Over the last few weeks I have been reading several articles/books that validate my argument that one of Postmodernism's most poignant characteristics the doctrine of the autonomous self is alive and well in American Civilization. Let me review the meaning of this slippery term: In the Postmodern world, the autonomous self is the focus of the individual to do what is right in his/her own eyes. The individual is sovereign and serves self. Indulging self and catering to self is the benchmark of this therapeutic, self-centered, narcissistic culture. Some examples:

• Listen to the course titles in many of the typical universities that cater to this cultural marker "The Biology of ER," "The Physics, History, and Technique of Juggling," "Vampires: The Undead." John Leo reports on "Food Studies," that appeal strongly to students who like to eat and chat about it in classes that are hard to flunk. One professor states, " Food underwrites ongoing debates about the substance and boundaries of American personhood." Another example is "porn studies." Students listen to lectures from porn stars, write porn fiction, film their own sex scenes and take part in little inhibition-lowering classroom dramas. As Leo further writes, "the race-class-gender alliance, powered mostly by feminists and gays, has essentially taken control of the humanities. There are now tens of thousands of courses on gender, sexuality, feminist theory and queer theory. . . ." These junk courses creep in because many professors now believe that nothing can truly be known, so nothing truly matters. Leo concludes, the "academy today . . . is gripped by a deep antagonism to tradition that has degenerated into a new absolutism." (See US News and World Report, 30 August 1999, p. 20).
  
  
• In a new book by historian Michael Kammen, American Culture, American Tastes, the argument for an emerging "mass culture" is presented. If Kammen is correct, this new Mass Culture fits perfectly with and indeed feeds the autonomous self. Mass culture is more often than not passive and private. Playing a video game is mass culture, as is surfing the Net. Americans choose desire over obligation, TV over conversation, arduous medical care over death and disability and high earnings over strict frugality. Mass culture is highly individualistic and feeds the autonomous self's desire for self-fulfilling needs and desires. It is not other-centered but self-centered!! It is narcissism gone mad! It is in short the direct opposite of what the Bible says about the other-centered, loving, self-sacrificing life God calls us to. Is it any wonder why Christians are increasingly marginalized in American culture today?
  
  

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THE CHRISTIAN COALITION IN TROUBLE?

The Christian Coalition, which for 10 years has led the charge in national and local politics for conservative Christianity, is now weathering serious financial and leadership turmoil. The result could be an inability to exert widespread influence in the 2000 elections. Before I analyze this crisis, let me share some history. It was founded in 1989 by Pat Robertson, drawing from support he received from his run for the presidency in 1988. Ralph Reed then built it into a force that influenced the Republican party dynamically. At its height it claimed a grass-roots network of 2.8 million and a budget of $26.5 million. In 1998 it distributed over 40 million voter guides. What has happened?

• The coalition is hobbled by a $2.5 million debt, the departure of most of its experienced leaders and so much turnover in local leadership that it has strong affiliates in no more than 7 states, down from the 48 it claimed last year.
  
  
• Former national leaders who recently left the group have said in interviews the coalition never commanded the numbers it claimed. The coalition now claims 1.8 million to 2 million supporters, but its list includes many one-time contributors, bad addresses and people who once signed a petition or called an 800 number, former and current staff members say.
  
  
• The coalition is splitting in two -- a taxable entity called Christian Coalition International that may eventually endorse candidates, form a political action committee and donate to campaigns and a tax-exempt group, and the Christian Coalition of America, which will conduct voter education under the tax exemption granted the Christian Coalition of Texas. This reorganization might put the very identity of the coalition in jeopardy. Can it be both a PAC and nonpartisan? What if the taxable arm endorses a candidate that many of its own organizers and followers do not favor?
  
  
• The money and momentum began to dry up after Reed announced his resignation in April 1997. Robertson rescued the organization later with a $1 million contribution but it has been in financial trouble ever since.
  
  
• It was charged by the IRS with violating its tax-exempt status by distributing voter guides and by illegally helping several Republican candidates in recent elections. A few weeks ago, a Federal judge cleared the Coalition of these charges by saying that it was exercising its free speech and did not violate limits on campaign contributions. However, even though this is a helpful decision, it is doubtful it will resurrect the organization. For now, it seems that the Coalition will not play a major role in the 2000 election campaign.
  
  

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ABERCROMBIE & FITCH AND HEDONISM

Abercrombie & Fitch has a new catalog called the A&F Quarterly, that is about hedonism as much as it is about selling clothing. Consider the following a poster-sized photo of a buff young man emerging from the surf, water dripping from his chest; young people in various stages of undress, etc. Past quarterlies contained "Rules of Attraction" (dealing with sex), "The Tools of Attraction" (dealing with condoms), and "Drinking 101," on cocktails and other niceties about drinking. In short A&F is not promoting clothing, it is promoting a hedonistic, autonomous self lifestyle that will cause the next generation to self-destruct morally.

• It is promoting an erotic love, that often alludes to homosexual attraction as well.
  
  
• It grossly distorts that which God has called beautiful, something few young people hear today.
  
  
• It appeals to the perverse, not the wholesome in life. Life is not free sex, drinking and perversion. This is not the way to sell clothing; it is the way to sell self-destruction. A & F be ashamed of yourself!! You are not helping your company; you are destroying a whole generation of young people

 

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