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195:8.1 But even after [[materialism]] and [[mechanism]] have been more or less [[vanquished]], the devastating [[influence]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth-century] [[secularism]] will still blight the spiritual [[experience]] of millions of unsuspecting [[souls]].
195:8.2 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularization Modern secularism] has been fostered by two world-wide [[influences]]. The father of [[secularism]] was the narrow-minded and godless [[attitude]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism nineteenth- and twentieth-century so-called science]—atheistic science. The mother of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism modern secularism] was the [[totalitarian]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Christianity#Early_Middle_Ages_.28476.E2.80.93799.29 medieval Christian church]. [[Secularism]] had its inception as a rising [[protest]] against the almost complete [[domination]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization] by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization#The_Medieval_West institutionalized Christian church].
195:8.3 At the time of this [[revelation]], the prevailing [[intellectual]] and [[philosophical]] [[climate]] of both European and American life is decidedly [[secular]]—[[humanistic]]. For three hundred years [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western] [[thinking]] has been [[progressively]] secularized. [[Religion]] has become more and more a nominal [[influence]], largely a [[ritualistic]] [[exercise]]. The [[majority]] of professed Christians of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization] are unwittingly actual secularists.
195:8.4 It required a great [[power]], a mighty [[influence]], to [[free]] the [[thinking]] and [[living]] of the Western peoples from the withering grasp of a [[totalitarian]] [[ecclesiastical]] [[domination]]. [[Secularism]] did break the bonds of church [[control]], and now in turn it threatens to [[establish]] a new and godless [[type]] of mastery over the [[hearts]] and [[minds]] of [[modern]] man. The [[tyrannical]] and dictatorial [[political]] [[state]] is the direct offspring of scientific [[materialism]] and philosophic [[secularism]]. Secularism no sooner [[free]]s man from the [[domination]] of the institutionalized [[church]] than it sells him into slavish [[bondage]] to the [[totalitarian]] [[state]]. [[Secularism]] frees man from [[ecclesiastical]] slavery only to betray him into the [[tyranny]] of [[political]] and [[economic]] [[slavery]].
195:8.5 [[Materialism]] denies [[God]], [[secularism]] simply ignores him; at least that was the earlier [[attitude]]. More recently, [[secularism]] has assumed a more [[militant]] [[attitude]], assuming to take the place of the [[religion]] whose totalitarian [[bondage]] it onetime [[resisted]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century Twentieth-century] [[secularism]] tends to affirm that man does not need [[God]]. But beware! this [[Atheism|godless philosophy]] of human [[society]] will lead only to unrest, animosity, unhappiness, war, and world-wide disaster.
195:8.6 [[Secularism]] can never bring [[peace]] to [[mankind]]. Nothing can take the place of [[God]] in human [[society]]. But mark you well! do not be quick to [[surrender]] the [[beneficent]] gains of the secular [[revolt]] from [[ecclesiastical]] [[totalitarianism]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization] today enjoys many [[liberties]] and [[satisfactions]] as a result of the secular revolt. The great mistake of [[secularism]] was this: In revolting against the almost total [[control]] of life by [[religious]] [[authority]], and after [[attaining]] the liberation from such [[ecclesiastical]] [[tyranny]], the secularists went on to institute a revolt against [[God]] himself, sometimes tacitly and sometimes openly.
195:8.7 To the secularistic [[revolt]] you owe the amazing [[creativity]] of [[American]] [[Industry|industrialism]] and the unprecedented [[material]] [[progress]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization]. And because the secularistic [[revolt]] went too far and lost [[sight]] of [[God]] and [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_101#101:1._TRUE_RELIGION true religion], there also followed the unlooked-for [[harvest]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war world wars] and international unsettledness.
