Is Your Ideology Transcendent?

Or, in other words, does everyone believe your world view? Is your way the way everything should work? Almost all of us human beings have pre-set opinions of how things should be; and we almost always react to changes in public policy, ethical changes, moral issues, etc. with a knee-jerk response conditioned by our pre-set opinions. As we grow older, our responses become even more stereotyped—we do not waste any more time carefully evaluating the things we do and say. In other words, we have made up our minds about what we think.

We all like to think that we rationally evaluate all the choices we see washing over us in the media; but, in truth, we are usually dominated by our preconceived ideological determinants. Once fully formed, our ideologies are durable things; but sometimes we will have second thoughts.

How are our world views (ideologies) formed in the first place? Most of us adopt the views of our parents. Not a few, however, adopt just the opposite views from their parents, because they have not liked what they have seen in their primary families. Of course, there are also other influences, e.g., economic and social interests, racial and ethnic characteristics, religious convictions, genetic predispositions, the influence of peers and respected authority figures (especially college professors), and last—but not least—there may be some rational thinking.

We need to remember that other people go through the same processes in forming worldviews; and we must consider their views. We must, also, learn to doubt our own views to some extent, at least, if we are to live in a social world and come to the best consensus.

One thing the Enlightenment thinkers added to our armamentarium of useful ideas was that in the aftermath of Reformation wars about religion, it was necessary to develop a domesticated Christianity purged of the doctrinal certainties and intensities that had torn Europe apart for decades. Society had to learn that it was not God’s will that we kill each other over disagreements about God’s will.

We should, of course, always try to keep our eye and heart on God’s revealed word in making decisions and always try to apply the Golden Rule in our thoughts and actions. But…we must, also, at the same time recognize that there is a broad scope of civilizing tasks before us. We must do the best we can, using common sense, in the attempt to solve our every-day problems as they arise.

This blog post was excerpted from First Things May 2011, pages 3 & 4.