Salvation or, (if you prefer), meaning / purpose through the Ages has undergone multiple facelifts.

From:

1. The Catholic Church – Salvation through religious observance and good works, to
2. The Protestant Reformation – Salvation through Grace alone, to
3. Calvinism – Strenuous work and asceticism as a sign of salvation, to
4. The Protestant Work Ethic – Salvation earned through strenuous work, to
5. Capitalism – Capital accumulated through asceticism, to
6. An Entrenched Opportunity Gap – Capital and worldly success as a sign of salvation, to
7. An Entrenched Wealth Gap – Wealth and power as the source of salvation.

In #1 above it feels like “religious observance” and “good works” are synonymous, or at least go hand-in-hand, implying that good works is an underpinning of faithful adherence and faithful adherence works to shelter and protect good works.

Grace alone implies a complex design of predestination in which everyone is equally base and no one is deserving.

According to Calvinist thought, a sign of salvation is merely that, a sign, and does not discount or dispose of Grace.

It is the Protestant Work Ethic that transformed a sign of Salvation into a source of Salvation and put redemption in the hands of the individual.

Capitalism may seem an intermediate step, but it is the most decisive step away from Church as State and toward State as Church.

Once capital is accumulated, lines are drawn.

Today wealth and power no longer needs to be earned. Good fortune such as inheritance or right-place-right-time serves hubris as readily as strenuous work and asceticism and is too often mistaken for Grace.

Good fortune is not Grace in that good fortune not only allows but often also feeds hubris whereas Grace insists on a respectful, unpretentious, humble compassion for All.

I have recently considered some results of this evolution (here – Shedding Happiness, here – A Monopoly on Happiness, here – Candy-Coated Happiness, and here – Throttling Happiness). This week I am intrigued by our progression from a religious perspective to a more secular stance, from Salvation to Meaning / Purpose, and how or if this parallel to our political progression through the Ages has influenced thought. Looking at a snapshot from today, some claim that the lessening and/or absence of religious influence has resulted in the disappearance of civic and moral value, yet politically it is today's right who largely make that claim and it is today's right working harder to maintain the status quo of wealth and power; and it is today's left working to move us toward a greater appreciation of civic virtue. Contradiction and division. So do we need another Protestant Reformation? Because today it feels like the political left is more equitably operating under the influence of Luther and Calvin, (Salvation or Meaning / Purpose through Grace alone), and the political right has completely eliminated Grace and fully incorporated the secularism of wealth and power into their religious rhetoric on salvation. Just like the Calvinists before them, the political right has turned religion upside down to fit their agenda, only the result today, (An Entrenched Opportunity Gap and An Entrenched Wealth Gap), in the context of such rapid technological change and nearly 8 billion people, is far more insidious.

If religion has become rhetorical, it is hard to say it has had much influence. But, after the Protestant Reformation, if we would have veered toward Grace and even a worldly version of predestination (i.e. randomness and chance loom and influence large) instead of coming to believe we had the power to control our own destiny, perhaps religion would/should have had a greater impact. It feels ironic that (according to consensus definition), politically religion has become secularism and secularism has become religion.

Think about that! Religion advances the secular goals of wealth and power, and secularism advances the religious goals of equitable empathy and compassion. It appears to me that Martin Luther championed Grace and felt that all were equally (un)deserving, yet despite Luther's best efforts, the Protestant Reformation merely created a form of Catholicism with less ritual dogma. As I said, this is how it appears to me within my limited research and knowledge; please educate me if my impression is mistaken.

So, if, (since the Protestant Reformation or perhaps even since the dawn of civilization), religion has been politicized, and if religion (in actuality) is merely a vehicle for power and control, then does this place God and Salvation outside the purview of Protestant denominational religion? And have these things always been outside the purview of Protestant denominational religion? Or is this banishment more recent brought about by the (seemingly more) forceful and rapid changes of the last 40 years? I believe it could be argued either way. I could make a case that we threw the baby (God) out with the bathwater (Grace) hundreds of years ago, but I can also see how one might have still felt God's presence in the midst of strenuous work and asceticism. But in the last 40 years it feels like power (and politics) has become so far removed from strenuous work and asceticism that (as I previously said) religion has become Godless and secularism has become our only path to Grace.

I believe if we would have held on to some semblance of Grace, religion (and perhaps politics) would not be nearly so divisive, and because I believe organized denominational religion would have evolved much differently under the auspices of Grace than (as it has been for several hundred years) dominated by individual worthiness, perhaps my efforts this week, (instead of determining how or if religious thought has influenced political thought), have determined the driving force to be neither religion nor politics, but Grace; or its lack.

A lack of Grace is a pursuit of intemperate power. If Grace insists on a respectful, unpretentious, humble compassion for All, then a lack of Grace insists on an inconsiderate, pretentious, selfish disregard for all and everything beyond this moment. If intemperate power is at mile marker 1 and Grace is at mile marker 100, today's politicians would be on a roundabout going in circles between mile markers 3 and 5.

Grace. We have a long way to go.