195:8.8 It is not [[necessary]] to [[sacrifice]] [[faith]] in [[God]] in order to enjoy the [[blessings]] of the [[modern]] secularistic revolt: [[tolerance]], social service, [[democratic]] [[government]], and civil liberties. It was not necessary for the secularists to antagonize [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_101#101:1._TRUE_RELIGION true religion] in order to promote [[science]] and to advance [[education]].
195:8.9 But [[secularism]] is not the sole [[parent]] of all these recent gains in the enlargement of [[living]]. Behind the gains of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century] are not only [[science]] and [[secularism]] but also the unrecognized and unacknowledged [[spiritual]] workings of the life and teaching of [[Jesus]] of [[Nazareth]].
195:8.10 Without [[God]], without [[religion]], scientific [[secularism]] can never [[co-ordinate]] its [[forces]], [[harmonize]] its [[divergent]] and rivalrous interests, [[races]], and [[nationalism]]s. This secularistic human [[society]], notwithstanding its unparalleled materialistic [[achievement]], is slowly disintegrating. The chief cohesive force resisting this disintegration of antagonism is [[nationalism]]. And [[nationalism]] is the chief barrier to world [[peace]].
195:8.11 The inherent [[weakness]] of [[secularism]] is that it discards [[ethics]] and [[religion]] for [[politics]] and [[power]]. You simply cannot establish the brotherhood of men while ignoring or denying the [[fatherhood]] of [[God]].
195:8.12 [[Secular]] [[social]] and [[political]] [[optimism]] is an [[illusion]]. Without [[God]], neither [[freedom]] and [[liberty]], nor [[property]] and [[wealth]] will lead to [[peace]].
195:8.13 The complete [[secularization]] of [[science]], [[education]], [[industry]], and [[society]] can lead only to disaster. During the first third of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century] Urantians killed more [[human being]]s than were killed during the whole of the [[Christian]] dispensation up to that time. And this is only the beginning of the dire [[harvest]] of [[materialism]] and [[secularism]]; still more terrible destruction is yet to come.
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_195 Go to Paper 195]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 195 - After Pentecost]]
195:8.1 But even after [[materialism]] and [[mechanism]] have been more or less [[vanquished]], the devastating [[influence]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth-century] [[secularism]] will still blight the spiritual [[experience]] of millions of unsuspecting [[souls]].
195:8.2 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularization Modern secularism] has been fostered by two world-wide [[influences]]. The father of [[secularism]] was the narrow-minded and godless [[attitude]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism nineteenth- and twentieth-century so-called science]—atheistic science. The mother of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism modern secularism] was the [[totalitarian]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Christianity#Early_Middle_Ages_.28476.E2.80.93799.29 medieval Christian church]. [[Secularism]] had its inception as a rising [[protest]] against the almost complete [[domination]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization] by the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization#The_Medieval_West institutionalized Christian church].
195:8.3 At the time of this [[revelation]], the prevailing [[intellectual]] and [[philosophical]] [[climate]] of both European and American life is decidedly [[secular]]—[[humanistic]]. For three hundred years [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western] [[thinking]] has been [[progressively]] secularized. [[Religion]] has become more and more a nominal [[influence]], largely a [[ritualistic]] [[exercise]]. The [[majority]] of professed Christians of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization] are unwittingly actual secularists.
195:8.4 It required a great [[power]], a mighty [[influence]], to [[free]] the [[thinking]] and [[living]] of the Western peoples from the withering grasp of a [[totalitarian]] [[ecclesiastical]] [[domination]]. [[Secularism]] did break the bonds of church [[control]], and now in turn it threatens to [[establish]] a new and godless [[type]] of mastery over the [[hearts]] and [[minds]] of [[modern]] man. The [[tyrannical]] and dictatorial [[political]] [[state]] is the direct offspring of scientific [[materialism]] and philosophic [[secularism]]. Secularism no sooner [[free]]s man from the [[domination]] of the institutionalized [[church]] than it sells him into slavish [[bondage]] to the [[totalitarian]] [[state]]. [[Secularism]] frees man from [[ecclesiastical]] slavery only to betray him into the [[tyranny]] of [[political]] and [[economic]] [[slavery]].
