Dakota Beacon

A current book by Rob Dreher may prove to be a fascinating read for some Christians and conservatives. “Live Not By Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents” (Sentinel, imprint of Penguin Random House, 2020) addresses “soft totalitarianism” enforced by progressives, corporations, and big tech. He adopted his book title from the last essay written by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn before being exiled from Russia in 1974. Dreher carefully distinguishes between the hard totalitarianism of 20th century communism and the encroaching soft totalitarianism today. He cites many former political prisoners, survivors of communist persecution, who see early stages of tyranny in America today.

The premise of the book is that we in the West can learn from those who survived totalitarianism in the East and even thrive as our culture grows increasingly hostile not only to religious liberty but to liberty in general. Face it. The Culture War is largely over – and we lost.

Dreher’s work is not an eschatological discussion of Christian dispensationalism. Rather it is an exhortation to hold fast to the words of Jesus: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Encroachment and enforcement of doublethink, doublespeak, cancel culture, transgenderism, critical race theory, wokeness, and political correctness attempt to alter the Truth we once knew. More and more we are obligated to accept a world of lies. Dreher encourages resistance.

He is adamant about the “soft” Christianity so prevalent in America. Many churches accept the progressive line offered by the government. It is as if we are obliged to live by an unholy trinity foisted on us: race, class, and gender. This ensues as soft totalitarianism masquerading as kindness through “social justice.” These are the lies we are warned not to live by.

How can this happen? The “atomizing” of society offers one explanation. Dreher cites Hannah Arendt’s work “The Origins of Totalitarianism” in which she focuses on the isolation of people. (Existentialist writers were not far off the mark!) Robert Putnam’s recent work “Bowling Alone” corroborates Arendt’s discussion. With the rise of social media networks, only a facsimile of connectedness remains. Excessive users live in disconnected atomized isolation. Companionship becomes illusive and loneliness follows. Social media offers a poor substitute for relationships. Millennials and Generation Z are much more isolated than older generations.

Dreher, citing “Bowling Alone,” documents the unraveling of the civic bond. Large numbers of people spend more time “cocooning” on the internet and watching TV than they do socializing in groups, sharing meals, or communing in family settings. Here is his point. Anxious, isolated, and lonely people inadvertently become prime targets for totalitarian ideologies and influencers who promise to give meaning to life.

Dreher contends Putnam is right on the mark. So was Philip Rieff in his book “The Triumph of the Therapeutic.” He foresaw popular Christianity devolving into a watery spirituality which could accommodate anything. A therapeutic deism believes that God exists and wants nothing more from us than to be nice and to be happy. He contends this will never stand before totalitarianism – soft or hard.

Developing the sense of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” fortifies the soul. This is not a call to pacifism. It is a call to resist in love which takes true spiritual discernment. Dreher’s chapter on The Gift of Suffering illuminates what is revealed in the attitude of the sufferer. “Take away this cup of suffering if it be your will,” Jesus prayed to the Father. Removing the cup of suffering was not God’s will for Jesus. Christ went as a Lamb and endured suffering as the ultimate sacrifice. Dreher cites Lutheran Pastor Richard Wurmbrand (political prisoner in communist Romania from 1948 until 1964). “Not all of us are called to die a martyr’s death, but all of us are called to have the same spirit of self-sacrifice and love to the very end…” A woman survivor insists that “…a broken body is a price worth paying for a strong and undefiled spirit.”

When push comes to shove, should we not be united with Christ in His suffering if, indeed, He lives in us? As Paul stated, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God…” Paul knew. He suffered repeatedly. In the end (Revelation of John), Christ takes His rightful place on the throne as a Lamb -- a slaughtered Lamb. In His weakness there is strength. In Christ, God did permit suffering for a greater good.

Under pressure, we may never know how to behave if we have never known how Christ dwells in us and why and to what end. No Christian will ever avoid suffering. But we can control our attitude going forward. As with every suffering of people and the Church over the centuries, Christians outlived persecution. We are still here and Christ occupies His temple within us.

To Solzhenitsyn, living by lies meant to accept without protest all the falsehoods and propaganda the state compels citizens to affirm. To say that one can do nothing is the biggest lie of all. Alternatively, a person could take the position that they won’t be a loyal subject of the lie.

In the end, Dreher’s book is more of a warning than a “how to” manual. A manual on Christian dissent would instruct how to explicitly dissident – when, where, why, and how. This was absent.

Even if a person doesn’t accept that soft totalitarianism exists, the stories of those who survived the horrors of communist tyranny are reason enough to read the book. I heartily recommend it.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).