by cyranorox » July 4th, 2009, 6:47 am
I grew up with pluralism, and on the whole it was salutary. my education did not prevent me from questioning pluralism, nor absolutism - questioning both, for me, was necessary. and pluralism expects to turn out a percent of absolutists, people who take one of the roads available.
for a critique of modernism that does not fall into neo-authoritarianism, conservatism, or the sort of remedies worse than the problem, read Yannaras, perhaps Person and Eros. He has no truck with the external moralism or the tough-love, strong-father, siege mentality common today. Fully and deeply Orthodox, he explains a way of freedom and authenticity in love, that can examine the faults of modernism and of conservative reaction.
re: "our" society - problem is, it's "their" society, too. Should 'they' be forced to live under laws that contradict their beliefs? or should they refrain from making law to suit their views? the "family" has become an idol, partly in the process of defending it against phantom enemies; no, gay marriage does not threaten straight marriage. I see screwtape in the licence to anger, uncharity, malice, and rejection that the current crop of traditional moralists allow themselves. The idea that precious things are under attack [false, because these things are indestructible], and that a culture [that never existed] is under dire threat, make it seem like any tactic against the supposed enemy is justified - the stakes so illusorily high, the urgency so delusively great.
this can play out in as apparently benign an arena as beards and clothes. most people want to be normal: dress in normal gendered clothes, marry the opposite sex, have a kid or two, believe what their parents do. that has not changed, and will not change. What is really up for grabs is the view of, or treatment of, the few who don't follow the given path; who want to dress out of gender, marry the same sex, have no kids [or a great many], or generally find themselves not fitting, and not willing to fit. I, normal in most regards, feel completely safe in allowing such people to find whatever happiness they can, anticipating that they are no greater sinners than many a straight stiff.Nothing bad will happen if we all fail to disapprove.
Apocatastasis Now!