There is little doubt that there is a form of "culture wars" going on in almost every part of our world (the world does not have "corners"). Too many people misread this culture dislocation in terms of "left/right"; liberal/conservative; religious/anti-religious dichotomies". This is not useful.  

    The culture wars are far more generational and have more to do with the information and knowledge revolutions than any political "wingism". Another, profound aspect of the rift is the brain evolution of younger generations, enhanced and driven by the technology age.

    Much of the dichotomy is in mental and attitudinal orientation. Clinically we are aware that people with enlarged or over-active amygdale regions of the brain are more reactive because of the fear generated emotions, and this is often beyond their control. "Liberals" are often too quick to embrace any new notions that appear, without due consideration or research.

    For younger people, particularly the millenials, liberal/conservative dichotomies are not so significant, they are more facts and knowledge based. This is where the real culture war divisions arise, particularly in religious bodies.

    Religions and very religious people tend to be reactionary, fearful, distrustful of new knowledge and understanding and, above all, to carry this reactiveness and fear well beyond the boundaries of the essential dogmas of faith. These people inevitably motivate and drive the forces of atheism and antireligious biases. Dawkins and Dennett are not the foremost advancers of modern atheism, Ken Ham is, him and people like him.

    When religions or overly religious leaders and people make dogmatic pronouncements, asserting as true matters that have already been proved to be untrue, they feed the cause of unbelief and anti-religious sentiments. Ignorance, especially willful and cultivated ignorance, is neither productive nor useful. 

    Younger people are not less spiritual, and the generations of the 1940's through the 1970's are certainly in no position to complain about materialism and "me-ism". These were developed in the 1940's and perfected in the 60's and 70's. Indeed, Evangelical Christians have been preaching "me-ism" and hyper materialism as dogmas of their faith for decades. The "prosperity gospel" has been among the greatest perversions of Christianity and replaced spirituality with gross materialism.

    The collapse of faith into a philosophical system of moralism (as opposed to the morality of Christ) has rendered the commandments of Christ and the healing power of the Gospel empty words, mere platitudes muttered in vain by those who preach but pay scant attention to what Jesus preached.

    Young people who have not been programmed with such distortions will have none of it. They want facts and proofs, not ideologies. Many, if not most of them, just have no time for the fear, hatred and outright falsehood that go with such conditioning. Moreover, when someone attempts to convince people that the whole earth was under water more than a mile deep two hundred years after the building of the great pyramid of Giza – and that this mile deep water evaporated in only a matter of weeks – why should they believe anything else that person says? When someone asserts that dinosaurs and humans co-existed, what five or six year old does not know that they are lying? Yes, lying, not simply mistaken.

    Young people are not anti-spiritual, and they are not inclined to be anti-religious naturally. Fundamentalist and hyper religious people and those afflicted with moralism are bullying young people into atheism or agnosticism. Unless religious leaders grasp this reality, we will successfully drive youth away from Christ, away from faith in general.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

    First, we should take the love of everyone seriously as genuine love, even if it is different than our own; and we should accept that every human and even every creature needs love as they need blood in order to live.

    Second, we must validate in our hearts the humanity of every other person, even those who seem to be "enemies," otherwise we cannot validate our own humanity.

    Third, the Orthodox faith must be seperated in our minds from nationality, and we must come to understand that for each one of us who believe, Orthodoxy is our nationality and Paradise is our homeland.

    Fourth, we must be careful that we shed the true light of Orthodoxy upon the world, and not some recycled scholasticism.

    Fifth, the "models of reality" from the past are not all valid, and we must see the creative power of the faith to help us shape new models of reality based upon genuine advances in knowledge about the universe and about mankind. To demand obedience to disproved models of reality is simply to demand that people accept and try to live a lie.

    Sixth, the faith is dynamic, not static. We cannot just "ritualise" our way through life and into Paradise. The faith is a dynamic transformation of the human conscience and person, not just a series of rituals to be done correctly and nothing else, and not just a series of catechism "facts."

    Seventh, neither priest nor bishop is "above the people," rather we are "of the people," and if we are to be true to our calling, then we must have an open-hearted co-suffering love for the people and find a way to embrace everyone with that love. Otherwise we cannot truly proclaim Jesus Christ and the heavenly kingdom. We must accept into our hearts every person just as they are and trust in the grace of the Holy Spirit to express Itself in each of them if we minister to them with co-suffering love, without judgment or condemnation, without condescension or contempt. We must not look down to anyone, but look directly across at them, eye to eye.

    This is the only way that we can minister to the world we live in, and to the people around us – everyone of them beloved by Jesus Christ.