Thursday, April 19, 2007

My personal utopia

I've been thinking some about the decline of respect for authority over the last couple of generations--a topic I'm working on for Sunday school. In class I'll talk about parental authority, but there is a general suspicion of authority across our culture. I found a good explanation for this in a recent Mars Hill Audio interview with sociologist David Martin. Some highlights:

What happened in the 1960s--when self became king--reoccurs throughout history. Self becomes the center of the universe. The individual's needs become paramount; his therapy is central, not the responsibilities owed to society. Hence, living under authority is resisted whenever it becomes an obstacle to individual happiness. Everything is ordered around individual happiness. There is room for God, for politics, etc, so long as they serve the pursuit of individual happiness. Narcissism is the core problem of our times.

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