Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age

immediately gratifying activities that resist reflection and meditation,

buffered self

The rise of secularism has inspired a view of technology and fullness rooted thoroughly in this life and established and chosen inwardly, which I believe has helped to justify the creation and adoption of technologies that are not directed toward human flourishing but instead help us project our identity and remain distracted.

This allows the modern person to debate religion and politics freely, without any anxiety about what is at stake—because very little is at stake.

(2) the growth of secularism, defined as a state in which theism is seen as one of many viable choices for human fullness and satisfaction, and in which the transcendent feels less and less plausible.

distracted, buffered selves.

The buffered self is a particular result of living in the closed, physical universe (Taylor calls it the “immanent frame”), in which everything has a natural explanation.

The modern person experiences a buffer between themselves and the world out there—including transcendent ideas and truths. The constant distraction of our culture shields us from the kind of deep, honest reflection needed to ask why we exist and what is true.

These two major trends are (1) the practice of continuous engagement in