The Cult of Security

Modern society worships Security. It is the God we pray to, the alter we bow before, and the overriding consideration above all other priorities in life. Converts to this false religion place this god known as Security above every other thing they supposedly value. Security promises protection from sickness and death, undesirable feelings, the potential for violence, and any unfortunate consequence of living in the world as it currently exists. It promises public accolades and virtuous purpose. In return, Security asks for our individual liberty and total, unquestioning allegiance and support for any and all actions necessary to convert the unregenerate masses who fail to bow. Family, work, traditional religious expression, and all normal pursuits and priorities must take a back seat to our allegiance to Security. Our societies now believe that Serving Security is the highest virtue that anyone can pursue. Not only do we honor and praise those who serve this new god, but we also seek praise from the world as we proclaim our love for Security and spread its gospel.

Security presides over a new world – one very different from what the Jewish and Christian God created. Instead of faith in the eternal security secured for us by Jesus Christ (the old religion we have discarded), we have faith in the promise of temporal security, exercised through the offering of individual rights on the altar of Security as taught by Security’s priests and prophets – government and institutional elites. These priests are tasked with offering the means of grace, delivering the dogma and the revelation of Security to the masses, and instructing the faithful on what to believe and do to obtain the precious promises of Security. These promises – this salvation – are the guarantees of safety, comfort, and happiness. Followers of Safety often choose to become acolytes – tasked with spreading the good news of Security’s promise through the preaching of the Law of Fear. This Law of Fear is primarily the understanding that failing to remain devoted to Security will result in sickness, unhappiness, and death. Its message is universal and resonates with everyone, since sickness, unhappiness, and death permeate the world around us.

Rather than accepting that they live in a world where material wellbeing is fleeting, every moment is precious, risks must be taken and tradeoffs made to live life meaningfully, followers of Safety vainly pursue the illusion of its promises and are unwilling to risk or give of themselves if doing so will possibly offend Security and result in punishment for themselves, their loved ones, or social ostracization or persecution of any kind.

As 2020-21 has shown us, worship of Security has become the pretext for government intrusion into the lives of citizens, which historically leads to ideologies like socialism and totalitarianism. Much like the abusive political hierarchy found in many other world religions, fallen and selfish people gladly accept roles in the Cult of Security, serving their self-interest and desire for power. Primarily found in the institutional bureaucracies of government, mass media, and academia, these clergymen of the new religion claw their way up the ladder of influence through their fealty, devotion, and willingness to prostrate themselves before the altar of Security (mostly in words rather than deeds).

Much like Christianity asks believers to give up their lives to follow Christ, the cult of Security asks its followers to give up their liberty – their right to make decisions for themselves and their family, freely associate, speak their minds, and especially worship the God of old must be forsaken in exchange for the Security’s promises.

This loss of individual liberty (ceding responsibility to others for wellbeing), combined with the law of fear preached by Security’s evangelists (lack of devotion to Security results in damnation), transforms individualistic freedom-loving societies into collectivist ones. This collectivism (the idea that responsibility, morality, and liberty are borne by society instead of individuals), provides the moral justification for the dissolution of any and all civil rights given to people by God. Individuals no longer have sacred value – their value is strictly in what they offer to the collective, and their wants or needs may be disregarded at any time for the good of the whole.

The three core promises of the cult of Security:

Safety: Personal physical safety is now the highest virtue, and Safety cult members believe that with enough obedience to the teachings of the Safety Priests (public health officials, medical experts, government executives) they can avoid sickness and death. All that is asked in return is obedience and the willingness to offer liberty as a sacrifice. Anything in life seen as prioritized above physical wellbeing (minimizing the risk of sickness) is suspect and considered proof of evil intent. The absolutism of the belief in impending death due to disobedience provides moral justification for any and all actions taken by the Priests of Safety to cleanse society of freedom-insisting apostates. Every individual decision in life must first be permissible in the eyes of the Priests of Safety.

Comfort: Material and (especially) emotional comfort is the promise that faithfulness to the Cult of Safety results in a life free from material want or emotional stress. The faithful will be protected from words and ideas they don’t want to hear, saved from rich people having more than them, and free from social worry of any kind. This is accomplished as the priests and the collective work together to suppress heresy (such as believing that individual liberty is more important than safety), using force to take wealth or advantage from a disfavored group to give to another (income redistribution, cultural Marxism), and the deconstruction of speech to meet the desires of the ever-changing and subjective desires of mankind.

Happiness: Since it has proven impossible for societies to bring every person to a state of equality and thus rid the world of the unhappiness of envy and covetousness, happiness is promised to the faithful primarily by restricting the freedoms and ambitions of those who have achieved more or who have been given more. This is done through progressive taxation and policies based on Marxist and Communist class-warfare ideology. Happiness is transferred from one group to another by force, bringing the relative happiness of some up by lowering the happiness of others.

In terms of the growth of this new religion, Security has proven very attractive to those who long ago cast off the old Judeo-Christian worldview and religious beliefs. Security‘s claims have the distinct advantage of not being quantifiable (how do you prove a negative?) and always enjoyed the moral high ground (faithfulness to Security is always prudent, and its adherents can always offer more to its service). This new belief system preys on those who are disconnected from the world as it is, those who have no hope in life after death, and those who value what the world thinks of them above all else. It is a religion that is not satisfied with obedience from its believers but demands that the unconverted be forced to observe its tenants. Much like radical Islam, the unwashed masses must be brought into submission at the end of a sword. Their businesses and schools must be closed, their movement and associations must be controlled, and symbols of submission must be worn if they are to conduct commerce or be accepted in polite society. Perhaps most importantly, the people’s devotion to the old God must be broken or driven into the shadows.

This cult of Security must be destroyed if liberty is to prevail. A free society cannot exist when its citizens are beholden to a false god, clinging to false promises, and willing to allow the forcible subjugate their fellow citizens in pursuit of these ends. Giving over the risk and responsibility of life to the collective requires life’s decisions to be made by the collective – through the often abusive and coercive influence of secular governments. This is the opposite of liberty, hostile to the worth of the individual, and the antithesis of the founding principles of America. Freedom-loving citizens have a duty to reject it on a personal and societal level and worship the real God rather than the false idol known as Security.