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AR 29:10 - Are we accidentally practicing witchcraft?
In this issue:
MEDIA CENSORSHIP - Pope Francis "only gets coverage when he says things that cultural progressives support" (and almost no one covers anti-Catholic violence)
OCCULTISM - "problems that we can't manifest away"
WORD-FAITH THEOLOGY - how is Mormon tithe-talk different from that of people you know?
Apologia Report 29:10 (1,651)
March 8, 2024
MEDIA CENSORSHIP
Often we've seen that developments in Europe eventually found their way to America. Might this become another example? Writing for GetReligion (Nov 28 '23), "Mainstream press ignores statements in which Pope Francis doubles down on doctrine," Clemente Lisi reports that "in a span of nearly a month, we've seen violence against churches - a trend we have documented here at GetReligion for years now...." Examples of vandalism and arson are cited.
In addition, "Europe has witnessed a 44% jump in anti-Christian hate crimes across more than two dozen European countries over the past year....
"Anti-Chistian hate - and specifically attacks aimed at Catholic houses of worship - isn't news among those who make decisions in elite newsrooms.
"Another story that doesn't resonate in these same newsrooms is anything Pope Francis says or does that doesn't fit the progressive agenda many seem to champion.
"Case in point: The Vatican informed German bishops that the ordination of women and changes to the church's teaching on homosexuality cannot be subjects of discussion." Lisi adds the Vatican "also reminded the bishops of potential disciplinary consequences for anyone defying the teaching of the Church. ...
"Some German priests - with public support from their bishops - have begun to bless same-sex couples, disregarding the Vatican's position on same-sex marriage rites, with some blessings taking place outside....
"Pope Francis said he shared concerns that elements in the German Church are taking steps 'to steer it increasingly away from the universal Church's common path.'
"The pope was referring to the decisions of the synodal way, an initiative that brought together the country's bishops and select lay people at five 'synodal assemblies' between 2020 and 2023.
"Participants endorsed texts calling for women deacons, a re-examination of priestly celibacy, lay preaching at Masses, same-sex blessings, and a revision of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. ...
"Depending on what happens next, whatever immediate goals that progressive Catholics were hoping to achieve with this synod process were dealt a harsh blow."
Lisi asks: "How did journalists in the mainstream press cover this harsh rebuke?
"Well, they didn't.
"At all.
"It was covered extensively by the Catholic press ... and by just one mainstream news outlet. That was Fox News, of course. The media has instead spent the past few days focusing on the pontiff's health....
"Francis only gets coverage when he says things that cultural progressives support. When he doesn't, it goes totally ignored. It is a pattern we have seen for the past decade of the Francis papacy.
"It's true that this Jesuit pope has often spoken out of both sides of his mouth, but that doesn't justify not covering a massive story just weeks after the synod dealt with many of these same issues." <www.tinyurl.com/yeytttvj>
Lisi expands on this issue in his valuable January 25, 2024 post, "Why not cover these stories?" GetReligion kept asking about attacks on Catholic churches <www.tinyurl.com/s8yu4h7k>
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OCCULTISM
"Soft Occultism" by Patricia Patnode (American Mind, Dec 4 '23) -- "Young women looking for meaning are enchanted by a new paganism elevating ego and material desire.
"One Saturday evening around sunset I went to a local coven for a potluck dinner in celebration of Samhain, a Celtic holiday that is similar to the Mexican Day of the Dead. I wanted to see what the self-identifying witches were up to after becoming bothered by the proliferation of occult-ish language used by my friends - and, increasingly, me - in everyday conversation. ...
"The similarities between the language used by the coven and among my own decidedly non-witch friends was striking. 'Are we accidentally practicing witchcraft?' I wondered to myself.
"Like many women my age, I put together vision and mood boards. I have an Aquarius coffee mug. I write affirmations on my mirror and listen to YouTubers who describe how to live a 'soft life,' champion 'dark feminine energy,' and live abundantly.
"Videos called, 'Elevate your lifestyle,' 'Channel Divine Femininity,' or 'Leverage your light feminine energy' entice us. Lessons on how to become 'magnetic' or 'that girl' flood TikTok and Instagram, especially in the months leading up to the new year. We call our wants out to the 'energy of the universe' using language of affirmation, and try to align our subconscious mind and mental energy to bring that goal about.
"The closest chain bookstore to my house sells a box of '78 Crystals to Energize Your Life' or three 'good vibes healing stones' for just $32.95. A box of affirmation note cards promises that 'the universe is in your hands,' and titles like The Astrological Self-Care Journal, Crystals for Mom, and Goddess Magic offer energy guidance. A host of Tarot and horoscope-themed candles, notebooks, and writing accessories are available for your next journaling session.
"It's easy to have a laugh at the obvious consumerism behind all this woo-woo, Ouija-board spiritualism. But it's a mistake to dismiss the tacky and often silly mystical drapery without considering the genuine longing for meaning that it conceals.
