The Moral, the Existential, and the Ontological

Part 2, Losing Faith

In the last post I used Jordan Peterson to illustrate what can happen when the moral and the existential become decoupled from the ontological. Today, some another examples.

We're all aware of the deconstruction phenomenon and the stories of former believers becoming ex-Christians. Most of these former Christians continue to broadly espouse the moral vision of the Judeo-Christian tradition: love, be kind, stand in solidarity with the weak, seek justice, extend mercy. Beyond that top moral layer, many also continue to own the symbolic and narrative layer, reaching for and using Christian symbols, stories, and practices to fill out their existential worldview. Again, man does not live on morals or politics alone. Meaning is the bread of life.

And yet, these former believers eschew the ontological layer. They have deconstructed themselves out of Christian metaphysical convictions. They no longer believe in the creeds. Christianity has become wholly symbolic.

This happens for a few different, and often related, reasons.

First, the person might become a reductive materialist. They just don't believe in anything beyond material reality, making the ontological claims of Christianity implausible. We saw a lot of this during the New Atheist moment, but it seems to be less common today. Still, it happens.

Second, as an institutional and organized religion Christianity has become a damaged brand. From the Catholic sexual abuse crisis to evangelical support for Donald Trump, many feel compelled to reject Christianity.

Third, post-modernism. To confess the ontological claims of Christianity--for example, Jesus of Nazareth was, ontologically, the Incarnate Son of God--is to become dogmatic and exclusive in a pluralistic world. Better to be a "spiritual seeker" and "spiritual but not religious" than to espouse firm metaphysical convictions. Limit the Christian story to just being a story and don't let it make truth claims about the Real. Christianity can provide narrative, symbolic, and aesthetic inspiration, but do not call it "the truth."

Back when "deconstruction" was a hot topic, a lot of us watched this slow decoupling of the moral and the existential layers from the ontological among Christian authors, artists, and podcasters. The process of deconstruction chipped away at the ontological foundation, but the existential and moral layers remained. For a season, this kept the public face of their Christianity afloat. Still deploying the Christian narrative and symbols these authors and artists still presented as "Christian" to the public. But there wasn't any ontological belief underneath. Some of this was legitimate liminality, a way station transitioning from belief to unbelief. But some of it was, and remains, a cynical way to keep the money and attention flowing in. Many authors, artists, and podcasters built their audiences as confessing Christians and Christians were their audience. Consequently, to come out as an atheist or agnostic with a confession that "I don't believe in any of this" would destroy their livelihood. To their credit, some people did publicly push the eject button and went on to do things that had nothing to do with Christianity. Others played coy, and still play coy, about their ontological convictions, embracing "mystery" at the ontological level which allows them to continue making a living off of their Christian audience.

I don't want any of this to be harsh, though perhaps it is. People who start out or establish themselves in a faith-based arena can face some hard choices should they suffer a loss of faith. And with the moral and existential layers still in place, there are ways to keep going. And here's the thing, those existential and moral layers are legitimate and profound. The ethic of love and the story of Jesus are powerful. You might not think that the Christian story is true, ontologically speaking, but it is beautiful and good. And living a good and beautiful life is no small achievement.