This was the second London meeting of the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), a unique organisational experiment founded in the belief that “a civilisational moment has arrived” – that the West will sink further into individual unhappiness and loss of conviction or find the keys to restoration and renewal. It intersects with politics, religion and public policy, but it isn’t owned by any of them. More than 4000 people from more than 90 nations met in London this week to give tangible meaning to the vibe.
Speaking on the theme of “Responsible Citizenship and the Social Fabric,” one of the strongest messages at ARC came from clinical social worker, author, and parent guidance expert Erica Komisar. Komisar made it clear that parents are primarily responsible for the plight of today’s children.
Komisar said it was best to raise children in “caring, faith-based communities that promote self-sacrifice, volunteerism, and empathy.”
In her longer conference paper, Komisar said the “tear in the social fabric” was undeniable.
She said: “We are raising children who are self-centred, and self-focused and without the inclination or ability to take responsibility or to sacrifice for others. This change is occurring despite the research that shows how happiness is tied to the ability to give to others and giving to others is tied to happiness. Only Christians raised in faith-based families will teach children this truth.
“Our children are affected in many ways from this shift towards self-centredness. Some are just less happy, more dissatisfied and more bored with their lives. Others are more obviously symptomatic, suffering from depression, anxiety, ADHD, suicidal thoughts, personality disorders and loneliness – all of which are on the rise.”
The culture is at the heart of the issue. Komisar quoted Pew Research that 18 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds do not want to have children and only 45 per cent of young women in the poll want to have kids.
“They feel that having children is a burden which would require them to sacrifice time, money and personal freedom,” Komisar writes. “When they do have children many do not want to raise them themselves.
“The repercussions of three generations of self-centredness and a lack of empathy mean parents are modelling their selfishness to their children.”
The cultural transformation has seen men and women being taught that children were “an afterthought to their education, career and personal goals”. Komisar said: “If we place our ambition above those we love there is a price to pay.”
In her advice on parenting, Komisar said: “Prioritise your children over your work or any of your other pursuits.” She warned of the myth that women “can do it all at the same time”. The culture, however, cultivates the notion that the individual is more important than the family or community. The wider environment beyond the home is important – once again, Komisar said it was best to raise children in “caring, faith-based communities which promote self-sacrifice, volunteerism and empathy”.
In conclusion she said: “It is only by changing ourselves that we can change the path for our children and that we can change the world.”
Donald Trump’s triumph is a victory for the working class against a “Luciferian” elite, according to Jordan Peterson, the popular Canadian author, speaker, podcaster and sage of conservative activism. He also asks an important question.
“When the culture is so fragmented that those presumptions become questionable, then the split goes all the way to the bottom. The question we’re asking ourselves after the death of God, so to speak, is what spirit rules?
“The classic answer to that is that when the unifying deity suffers its demise, it’s always the diversity of pagan hedonism, and the clamour for power, that emerges. Those are the principles that society collapses into when a more transcendent, unifying ethos disintegrates. It’s power and hedonism. Those two dance. It’s not sustainable.”
A lot of ARC’s work, he says, is about projecting a different narrative for the West: “The fundamental narrative of the West, the fundamental book of the West, is the Bible. There’s no getting away from that, not without paying a major price.
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