@lks@Starprophet1@Kalogerosstilitis2RevengeoftheJunta@Neofugue1@alchemy This is an interesting conundrum. We have a culture where capability and power are disconnected. We have some seriously stupid people in Congress, for example. And we have literal geniuses basically consigned to artificial light in labs.
There are a lot of moving parts to the problem. But one simple part we can easily remedy is that we allow kids to basically pursue what THEY find interesting, rather than molding them to be responsible wielders of power and to understand that wielding it is their responsibility.
This is something we had with aristocracy, but lack today except (of course) in the cases of familial power transfer.
Everyone with an IQ of 130+ has had the experience of answering to a stupid boss who does not, and cannot, understand important things. And that problem is factors worse for those with a truly high IQ.
Unless someone is part of the ruling class already, kids with high IQs are groomed into STEM instead of into politics etc. (Those with lopsided verbal might do law.) That's why people with majors in public administration etc tend to have among the lowest IQs of all college students.
So maybe instead of pointing our high IQ kids toward stem, we should point them toward paths to power.
@Starprophet1@Kalogerosstilitis2RevengeoftheJunta@Neofugue1@alchemy Power to effectuate changes in policy is not a matter of intelligence. It is a matter of connections -- who you know, and the position that puts you in. And actual Christians, especially White ones, are excluded from positions of power and influence.
This is why admission to the Ivies is such a big deal -- because that is a primary path to making those critical connections for people who don't already have them via family ties.
Thus there are a number of men with extraordinarily high capabilities and intelligence in my church -- generally engineers in the defense industry -- who have very little access to political influence.
It is also a factor that highly intelligent people aren't always oriented toward power-seeking. If you want such people in positions of power and influence, you have to actively push them. It is a truism that those who pursue power tend to be the last people who should actually have it.
Market based theologies are like dime novels or, for a more modern example, hit television shows. They give the people what they want. What do men born in sin want...
The only way Christianity really gets re-imposed on the North American continent, is if Russia thinks it’s worth the pain of establishing a beachhead in Alaska, for a brutal and slow invasion of North America.
@Starprophet1@judgedread There are a couple other possibilities for rechristianization. We could have an internal non-washington leader sieze control and have to impose a moral system stop decline like the romans tried. We could also just collapse and people flock back as market forces deteriorate. I think we have had two great revivals in America already.
Theology in the US became a market based when the colonies / states disestablished their churches. This didn't happen all at once, but the idea was baked into the US Constitution assuring its eventual victory, barring amendment.
Market based theologies are like dime novels or, for a more modern example, hit television shows. They give the people what they want. What do men born in sin want...