You Wouldn't Want To Live There

I learned a new word today over at Belmont Club ! The word is "antinomianism". Wretchard had called the Islamofascist terrorists "nihilists" and it turns out that "antinomianist" fits them better. Here's the definition:

"1. The doctrine or belief that the Gospel frees Christians from required obedience to any law, whether scriptural, civil, or moral, and that salvation is attained solely through faith and the gift of divine grace. 2. The belief that moral laws are relative in meaning and application as opposed to fixed or universal."

He goes on to say:
"In the current context, radical Islamists are better characterized as antinomians than nihilists. Having been anointed by Allah, they may perform any act, tell any lie, do anything and still regard themselves as being in the right. The Western Left on the other hand is philosophically much closer to nihilism. Nothing is inherently true and that makes it possible for a Leftist to believe two contradictory things simultaneously. Orwell gave this process a name: doublethink. In this mental universe one can burn the Flag and insist on its protection; work to destroy the Constitution and claim Constitutional liberty to do it; march in a Gay Pride parade in the morning and in a fundamentalist Islamic rally in the afternoon. Both are mentally wonderful places to be for those who wish to always be right; the first by definition and the second by virtue of the fact that wrong cannot exist. Personally, I wouldn't want to live there."

Neither would I. Read the entire post over at Belmont Club. But let me go one step further than Wretchard. I think that many Leftists are not only nihilists, they are ALSO antinomianists. Just like the Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, they have a deep-seated belief--religious fervor, if you will--in their state of grace. They see themselves, by virtue of their intellect, to be "the annointed" and the keepers of the holy vision of how things should be. The end justifies the means. They, too, can lie, distort reality, and commit atrocities (isn't that what communism did for most of the 20th century?) in the name of their "religion" because they know they are right.

It is my deep and heartfelt wish that all the self-annointed intellectual leaders of the Left would have the opportunity to live themselves in the world of their vision (I think Hell would be a great totalitarian utopia for them to dwell in). Because that world would be a nightmare of suffering and misery; a world where freedom and individual rights are shackled to the whim of the few--in short, a world like the old Soviet Union, or the more recent Taliban. Like Sadr, I hope they get their wish for martyrdom.