Too Much Savagery

Too much savagery in our world! The most shocking recent example was the coordinated bombings of Christians celebrating Easter in Sri Lanka Sunday. The death toll is approaching 300 by today, with hundreds more injured.  

Aftermath of bombing in Sri Lanka church on Easter Sunday
image found here

This was carried out by National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), an Islamist jihadi group in Sri Lanka. No surprise. Much of the most violent savagery in the world today fits in that demographic. They go by such names as Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, and supporting organizations such as Hamas, CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Those of us who have Muslim friends realize that this is not a standard Muslim way of thinking, but an extremist corruption, valuing power, hate, and death, having nothing to do with civilizing religious principles. They are vicious, as other power-mongering political movements before them. (Looking at you, communism, socialism, authoritarian dictatorships, mob rule.) It is a Muslim problem, however, to separate and distinguish the savage from the civilized.

When tragic attacks like this happen—and isn’t it shocking that we can even say “attacks like this,” because we experience them somewhat routinely?—we turn our attention there, instead of to the smaller savage events. They cause terror, as intended. 

It may be that attending to the smaller events will do something toward preventing the larger ones, or at least making us aware enough to predict and avoid them.

Back in 2013 I listed what we see in a society that is sinking into savagery. This list is something of smaller events, but still feel devastating to individuals who are affected:

The Social Sphere of the Spherical Model

·         Families break up or fail to form. Children are unwanted, avoided, and even abandoned by one or both parents. Promiscuity is commonplace and accepted as normal, even honored as a preferred lifestyle.

•         People fail to worship God, ranging from indifference, simply not attending religious services, to not choosing a religion, to declaring antipathy and disdain toward religious people.

•         People fail to live in peace with one another. Nations fight other nations or threaten war. Factions separate from other factions and refuse to tolerate differences in belief. Tribes separate from other tribes and put loyalty to ethnic connection above loyalty to God or righteous behaviors.

•         Poverty increases and becomes more difficult to rise above; society is more permanently stratified. Corrupt business practices abound, with neither workers nor hirers keeping their part of agreements. Producing wealth and preserving it both become increasingly difficult. Takers willingly confiscate from producers, discouraging production—which decreases innovation and invention, curtailing technological progress. People seek to get what they can for themselves and leave helping the poor to others.

•         Art, literature, and music deteriorate, with lack of form along with dissonance and ugliness being praised in place of truth, beauty, form, and function.

•         Pressure against civilizing principles grows stronger. Religion is removed from public discourse. Parental rights are diminished. Controlling entities take over choices about raising and educating children. Choices about food, health care, media, work, use of income, and other basic freedoms are also usurped by controlling entities.

•         Trust fails. Children are encouraged to distrust parents and report on them. And neighbors are encouraged to distrust and report on their neighbors. People will have reason to distrust law enforcement, which will be inadequate for their protection. And people will be deprived of means to protect themselves.

•         Laws become arbitrary, favoring cronies, ignoring basic justice and fairness. Eventually this includes arbitrary violations of life, liberty, and property based on the interests of the controlling entities.

I don’t have a scale on which to quantify these. But several are measurably worse than when I wrote them. Here are more than a few examples from recent news:

·         “Medical students in Africa outraged over U.S.based org enticing them to become abortionists,” Life Site News, by Doug Mainwaring, April 13, 2019. 

·         “Colorado Sex Ed Bill Would Force Kids to Learn LGBT Ideology, Ban Talk of Abstinence” and would specifically prohibit religious, moral, and ethical perspectives on sex from being discussed in the classroom, The Daily Signal, by Stephanie Curry, April 17, 2019.

·         “Teenage Girl Births And Kills Infant, Dumps Body With Help Of Father,” The Daily Wire, by Frank Camp, April 13, 2019. 

·         “Court orders Christian to pay $55,000 to trans politician for calling him ‘biological male,’” Life Site News, by Lianne Laurence, March 28, 2019. 

·         “The totalitarian state snubs concerned families, imposes seXXX ed agenda,” Orange County Register, by Rebecca Friedrichs, April 7, 2019. 

·         “Second Child Sex Offender Unmasked at Drag Queen Story Time, Houston Activists Say,” PJ Media, by Tyler O’Neil, April 5, 2019. 

·         “Abortion is destroying Spain’s future, new study finds,” Life Site News, by Martin M. Barillas, April 2, 2019. 

·         “‘Doctor’ Advises Threatening Suicide To Get Transgender Treatments For Kids,” The Federalist, by Jeremiah Keenan, April 1, 2019. 

·         “Childbirth and marriage are “just a pain” in Korea: South Korea's birth rate drops below 1.0,” Mercatornet, by Shannon Roberts, March 29, 2019. 

·         “Belgium Euthanizes Over 1,000 Patients EveryYear Without Their Consent,” LifeNews.com, by Alex Schadenberg, March 14, 2019. 

·         “Deadly Silence: The Unreported Persecution of Christians,” video program So What You’re Saying Is, Damian Thompson is interviewed by Peter Whittle, April 21, 2019. 

·         “‘We can’t prove sex with children does them harm’ says deranged liberal scumbag,” The Israel Wire blog, by April 2, 2019. 

·         “Bangladeshi student burned to death by fellow students for reporting sexual harassment by head teacher,” Fox News, by Hollie McKay, April 18, 2019. 

Not all news is bad, however. Just to instill hope, here are a couple of stories of people standing up against the savagery, at least somewhat successfully:

·         “Major Sex-Ed Bill Stopped In Washington State Thanks to the Efforts of Concerned Parents,” Activist Mommy blog, April 15, 2019. 

·         “At School, a Test of Wills over Privacy,” Family Research Council, Tony Perkins’ Washington Update, April 16, 2019. 

I don’t know all that will happen in the near a not too distant future. What I do know is that, in the end, good wins out over evil. Evil is making a mad and desperate attempt to ruin the future, but that won’t happen. God is in control. Standing up against savagery will be worth it.