WANING CRESCENT: The Rise And Fall Of Global Islam

As Faisal Devji put it in a speech from 1930: "Europe uncritically accepted the duality of spirit and matter probably from Manichaean thought. Her best thinkers are realizing this initial mistake today, but her statesmen are indirectly forcing the world to accept it as an unquestionable dogma. It is, then, this mistaken separation of spiritual and temporal which has largely influenced European religious and political thought and has resulted practically in the total exclusion of Christianity from the life of European states. The result is a set of mutually ill-adjusted states dominated by interests not human but national."
WANING CRESCENT: The Rise And Fall Of Global Islam
Faisal Devji - -Page 158

Mr. Devji makes an interesting point. After the Enlightenment, the West began the process of separating religion from the state [duality of spirit and matter]. In North America, with the creation of the United States, the Founders embedded in the First Amendment to the Constitution the following:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".

For some reason, Liberals understood this to mean that church and state in the U.S. ought to be completely separate from one another. [forcing ... to accept it as an unquestionable dogma.] When, in the 6000 year history of mankind, has the state not been defined by faith as its ideal representation? Never!

The Hebrew Bible (which Americans profess to love and live by) makes it clear that the commandments of the TORAH shall be the law of the Land in its administration of sovereignty.

The Founders were not true Christians. They were Deists. They simply did not want the federal government to choose a particular religion and declare it to be THE religion of the United States.

But the First Amendment does not say that the Bible cannot be read in public schools or that there cannot be prayer in public schools. Yes, America is a culturally Christian country. At its founding, the majority of its citizens were professed Christians of one denomination or another.

In the early 19th century, America experienced what has become known as The Second Great Awakening. According to a Wikipedia article: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening].

This Awakening turned many mainstream Americans of the day away from the deism and rationalism cherished by the Founders, and Evangelicalism swept over the nation. For a while, this same rebirth of Christian religious revivalism manifested itself in England and many countries in Western Europe. But after World War I, secularism took hold there, leaving the United States of America as the most religious country in the West.

As Faisal Devji points out, Western Europe's secularism resulted in its countries becoming a set of "ill-adjusted states dominated by interests not human but national."

The Second Great Awakening introduced a heightened turn to a Postmillennialist theology among American protestants.
Postmillennial protestants believed that Christ would return to earth after a "Millennium" in which Christ would rule over a world of peace and happiness. Given that, Christians had a duty to sanctify society in preparation for Christ's imminent return.

Most Americans today are family-oriented, religious people who have, in 2024, voted in a conservative Republican Party, friendly to a church-going society, a society that believes that their public schools are institutions that ought to mirror the will of its local citizens, the parents who send their children to school. One Internet source states that "Our schools are a microcosm of the neighborhoods that make up our community, nothing more or less."
[https://www.richlandsource.com/2022/10/18/k-12-public-education-is-a-raw-reflection-of-our-community/]

There is now a contested issue in the state of Oklahoma. In June 2024, State Superintendent Ryan Walters sent a directive, decreeing that the Bible be incorporated into the public school curricula in his state, as well as prayer and the displaying of the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

Those who argue against this state of affairs say that it violates the First Amendment's separation of church and state.

Russell Vought, a member of the new Republican administration, believes that with the nomination of President Trump to his second term of office, America has entered into a "post-Constitutional Era. What this actually says is that what the American People want is more important than what the Constitution wants. To me. This sounds like a third Great Awakening.

I will add a personal note to this essay. As a child, I attended a public school in the Bronx, New York, in which passages from the Bible were read on Friday assemblies, and hymns were sung. I do not see that any of that caused me any degree of mental or emotional damage, although some of my friends would disagree.

GOD BLESS AMERICA.

The Dualism of Manichaeism
The Core Dualistic Framework

The Two Principles: Light represents goodness, wisdom, peace, and spirit. Darkness represents evil, chaotic desire, ignorance, and physical matter. Matter is not merely fallen or deficient—it is inherently malicious and alive with demonic energy.

The Cosmic Collision: Originally, the two realms existed completely separated. However, Darkness attacked the Realm of Light, resulting in a cosmic mixture where particles of Divine Light became trapped inside material bodies and the physical universe.

Humanity as a Prison: Manichaeism views human beings as micro-cosmos reflecting this cosmic struggle. The soul (divine light) is imprisoned inside a physical body forged by dark powers to keep the light distracted through physical desires and sensory illusions.

Ethics and Spiritual Practice
Salvation in Manichaean thought requires releasing trapped light from physical matter. This produced a strict hierarchy of practice:
The Elect: Ascetic leaders who practiced strict celibacy, vegetarianism, and non-violence. They avoided harvesting crops or cooking, as breaking plant tissue released trapped light violently.

Compare Manichaean dualism with Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism
Examine Augustine's transition from Manichaeism to Christianity