Welcome to Douglas Wilson's blog and May blog, presented by Canon Press.

The Joy Jews of Democracy, November 6th, 2023. Introduction.

When the Apostle John told Christians to keep themselves from idols, 1st John 521,

he said this because there was actually a possibility that they might not do so.

There have been times when true believers have been seduced by lies and one of those

lies has been you can believe in me I'm not an actual idle. So I have some questions.

In order to be an idle does it have to be made up of molecules and if it is possible to be

an idle without being made up of molecules is it possible for a society to establish such

an ethereal and abstract thing as their idle? Is it possible for a people to have an idolatrous

commitment to something like democracy or a secular state or diversity? The answer should be obvious enough.

There are gross material idols out there, blocks of wood and stone that people burn candles in front of,

or before which they leave baskets of fruit.

Then there are nobler material idols, like family or a regiment or a legacy of honors.

Last and often unrecognized would be the abstract idols. A lot of these are the great isms, like

socialism or fascism or communism or other ideologies. These are the creeds that demand a total

allegiance and will brook no rival.

And underneath every form of idolatry is the fact that, as John Calvin pointed out,

the human mind is a perpetual forge of idols.

But this third kind is particularly sneaky.

The first sort of idle must simply be toppled and burned.

And the same goes for the last sort of vital,

although because they are abstractions, they don't create quite as much black smoke.

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