Societal atomization

Here is an article that comes somehow to the same conclusions that I express in this blog and also in my book Artsense (see top left and click on the coverpage).
Late modernity ends in atomization. The individuals believe that they have the truth about everything and real knowledge is thus relativized. In other words that better reflect my own presentation the views and visions of the men of knowledge being not any longer privileged by the men of power they don't any longer secure the diffusion of the ideas of the men of knowledge at the attention of all and the men of knowledge thus find themselves in competition with all sorts of charlatans...
I share this vision with the authors of the article that follows but we diverge on two fundamental points.
- One on the "human way". I do not consider indeed that religion is the only historical, nor valid, form of societal cohesion building (worldview). I also do not consider that the glueing of the individuals into a societal form has anything to do with believing in objective truths. It is all dependant on the knowledge available at any given time.
- Two on the evolution of human knowledge leading to the emergence of new worldviews. This aspect of societal reality is totally absent from the presentation of those authors and religion is thus the only belief system that they can imagine about... people are lost into atomization because religion has been relegated to the dustbin of history by liberalism and in consequence fundamentalism is rising as a militant reaction against liberalism. But what about the possibility that the relegation of religion to the dustbin of history could eventually be followed by the emergence of a new worldview? No sign of this possibility in this article...
Notwithstanding those short-comings I suggest you read the following article, for, it is one of the best presentations I have had the chance to read on:
- the linkage between religion and the formation and conservation of state power...
- the rejection of the existing religious worldview and the following relativization of knowledge that led Western societies to atomize.
Writing one is sometimes led to doubt but when discovering that others share some of your thoughts you are somehow encouraged... that's exactly what happened for me with this article.

in the IHT by Phillip Blond and Adrian Pabst :
""" Confined to the personal sphere, religion is deprived of civic engagement that would mitigate fanaticism and foster moderation, and faith answers to no authority other than subjective inner conscience.
- The trouble is that once liberalism has surrendered any belief in objective truths, all personal subjective beliefs become true. Once all things are equally valid, the only way to attain supremacy is through war and power. Thus does liberalism make fundamentalists out of us all.
- By denying religion any public import, this hitherto shared realm became drained of any objective moral beliefs. Society was atomized and culture surrendered to relativism. """

URL: The twisted religion of Blair and Bush


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