The word idolatry is one of those old-fashioned sounding words that conjures up different images for different people. Some think of idolatry as a function of Pagan beliefs like those of ancient Greece, Norse gods from the Viking era, or the goat head of modern Satanism. Others might think of the golden calf written of in Exodus which, upon seeing it, prompted Moses to throw down and break the tablets on which the 10 Commandments were inscribed. Either way, most of us tend to think of idolatry in terms of objects.
In truth, idolatry is more complex than the worship of physical symbols or statuettes. As Encyclopedia Britannica explains there is, “a more subtle idolatry, however, when, although overt acts of adoration are avoided, he attaches to a creature the confidence, loyalty, and devotion that properly belong only to the Creator.”
The French Reformer John Calvin elevated this definition of idolatry beyond mere objects when he called the human heart “an idol factory.” Calvin suggests that idolatry involves more than the physical but also the intellectual. It can include devotion to ideas that supplant devotion to God. There are issues in our civic life today that have taken on the characteristics of idolatry. But before diving into them, it’s instructive to examine the political philosophies that drive these issues.
Marxism and its offshoots explicitly require devotion to the state and the party above all else. Karl Marx famously called religion “the opium of the people,” but he took his disdain for God a step further, writing “The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions.”
According to Mikhail Bakunin, the 19th century Russian socialist and revolutionary anarchist, “The State, being the supreme objective, everything that is favorable to the development of its power is good; all that is contrary to it, even if it were the most humane thing in the world, is bad.”
Tyrannical governments sometimes permit the limited exercise of religion in an effort to create a false patina of tolerance. But the ultimate goal of such authoritarian regimes is to compel fealty to the supremacy of the state above all else. They demand a devotion to government, party and policy exceeding devotion to any God.
We can see an evangelical fervor today among global warming militants, for example, that assumes the qualities of idolatry. It’s become so extreme that the Biden administration is contemplating ways by which Earth’s atmosphere can be altered to block the rays of the sun. Whether one believes the proximity of the Earth to the sun is a random function of the cosmos or the deliberate act of God, blocking the rays of the sun sounds pretty godlike to me.
Another issue prompting a form of social evangelicalism involves transgender ideology. This degree of militancy was on display recently as the group Moms for Liberty gathered for a conference in Philadelphia, where some protesters were proclaiming that God is transgender. Apparently, the mind of man in the 21st century has determined that God has been misgendered for thousands of years.
It’s possible to have thoughtful discussions on climate change, transgender ideology and other issues whereby devotion to those issues, while great, does not eclipse devotion to God. But when people start to talk about blocking the sun’s rays and assigning new pronouns to the God of the Bible, one can’t help but think of this as forms of idolatry. It reflects what Rev. Matt Ryman, writing for Tabletalk Magazine, described as “being more devoted to anything other than God.”
The problem with idolatry is that it takes us away from God. The prophet Ezekiel wrote how the word of the Lord came to him in telling certain elders that God wishes to, “lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who are all estranged from me through their idols.” This is why graven images and their underlying idolatry are expressly proscribed in the 10 Commandments.
Whether it’s the idolatry of climate, sexual politics or anything else, this estrangement from God is in keeping with the strategic goals of authoritarians. They do not wish to compete with God for the devotion of the people so it’s necessary to replace Him with something else. The result is ideological idolatry designed to estrange us from God in our personal and civic lives.
The ideologies of the left are about more than enacting policies that history has proved to be failures. They’re about dissolving our relationship with God in pursuit of a destructive agenda that cements power among a select group of elites at the expense of individual liberty. We need to understand this because to know and reject this American Idolatry is to reject tyranny.