The Danger and Falsehood of the Disenchantment Project

Mr Sheridan believes that for the last two or three hundred years, the key cultural project of the elite in Western societies has been disenchantment, that is, to take away from Western societies the enchantment of grand narrative, existential meaning, transcendent purpose, and eternal justification. In short, the project has been to render God dead. The whole cultural project rests on two propositions - that science has rendered belief in God irrational and that the Bible, especially the New Testament, is either folklore, fiction, or outright lies.

Both propositions are completely false. Belief in God is completely consistent with reason at every level and is, in fact the most reasonable explanation for the universe. And real scholarship has swung dramatically back in favour of the broad historical accuracy of the New Testament.

The consequence of the cultural project of disenchantment has been to produce a society without common values, without purpose, without the ability to discern the truth, and without psychological or political morale.

In one sense, the question becomes: can the West survive without Christianity?

Speakers:
- Greg Sheridan, The Australian's foreign editor, author, journalist, national security commentator
- Rod Dreher, Visiting Fellow, Director of Network Project, Danube Institute
- John O’Sullivan, President, Danube Institute
- David Martin Jones, Director of Research, Danube Institute