The great Hellenist the Apostle Paul

Does Pantheism Lead to Leftism?

by Lewis Loflin

I was asked this question on the Facebook group Conservative and Libertarian Deists in our ongoing debate on so-called "Panendeism."

What is interesting is that one of our CLD admins is the man who coined the term, and yet he is as opposed to the socialist/green thing as you and I. What is your opinion--Do you suppose that Panendeism can be intellectually consistent with opposition to collectivism, or do you think that he would be opposed to collectivism in spite of the Panendeism?

If it's who I think it is he was a veteran and came to this on his own and wasn't indoctrinated in one of our universities. Most Leftism come from our elite colleges in particular the humanities.

I should define Leftism as used on this website. Leftism is mish-mash collection of causes and beliefs treated as a type of religion (or what I label pseudo-religion) by liberal-Progressives. While hardly monolithic they have much in common.

The foundation of Leftism is atheism and pantheism is simply Confused Atheism.

Politically Leftism is collectivist' and statist' in believing that only within the group whose collectivist' will is enforced though state coercion does one find true happiness and freedom. In the economic sense they are fascists believing in private property on paper, but that it's use be controlled by the state.

Freedom is not defined as living one's life as they choose with minimum government interference, but freedom from material want. Collectivism is the enemy of liberty.

Father of Leftism

This traces back to Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712—1778). Rousseau along with Voltaire are considered the Fathers of the bloody French Revolution. His "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality" is notable as was his rejection of science and reason for feelings.

Ref. http://www.iep.utm.edu/rousseau/

Dr. Diane Thompson calls him "the high priest of Romanticism". His books New Heloise (1760),Emile (1762), Social Contract (1762) and Confessions (1781) "were very popular and made a profound impression on European thinking, especially influencing the Romantic movement. Rousseau has been called the father of the Romantic movement because his "enthusiasm for nature and his appeal to the emotions ...opened the way for...the Romantic... [movement].... His ideas stimulated or inspired..." many other writers. (Ergang, 641)

Rousseau was "counter-Enlightenment" in his rejection of science and knowledge. The replacement of fact based education with "esteem" based education was promoted by progressive-socialists such as John Dewy (Emile) along with the efforts of campus Marxists such as the Frankfurt School have reduced education to chaos. Part of that effort was to distort and redefine the language.

Add to this the rise of Eastern mysticism and the growth of "Earth-Nature" centered spiritualism combined with religious and moral relativism. Environmentalism is the most prominent example of an earth-centered religion in the West today.

They to use the authority of science, but in a non-scientific manner. They have "faith" in science but not a clue as to what it is. Ecology has become more a spiritual movement divorced from science - it has shed any scientific roots it ever had devolving into a social science.

For more on this see Environmentalism as Religion.

For on this subject read Rousseau and the Real Culture War by David Heleniak. This a free e-book.

The other variation of pantheism is a desire for a mystical union with the Divine, more commonly found among ancient Gnostics and Christians. This is most common in New Age religion and is the Holy Spirit of Christianity. To be one with Jesus is to be one with God. This is called Panentheism. but the trouble being is one strips everything else out of the faith. See Gospel roots of Christian pantheism.

Instead today we have a desire for a union with Nature (Gaia or mother nature) in the same way Christians sought a union with Christ.

Pantheism itself is an ancient belief system and is integral to Hinduism and other ancient faiths. It was also prominent among the ancient Greeks. Most Hindus are certainly not communists or follow Leftism unless indoctrinated through our universities. As long as they maintain their cultural roots there's no problem.

Wishy-Washy Spiritualism

Just because one is an even outright pantheist doesn't mean they will be a leftist. Leftism's atheism simply uses this as a cover - or the believer in Leftism wants more than plain materialistic atheism. Vague, wishy-washy belief systems often leave their followers searching for a purpose in life - which is often channeled into revolution. Leftism can provide a practical purpose - pantheism-Panentheism can provide a spiritual outlet.

There's nothing wrong with the concept of panen whatever as such - that is what Christianity largely is, but Christianity of that time was also about hate - hatred of pagan philosophy and Judaism. It needs to be renamed to Panenism, etc. because it has nothing to do with classical deism anyway.

Vague, wishy-washy beliefs or none at all leaves one open to cults and extremist' ideologies. Just because someone has conservative political values those come from culture - his/her children will never know that culture.

Wishy-Washy Deism

The problem is this particular version was built on the basis of Aristotle's Prime Mover that has been discredited by modern science. Attaching the term "deism" onto the name is an attempt to give this legitimacy.

The question is to how to define deism. If one wants Aristotle and pantheism that's fine, but the English deists and the American Founders did not believe in Aristotle's god thus are not deists. They are Unitarians in reality and Adams and Jefferson said so. There's no honest way to reconcile this problem unless one resorts to the lies and distortions.

Classical deism's real intention was to moderate Christianity, but with the radical French humanists that later gave us the bloodletting "isms" the purpose was to destroy and de-Christianize the culture - so even the original deism they hijacked had to be destroyed and rewritten as well.

That's the only thing that attracts most of these so-called leftwing deists is same thing with Leftism in general - tearing down the system and destroy it. And tearing down the culture from every angle is the tactic the Left uses leaving millions adrift and confused - and the cult of Leftism preys on these weak-minded people.

One may want a "free wheeling" type belief system where one can configure their own faith to suit them. I've no problem with that in one sense, but on the other end creates moral-religious relativism. This is a big problem with liberal churches and synagogues that have adopted this type of religious relativism and wonder why their pews are empty.

Their faith is now being focused into politics with the same fundamentalist' mentality even though largely secular. This happened with environmentalism as it turned into a religion for the disgruntled urban secularist. With failure of Marxism has left many of its followers drifted into environmentalism. This is how we went from "social justice" to "environmental justice."

We have allowed extremes to define what choices are available with Pat Robertson on one extreme and Noam Chomsky on the other. Time to end that false dichotomy. Promoting a positive message clear of wishy-washy poorly defined rubbish is what is needed.

Also see Pelagius Why was Right