195:8.5 [[Materialism]] denies [[God]], [[secularism]] simply ignores him; at least that was the earlier [[attitude]]. More recently, [[secularism]] has assumed a more [[militant]] [[attitude]], assuming to take the place of the [[religion]] whose totalitarian [[bondage]] it onetime [[resisted]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century Twentieth-century] [[secularism]] tends to affirm that man does not need [[God]]. But beware! this [[Atheism|godless philosophy]] of human [[society]] will lead only to unrest, animosity, unhappiness, war, and world-wide disaster.
195:8.6 [[Secularism]] can never bring [[peace]] to [[mankind]]. Nothing can take the place of [[God]] in human [[society]]. But mark you well! do not be quick to [[surrender]] the [[beneficent]] gains of the secular [[revolt]] from [[ecclesiastical]] [[totalitarianism]]. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization] today enjoys many [[liberties]] and [[satisfactions]] as a result of the secular revolt. The great mistake of [[secularism]] was this: In revolting against the almost total [[control]] of life by [[religious]] [[authority]], and after [[attaining]] the liberation from such [[ecclesiastical]] [[tyranny]], the secularists went on to institute a revolt against [[God]] himself, sometimes tacitly and sometimes openly.
195:8.7 To the secularistic [[revolt]] you owe the amazing [[creativity]] of [[American]] [[Industry|industrialism]] and the unprecedented [[material]] [[progress]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_civilization Western civilization]. And because the secularistic [[revolt]] went too far and lost [[sight]] of [[God]] and [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_101#101:1._TRUE_RELIGION true religion], there also followed the unlooked-for [[harvest]] of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_war world wars] and international unsettledness.
195:8.8 It is not [[necessary]] to [[sacrifice]] [[faith]] in [[God]] in order to enjoy the [[blessings]] of the [[modern]] secularistic revolt: [[tolerance]], social service, [[democratic]] [[government]], and civil liberties. It was not necessary for the secularists to antagonize [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_101#101:1._TRUE_RELIGION true religion] in order to promote [[science]] and to advance [[education]].
195:8.9 But [[secularism]] is not the sole [[parent]] of all these recent gains in the enlargement of [[living]]. Behind the gains of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century] are not only [[science]] and [[secularism]] but also the unrecognized and unacknowledged [[spiritual]] workings of the life and teaching of [[Jesus]] of [[Nazareth]].
195:8.10 Without [[God]], without [[religion]], scientific [[secularism]] can never [[co-ordinate]] its [[forces]], [[harmonize]] its [[divergent]] and rivalrous interests, [[races]], and [[nationalism]]s. This secularistic human [[society]], notwithstanding its unparalleled materialistic [[achievement]], is slowly disintegrating. The chief cohesive force resisting this disintegration of antagonism is [[nationalism]]. And [[nationalism]] is the chief barrier to world [[peace]].
195:8.11 The inherent [[weakness]] of [[secularism]] is that it discards [[ethics]] and [[religion]] for [[politics]] and [[power]]. You simply cannot establish the brotherhood of men while ignoring or denying the [[fatherhood]] of [[God]].
195:8.12 [[Secular]] [[social]] and [[political]] [[optimism]] is an [[illusion]]. Without [[God]], neither [[freedom]] and [[liberty]], nor [[property]] and [[wealth]] will lead to [[peace]].
195:8.13 The complete [[secularization]] of [[science]], [[education]], [[industry]], and [[society]] can lead only to disaster. During the first third of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century twentieth century] Urantians killed more [[human being]]s than were killed during the whole of the [[Christian]] dispensation up to that time. And this is only the beginning of the dire [[harvest]] of [[materialism]] and [[secularism]]; still more terrible destruction is yet to come.
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_195 Go to Paper 195]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>
[[Category:Paper 195 - After Pentecost]]