"The new, default spiritual identity for young people in the West is soft occultism, or casual witchery. ...
"Generation Z has the same spiritual appetite as our ancestors, but we lack the infrastructure to exercise it. According to the American Enterprise Institute, American religious identity has experienced nearly three decades of consistent decline. <www.tinyurl.com/2juxndjr> Research has consistently shown that every generation of adults is somewhat less religious than the generation that preceded it. A similar decline in religious affiliation has been observed in the United Kingdom,
"Out of this religious apathy, interest in the occult has blossomed and mixed with our wellness and self-improvement culture.
"Lifestyle gurus and inner-peace peddlers from Gwyneth Paltrow to Andrew Tate are happy to make money off lost, irreligious young people hungry for emotional balance and purpose. Their approach borrows from the language of self-fulfillment and the actualization of material desire common to Oprah and prosperity-gospel preachers such as Joel Osteen. The result is a culture of self-worship and a belief in the power of the will to manifest good things for ourselves.
"Within soft occultism, we become the main characters. ...
"Occult-adjacent practices can be actively harmful, generating a false version of reality in which the self is both creator and arbiter. ...
"If we continue to shrug off soft occultism, our vulnerable young people will continue to adopt new and ever stranger habits or dogmas, often political ones, that serve their spiritual appetite but fall short of a lifelong philosophy for dealing with problems that we can't manifest away." <www.tinyurl.com/yfv95pux>
For related commentary, see Don and Joy Veinot's December 7, 2023 article "The Occulting of Culture (and the Church)" <www.tinyurl.com/5e3xdppt>
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WORD-FAITH THEOLOGY
Jana Riess <www.tinyurl.com/AR-on-Jana-Riess> (Religion News, Nov 17 '23) explains "the [LDS] Church's ongoing struggle with the prosperity gospel," serving it up "in a nutshell." (As you read here, consider the similarities touching the range of your own Christian encounters.)
We begin with LDS President Russell M. Nelson's "October 2023 General Conference talk 'Think Celestial.' ...
"Nelson, now 99, told a story of how, when he was a young intern in medicine making $15 a month, his first wife, Dantzel, asked him if he was paying tithing on that stipend. ...
"He was not paying tithing, he told her. He 'quickly repented and began paying the additional $1.50 in monthly tithing.'
"Reflecting on this many decades later, President Nelson said the decision to tithe to the Church had altered the course of his faith and his life.
"'Was the Church any different because we increased our tithing? Of course not. However, becoming a full-tithe payer changed me. That is when I learned that paying tithing is all about faith, not money. As I became a full-tithe payer, the windows of heaven began to open for me. I attribute several subsequent professional opportunities to our faithful payment of tithes.'
"That last line - that 'several subsequent professional opportunities' had come his way because of faithful tithe-paying - is the one that gives me pause. And apparently I'm not the only one, because at some point in the next two weeks, the Church added a footnote to clarify (sort of) that President Nelson was not promising his listeners professional success just for paying tithing. ...
"The hard prosperity gospel is old-school Creflo Dollar teaching that God wants - even demands - Christians to be rich. That tithing will directly protect them from the threat of disease and poverty.
"It's viewing conspicuous consumption and lavish cars as evidence of holy favor. Those big-ticket luxury items are recast as evangelism tools and justified as inviting others to become Christians.
"And the hard prosperity gospel tends to turn against its own followers when they (inevitably) deal with illness, financial setbacks or wayward children. Because God only desires for his true followers to be successful and filled with power, those obstacles have no place. They are instead attributed to the sufferer's own sin or lack of faith.
"They invited the illness because they didn't pray hard enough; they deserved the job loss because they skimped on donating to the televangelist.
"The soft prosperity gospel is more subtle. That makes it harder to spot, but no less theologically dangerous.
"The soft prosperity gospel doesn't emphasize punishment for perceived failures so much as it stresses the coming rewards after checking all the expected boxes. It's less fear-based but every bit as self-centered. I call it ITTT - 'if this, then that' theology."
The "nutshell" from Riess includes this: "In the realm of faith, ITTT theology looks like this." She develops the context for the following scenarios, among others:
* - "If I work extra hard...."
* - "If I fast perfectly and pray extra hard...."
* - "If I read my Scriptures for 20 minutes every morning...."
* - If the LDS "Church [promotes] to leadership those men who have been visibly successful...."
Riess also considers related penitent psychology, such as: "... because life is just … hard. We want it to make sense. We want there to be some magical talisman where goodness is rewarded...."
She concludes with common sense: "What if rich did not have to mean wealthy, and whole did not have to mean healed? What if being people of 'the gospel' meant that we are simply people with good news?" <www.tinyurl.com/mva5bwme>
(Oh the irony here, considering the competing worldviews underlying all of this, and given the contexts of Apologia Report's readership.)
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