Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok are exacerbating the fixation on sexual identity and sexual liberation that defines modern culture. In his book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, Carl Trueman aptly describes our current ills, namely expressive individualism, and examines the underlying philosophical causes that have given rise to them. Trueman, an EPPC Fellow and a Christian theologian at Grove City College, explains how we arrived at the “triumphs of the erotic, the therapeutic, and the transgender.”
In this article, I want to explore Trueman’s insights further by considering how modern technology, in the form of social media, has exacerbated these trends. By shedding light on technological factors, I hope we can become wiser in thinking about how to counter the disturbing modern “triumphs” that are antithetical to Judeo-Christian understandings of sex, gender, marriage, and the family.
On April 12, Ryan Anderson appeared on The Josh Hammer Show to discuss Big Tech, the limits of religious liberty, and the future of the American Right.
EVENT: Religious Liberty & Law: In the Courts, In the Public Square, & In Administration
Last Friday, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the Ethics and Public Policy Center hosted a conference on religious liberty with panel discussions on government regulation and religion, the public square and religious freedom, and the courts. Speakers included EPPC’s Ed Whelan and Roger Severino along with leading litigators and former and current senior government officials.
