Mill's Religion of Liberalism
When we think of "Liberalism," we likely most often have in mind the ideas of "liberty and justice for all," the freedom to express and live according to one's beliefs or worldview, and to grant others this same freedom as long as they respect our rights to live according to our beliefs. This may have been what the Founding Fathers of the U.S. had in mind. But the ideas that drive society can change. One hundred years after the founding of the U.S., the idea of "Liberalism" had taken on a new meaning, thanks largely to the writings of John Stuart Mills.
Mills had in mind the reshaping of the Western notions of God and morality. The above article mentions Cambridge historian Maurice Cowling's 1963 book Mill and Liberalism, which calls John Stuart Mills' "Liberalism" a form of "moral totalitarianism." In that book, "Cowling challenged the widespread view of John Stuart Mill as the secular saint of tolerance. According to Cowling, Mill’s liberalism constituted nothing less than an alternative religion: one that turns out to be a rather fideistic faith that demands submission from nonbelievers." So today, as the above article states -
"Mill, I suspect, would be gratified at just how many Christians and Jews have embraced that same liberal faith over the past 150 years. For them, feelings are the measure of morality. That is consistent with liberal religion’s view of God as the indulgent Great Non-Judge: except, of course, with regard to questions such as the environment or supranational bureaucracies. On such subjects, the otherwise soft-spirited Deity and his followers brook little dissent, prudential or otherwise."
The article continues - "It was the French philosopher Auguste Comte who proposed a 'Religion of Humanity' as a full-blown successor to supernatural religion. Mill’s writings mention Comte extensively. In his Autobiography (1873), however, Mill describes Comte’s scheme as 'the completest system of spiritual and temporal despotism which ever yet emanated from a human brain, unless possibly that of Ignatius Loyola'." So here we have the modern Liberals' hero, John Stuart Mills, advocating a "spiritual and temporal despotism" akin to that of Ignatius Loyola!
Under the guise of what one hundred years earlier had been understood as "Liberalism" or "liberty and justice for all," Mills had smuggled in the ideas of a "liberal" pseudo-clergy that would strictly enforce his "Religion of Humanity" that he believed was "a better religion than any of those which are ordinarily called by that title."
So there you have it: modern "Liberalism" according to one of its leading thinkers is actually a "Religion of Humanity" that should be enforced by a "spiritual and temporal despotism" - an earthly, worldly clerisy that brooks no dissent to its belief system. The Liberal worldview is thus closely aligned with Marxism in its approach to promulgating its ideas by "the barrel of a gun," as Chairman Mao said.
Mills viewed Christ as merely "a great man." This is quite similar to the Arian heresy's notion of Jesus Christ as a very good man who was indwelt sometime later in life by a spirit from God. This also explains why modern Liberalism is supportive of Islam and Muslim immigration, because Islam is a form of Arianism, teaching that Jesus was a great prophet and a godly man, but not the Son of God. Modern man, according to Mills, has outgrown such old-fashioned ideas.
As the Apostle John wrote - "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn't have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also. Therefore, as for you, let that remain in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father." (1 John 2:22-24) The article continues -
"In other words, thanks to modern science, most smart people no longer believe Christianity’s claims. The insinuation is that only less intelligent or unenlightened beings could cling to an obsolescent belief system. Hence, we need to 'move on.' This amounts to what the philosopher Thomas Pink calls the 'Whig theology of secularization as spiritually progressive.'"
Under the banner of "modern, progressive thinking," the new secular-humanist Liberalism rejects the old idea of the Incarnation, God taking on human nature in Jesus Christ, so that we could "become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4) and become united with Christ's divine-human nature. As the Apostle John wrote further -
"Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit who doesn't confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Antichrist, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already." (1 John 4:1-3)
The deeper, hidden ideas behind Liberalism, according to Mills, are the eradication of historical Christian teachings -
"In correspondence with Comte, Mill stated that "The time has not yet come when we in England shall be able to direct open attacks on theology, including Christian theology, without compromising our cause.' But 'indirectly,' he says in another letter to Comte, 'one may strike any blow one wishes at religious beliefs.' That way, he tells Comte, you avoid frightening off 'the young' 'who would eventually become accustomed to all [positivism’s] consequences, including the antireligious ones.'"
God is greater than humanist-secularist Liberalism, science, technology, artificial intelligence - even Google maps, self-driving cars and IBM's Watson. We must not cower in fear of a Liberal onslaught against our faith - "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18a) and "Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5) Let us believe and publicly confess our faith that Jesus is the Son of God incarnate!
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