Tool worship (or 'Scientism and the pretentious abuse of science')

Who would be so utterly stagnant in their views, so totally lazy, monistic, or myopic that they would worship their favourite TOOL?
Yeah, you read that right... A TOOL.
Who would - no matter how much the hammer, screwdriver, or electronic gadget is endeared to them-  could literally WORSHIP and put all their faith in that tool?
Hang on, not done yet!
They have to LOVE and worship that tool so much that they began to hate and deride the other tools in the box?
A nutter you say? An idiot? Sure. Some very well educated and respected lunatics and...well...let's just say 'insulated' academic people with big names and book deals.
Welcome to the world of scientistic though.
No, NOT scientific though - scientiSTIC though.
Sound familiar? It should. It's all around you.

In the scientistic world  view there is only one way of knowing anything that is worth knowing: The Baconian (scientific) method. It is very, simply put,  the attitude that if f it cannot be known by these empirical methods then the information or idea is 'fantasy' or simply impossible to know or not worth knowing or understanding. Scientism is the position that all other methods of inquiry are obsolete or inferior to science.
That list of 'never minds' includes history, philosophy (which, of course, INCLUDES both science and theology), and the other humanities.
It is not that the adherent of scientism denies these methods and means of inquiry exist, at all - it is  that they reject the value of them.
Their FAITH  is only in the all seeing 'science' of scientism .
As such, Science has transcended from being a methodology used by human beings to categorize the things about them and explain mechanism - to instead become a kind oracular, abstract agency. A kind of walk away, semi deistic, pagan god of convenience. 'Science' (the divine) is granted (by the scientistic person) a will, a purpose, a desire, and even an ethic or a kind primitive, selfish, subjective morality. This super-ethic usually very comfortably dovetails with the personal desires and curiosities of the scientistic person describing them. In other words: The adherents of scientism have created an idol to worship from a tool they feel comfortable using.
That would be crazy and strange enough. If we could just detect some pluralism in the creed of these post modern cargo cultists...but we do not.
Like some Mujaheddin of the 12th or 21st century. these zealots of 'the method' wage war on the other tools. Theirs MUST be the only method  of inquiry, and the heretics who think differently must be purged from the public square. The 'competition', whether that is found in philosophy, religion, or even - and more and more frequently - history, must be silenced.
So where do we find these people? On the best seller lists. On your TV, spewing their post scientific nihilism. Teaching your children 'science' in 'schools'.
They are the atheists who believe in God enough to hate Him.

They are the transhumanists who think they can design a better heaven (and hell!) than the Creator.
They are the biologists trying to rewrite history in favour of eugenicists and racial theorists.
They are the particle physicists with the astounding gall to be claiming 'philosophy is dead' as a central premise for their own philosophical works!
They are the ones suggesting that scientism does not even exist - even as they promote it!
They are the defenders of the new faith, of the religion of 'me'; of the Utopian dreams of the technocratic elites.
They are the ones straw-manning about religions, as 'God(s) of the gaps' .
They are the ones who offer the eternal blessings of promissory materialism - 'one day science will _____'.
They are the pretentious guardians of some unborn tyranny or social madness.
They are the regent priests and midwives of Scientistic totalitarianism.
They are trapped in a metaphysical cage of their own design bringing forth a movement to expand that cage to all who are unfortunate or superficial enough to become ensnared.
Pray for them, and be weary of them.

Be Glad the Bells Ring

You should be glad the bells ring near you, if they do.
Why you ask? 'What do some old bells in some old, dusty church do for me', you say?
Well they keep you free, or something like it. They have allowed for the culture we enjoy.
They have done so for our ancestors over the centuries.
The bells are the sonic symbol of our civilization. The sound by which we have and do live.
They call us to pray.
They mark our hours.
With each tone we are called to account for our time, deeds, and to plan ahead.
The bells are a unique call to contemplation found in the sphere of tolerance, progress, and introspection we once openly and with some humility called 'Christendom'. Once, not so long ago; when we remembered the alternatives. When we, in our daily lives, still remembered why they started ringing.
Today? In our time of instant gratification and with our brutally short attention span?
Not so much. Not so many. Not so openly.
Today we are, perhaps, far too comfy in the heart of our Christendom. We have gone soft.
For many, that introspection - that look within - has been turned into a kind of survivors guilt.
That openness has been vanquished in a sea of hand waving; instead these energies are transforming into pretentious, sophomoric, sneering, contempt for the traditions of our ancestors. An arrogance that demands 'we moderns are so much better than our ancestors'.
The historical and doctrinal mechanisms of tolerance have been hijacked, reprioritized, abused and are slowly being weaponized against the very peoples that designed them - in order to silence them and reverse their hard fought gains. Tolerance is being used to spread egalitarian intolerance. 

