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The Mood of Privatization
The Privatization of religion is the third mood in our North American culture. It may be defined as the socially required and legally enforced separation of our private lives and our public personas.
Privatization mandates that issues of ultimate meaning be relegated to our private spheres. The extent to which Christian conviction is muzzled reaches new and more bizarre dimensions every year. The biggest danger of privatization for the Christian is the separation of the spiritual from the physical. It suppresses joy and all expressions of worship. Ironically, the very strength of Christianity--its grace and gentleness--make it so vulnerable to such attacks, just as the strength of democracy make it vulnerable to destruction from within. Ravi Zacharias points out that the greater loss is that of the culture which ends up moving through this process from beauty and harmony to ugliness and discord.
In the name of "tolerance" religion is privatized and relegated to the home, while in the name of freedom all kinds of indecencies are made public. How ironic, says Ravi, that sexuality and nudity, which are meant to be private, are now fare for public consumption while spiritual convictions, which are meant to strengthen society publicly are now considered for private expression only.
The notion is conveyed that moral beliefs are only private preferences, and therefore all beliefs are equally valid. The implication is that all moral belief is merely emotional talk; an opinion rather than a conviction. Yet most people have some kind of moral conviction--at a certain point they will stop an activity, believing the next step to be an act of evil. Thus every person in some way brings these convictions into their public office and empowerment role in society.
Our modern culture suffers because it no longer has a reference point for the decisions being made. With all beliefs private, nobody can understand the basis for any action or political decision.
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