Over two decades ago I was driving through the Carolinas listening to a radio interview with a Fundamentalist Chrisitan Minister and the interviewer asked him if he felt that he was violating the separation of church and state because he was known to tell his congregation, from the pulpit, who to vote for in elections. He responded that it was not inappropriate, because he decided that Secular Humanism was a religion, and that it had already taken over his government. I remember thinking that night that if his way of thinking were to catch-on and spread from clergy to clergy, that it would be a threat to our country.
This was an early example of what has been called the age of narcissism – where individuals, through modern media, have opportunity to reach larger audiences than ever before; and if the individual is confident, eloquent, and charismatic enough, they convince their followers that their individual philosophy is rooted in fact, or rooted in scripture, rather than rooted in prejudice, fear and hate.
What I witnessed Saturday morning at Morning Star Fellowship in Quakertown under the banner of “Truth in Love Conference, ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY, AND AMERICA” was yet another example of the age of narcissism…