[hoosierskypilot]

What is this guy, a politician? New Age is a perversion. C'mon, guy, just say it. It's a tutti frutti pie-in-the-sky farce for the likes of Shirley ("I am god") McLaine. It's the fusion of Hinduism and western philosophy which makes it perfect for baby boomers who are too lazy or too stupid to make a religious commitment.

[Gerish]

You are right which is why it appeals to so many, especially in Hollywood. It's all about ME!

[MrLeRoy]

"Spirituality" is faith minus any obligation to do anything you don't want to do.

[Claud]

Not political at all is this document: more like scholarly. Much of the document just explains where these ideas came from and why some of them are not compatible with Christianity. The Vatican is very careful not to condemn that which is true in any philosophy: only that which is in error: it did the same with Platonism, Stoicism, right on up to the present.

I know we all want to ram this New Age idiocy into the pit of hell where it belongs, but this is best accomplished by a level-headed scholarly analysis and refutation, not half-cocked firebrand polemics. Fulton Sheen once said that a Communist told him that the best explanation of Communism he had ever heard came from the Vatican--which was following the excellent rule that you should know what you are condemning before you condemn it.

[No.6]

Only problem is "New Age" gets applied to all sorts of stuff from the innocuous-but-not-Western to pagan and heretical crud.

Some people worry about whether Karate might be incompatible with Christianity (I guess if the leader has a shrine or something in the dojo? but who does that). Or let's take something a bit more esoteric, Tai Chi. As an exercise? No biggie. Maybe mention "chi" or bioelectricity? No more spiritual than a proper diet. If the instructor teaches that 'chi' is so that your soul can survive death, nope, sorry, there's only one way to beat death, and that's Christ.

Or, take meditation. Meditation on Christ was common in the Middle Ages (I'd have to find old photocopies in boxes in the attic). Or, some modern meditation where no particular belief is used, just breathing; jumping on that seems akin to yelling at people who exercise for being worldly. Then you have OMers (including the TM guys) and foofy spiritualist meditations, and that stuff is wrong.

Yea, I think there is subversion potential, teachers who get people into the innocuous and then lead people into the bogus stuff, and that's not to be discounted.

So, take the things that are good, and use them to lead people to Christ. That works fine unless you are upset still about things like trees for Christmas or eggs for Easter.