Today much is made, especially among politicians running for office, of our supposed “Judeo-Christian” roots and values. They want the populace to be and remain so confused about where our value systems come from that they will really never question it. Why do I state this? How could it be that our values are not really “Judeo-Christian”?

To begin with, our values derive from Western culture from ancient times and, therefore, they are properly classed as “Western” values. And by “Western” I mean anything from the areas around most of the Mediterranean and extending into Europe.

But one may state rightly that all peoples of that area in the ancient world did not hold to exactly the same values and value systems. And the detractor may attempt to paint this as some sort of racist ideology. Regardless, while the former is correct, the latter is incorrect.

One must ask what exactly are “Western” values as derived from the ancient world of our ancestors if one is to arrive at an accurate understanding of what I am talking about. The answer is both simple and profound, for even the barbarian tribes possessed and held to some of these values. They were not simply uncouth illiterate morons who had no value systems to guide them any more than the more refined Western civilizations of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans were.

To understand the value systems of these ancient peoples one must study their literature, especially with reference to their various religions and their philosophies. It would be unproductive for me to get into too much detail here with reference to these subjects, so I will briefly outline the basic beliefs and values that our ancient forebears espoused and practiced. In so doing I will also draw a contrast between these values and those of the “Judeo-Christian” world.

The very foundations of Western civilization can actually be summed up in words and short phrases. These words and phrases include, but are not quite limited to, the following: reason, logic, self-control (including control of one’s emotions), discipline, pietas/fealty, magnanimity toward one’s defeated enemies, spiritual enlightenment by way of mystery (in religion), the concept of the soul, regeneration through reincarnation of the soul, the concept of time as circular (so time repeats itself), harmony with nature and the universe, variety, beauty, creativity, the exercise and use of the intellect, excellence and achievement without hubris, ambition with moderation, cultivation of individual talents and abilities, the pursuit of knowledge and understanding by way of the scientific method, physical well-being, the value of human life (humanism/human goodness), freedom/liberty, democracy (yes, this was invented by Pagans!), a matriarchal mindset which valued and sometimes elevated the feminine, and, finally, family as composed of one male, one female, and their children (the family unit being the basic foundation of all relational systems). All of these values coupled with a polytheistic religious belief system culminated in a simple freedom for all – freedom of individual conscience and the right to decide for oneself. And in making this list I am not suggesting that ancient Jews and Christians possessed none of these values themselves. On the contrary, they did. But to call what we are supposed to adhere to in our culture as “Judeo-Christian” is simply not accurate.

But these values and value systems, having been usurped by the Christians and claimed as their own, are either being at best steadily eroded and at worst totally ignored and rejected for the most part by modern society. Yes, today we actually have a sort of bastardization of these values mixed with whatever any one person or group wants to pull from the Bible or the Quran as their ultimate standard. Because of this and certain other misguided popular beliefs, we now have a world society that possesses little resemblance to any values of any previous generation as we disguise such by encapsulating it within the concept of “progress”. Thus we have a society, in general, which espouses the “values” of strict patriarchalism (with the male always dominant no matter how much lip-service the feminine is given) which requires the mastery and subjugation of nature and the feminine, nearly complete religious intolerance, near-constant warfare often over religious issues, rampant capitalistic commercialism and consumerism (thus causing unprecedented waste and pollution), progress and invention for no other reason than for the sake of sales to the “consumer” (how do you like being referred to as a “consumer” anyway as if you are only a maggot?), environmental degradation, a human population and economic system that is unsustainable by any standard, excess in all things posing as achievement, greed and perversion on a massive scale, cronyism that would make the mafias of the past look like kindergarten, tyranny not only in politics, but also in religion and other facets of society, actual discouragement of the individual and of liberty while giving lip-service to these, the needs of the state as paramount, a rejection of humanism and of human excellence thus cheapening human life, incredible hubris (everyone is so “proud” of themselves and their achievements), sex only for pleasure and gratification, the very destruction of the family unit itself, uncontrolled pollution and the eventual destruction of our very planet! All of this culminating in the sickeningly idiotic concept that “corporations are people too”.

Let’s learn from history before it is too late! Our ancient ancestors would be wailing if they were to witness what our world and its overall society has become! They would find it disgusting and would see it for what

it truly is, the result of a form of mental illness induced by “beliefs” rather than reason and understanding. Let us learn from history and finally dispense with the idea that there can be some amalgamation of monotheistic and polytheistic systems. Hellenization, instituted under Alexander the Great, DID NOT WORK! It didn’t work then and it cannot work now. It is flawed as a logical concept. It cannot be corrected or repaired. The only solution is acceptance of polytheism and its inherent “Western” value system with no disguises. Otherwise we only continue to degenerate until we destroy ourselves and out planet.