When Napoleon said war is ninety percent information, he was only wrong in so far he did not go far enough. In today’s highly digitized war over the narrative, war is ninety-nine percent about the information. This mass of information must be interpreted well. That’s where Renn rules. Aaron Renn’s piece “The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism” catapulted him into prominence within the Reformed Right by analyzing social changes, emerging factions, and dissolving alliances.
In “The Three Worlds” piece, Renn traces three phases of American secularization:
Positive World (pre-1994): Claiming Christianity was socially advantageous.
Neutral World (1994-2014): An era of social ambivalence toward Christianity.
Negative World (2014-present): Christianity is increasingly seen negatively.
In reality, however, Renn’s explanation of the shift from the Positive World to the Negative World is not a clear-cut, definitive switch but rather a gradual unveiling, akin to Traitor Norwegian Officer Vidkun Quisling, who secretly collaborated with Nazi Germany, leading to the inevitable German occupation of Norway. It doesn’t take a prophet to foresee that things often end up where they have long been heading. The elite have long championed the clownish insanity prevalent in today’s Negative World from their ivory towers. The 60-year period during which the filth from conquered institutions polluted the mainstream was merely the travel time it took to get there.
When Obergefell was cemented into the law of the land, and each state was forced to recognize the mirage of sodomy as marriage, the dominoes had already been lined up. Though the mass cultural shift against Christianity seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, it was, in fact, the result of a Christian strategy of apathetic appeasement with the liberal elite for decades. In his book Heretics, G.K. Chesterton predicted that the key defining feature of the coming age would not be merely the rejection of Christianity but the total rejection of sanity. He observes:
“The great march of mental destruction will go on. Everything will be denied… Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer. We shall be left defending, not only the incredible virtues and sanities of human life, but something more incredible still, this huge impossible universe which stares us in the face. We shall fight for visible prodigies as if they were invisible. We shall look on the impossible grass and the skies with a strange courage. We shall be of those who have seen and yet have believed.”
The great march of mental destruction has indeed gone on. Reality itself is deemed oppressive. Molted from this new Negative World, Renn identifies three distinct evangelical coalitions:
Embracing Cultural Marxism: The soft evangelical underbelly fully embraces the rapid spread of cultural Marxism, often signaled by the flaunting of the rainbow or Black Lives Matter flags. These signs and banners, prominently displayed, resemble a cancer patient proudly showcasing an untreated tumor. They fly as the flags of an alien conquering force, mocking the shell of what was once their enemy’s holy place. This legion tends to include now denominations formed north of the Mason-Dixon Line, including Presbyterian Church USA, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (which pays for abortions with offerings), Episcopal Church USA, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist Church. Their leaders frequently espouse views rejecting sin and judgment, focusing instead on inclusivity and a radical embrace of the Social Gospel.
The Middle Ground: This is the largest coalition, if it can be called that. They are typically the class of culture-appeasing pastors who, embarrassed by their conservative counterparts, urge their congregations to love their neighbors by staying out of politics and submissively obeying government stay-at-home orders. They frequently remind their congregations of Romans chapter 13, emphasizing that Christians are “just passing through” this World, and suggest that there is validity to Critical Theory. This line of thought spans conservative and liberal denominations but can most clearly be seen through sites like Christianity Today or staunch middle grounder David French.
Christian Culture Warriors: In stark contrast, the Religious Right has reasserted itself through figures like Franklin Graham, Doug Wilson, Voddie Bauchaum, and Eric Metaxas, who fiercely fight against the encroaching liberal Zeitgeist. Operating within the Southern Baptist Convention, Presbyterian Church of America, Reformed Episcopal Church, and Anglican Church in North America, these culture warriors advocate for a return to Positive World with Christian norms. They emphasize the importance of maintaining doctrinal purity and resisting the encroachment of secularism.
As it stands today, according to Aaron Renn, the modern culture warriors are entrenched in a cultural battlefield marked by bloodshed and liberal tears. These leaders are staunch defenders of what they perceive as remnants of the Positive World. Renn observes that this group largely ignored Rod Dreher’s “The Benedict Option,” a strategic withdrawal from the culture war in favor of building strong Christian communities, which will be discussed in the next piece of this series. Renn attributes their lack of interest to their unwavering focus on retaining and recovering their former position in the Positive World, believing that retreat is not an option and that victory is still possible through persistent resistance and engagement in the cultural battle.
This camp rightly perceives modernity as Clown World. In this World, the Left has completely captured all major power-wielding institutions: universities, media, Hollywood, the medical establishment, corporations, foundations, non-government agencies, the federal government, and the military. Renn needs the typical Christian to understand: Your nation currently resides under a foreign occupying force hostile to your faith, family, church, community, liberties, loves, loyalties, and preferences. This force has installed an alien system, a virus, into your country’s software.
Understanding the current this situation becomes even more complicated when you realize that many of your own countrymen are not only appeasing this virus in Neville Chamberlain-esque tactics, but actually rejoicing upon their arrival, and lending it their place of worship to set up shop. This betrayal, 60 years in the making, has been ongoing, eroding this nation’s cultural and moral foundations from within.
With the substantive collapse of any cultural conservative resistance during the Obama years, the Left has achieved severe cultural hegemony. As Aaron Renn suggests, when you’re debating transgender athletes in girls’ sports, you’ve already been conclusively routed on the battlefield. This warped mindset illustrates the extent of the Left’s victory and the depth of the cultural shift that has taken place. The battle is not just for political power but for the nation’s soul and future destiny, and the traditionalists find themselves outmaneuvered and overwhelmed by the relentless advance of the Left’s agenda.
Bleak, I know.
Thus, the territory has been mapped, and the situation laid bare. Negative World looms before you in its sickening, gay, blasphemous pride. The question that remains is as ancient as it is urgent: Which way, Western man–Christ or chaos? In my next two articles, I will lay out the the competing strategies out of these ashes.
