldwide.
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