But its's far from over. We're not quite done.
The bells still do ring, and the 'many' angry, arrogant, self hating westerners described above do not make the whole, nor even a majority. (They certainly do not have the interests of the majority at heart !)
No, this particular 'many' is actually a very vocal, very insulated, very privileged elites.
These people are bored. Their amusement is to experiment with the future of our children in a very cynical, nihilistic fashion. They are, in short, maniacal control freaks who call themselves 'progressive'.
These modern day, prefab, would-be fuhrers seem to want to breed toothless, hard working, sheep. This is becoming more and more apparent to the 'people' - those much ignored masses. These control freak types may be pushing policy, guiding media and advertising - and in doing so telling us what is funny, sad, good, or bad... but they are failing at it.
It's coming undone as I write.
.
Pick up a paper, click on a news link.
The work-consume-work-consume nihilistic existence they sell as some sort of dressed up but still smelly Utopia - just does not fulfill, It just does not deliver the goods. The 'stuff' we get does not make up for the people we were.
In fact, the machine-like, purposeless, and hedonistic (sensualist) oriented non-culture of leader/power/money worship creates a cascade of horrible social vacuums. 

Nowhere is this contrast and change more explicit and obvious than in those 'progressive' regions of the 'west' (read Christendom) where good old fashioned 18th century secularism (the original, Christian concept) has been replaced with  french revolutionary inspired laïcité.

Places like 20th century France and Mexico, or sadly, now the early 21st Century USA. In the places where the rule of Father Augustine has been replaced with the rule Madame Guillotine or the Liberty Pole. 
The vacuum created by these vast social engineering projects  gut the cultures of the nation in question -often pitting them at odds, deliberately -  and promote lawlessness, sub culture, and open sedition. On one hand we see gang cultures, cults, and the new age flourishing. On the other we see potent, somewhat savage religions being imported and revived. No one could, for example, deny the role  of political laïcité in the massive increase of Islam in continental Europe. The sheer number of volunteers for ISIL coming out of Europe currently (late ad 2104). is witness to this rapid and profound transformation such policy has resulted in - and in only 50 years! This is supposed to work for the elites. It is supposed to be a Hegelian mechanism. A pattern of divide and rule. In reality, it has been an act cannibalism. It has eaten their momentum from within. These divisions have now given birth to monsters beyond their control. Now the panic sets in. Now the rough men must be summoned; and those rough men are very problematic to our elite control freak caste. They hold the promise of real change, you see. These rough men have the means to implement it.One day, they will. The elites and their sycophants know this all to well.
This is why our 'rough men' must be made busy as they are systematically reduced in numbers and replaced by machines.

The alternatives to the bells? Silence.
There is 'state atheism', which translates into an elitist cult of the state and leader worship. We commonly call this 'communism', but not all attempts at this madness have been of that ilk. In such a system, this very idea is illegal.  This is what many 'atheists' (anti-theists, not to be confused with the actual and extremely RARE atheist)  mean when they talk about 'secularism'. In short, they are being intellectually dishonest. Pretentious. 
Then there is the Dar Al Islam. While this may be preferable to the first alternative, it is far from ideal - especially to those of us used to the freedoms of the distinctly Christian systems of 'the west'. Women's rights, freedom of expression, tolerance of alternative lifestyles etc etc may all be an improvement on the state atheist regimes, but they are still medieval to our standards. 
Finally there are the Hindu and Buddhist nations. Many of these nations are essentially protectorates of Christian or Muslim powers, and so display similarities. Those that do not are 'crippled by Karma' and a very rigid social system that would seem oppressive and archaic to any honest 'westerner'. 
The far from perfect, sometimes close to 'free', often over-tolerant - and occasional intolerant to intolerance Christian nations are not just the best option for Christians. They most often are the best for all. 
If you're a Muslim, you're better off in Christendom than in the Dar Al Islam.
A Muslim is, simply put and generally speaking, better off in London than Lahore. 
If you're a Buddhist, you're better off in San Diego than in Sri Lanka.
If you're a Sikh, you're better off in Perth than the the Punjab. 
If you're a Hindu, you're better off in Hamburg than Hyderabad. 
If you're an atheist, you're better off in tilting at windmills in Toronto or Pittsburgh than being rounded up and 'disappeared' in Tienanmen or Pyongyang.  
Many people out there who feel somehow 'offended' or 'oppressed' by the ever present Christian culture of 'the west' have NO IDEA how good they have it.
They have no idea they are in Christendom.
ALL such easily offended bigots are ingrates of one degree or another. They bite the very hand that feeds them. They cry to silence and control the children of the only people in the world who tolerate their dissent. This is why I advise ALL, regardless of creed:
Be glad the bells, ring! For if they fall silent, so will you.