“There is something strange in the American air,” starts out a recent column in The New York Times called “We Are Sliding Back To The Middle Ages.”

“Not long ago, Tucker Carlson spoke publicly of waking in bed with blood on him — and claw marks, he said, on his sides and shoulder — after what he described as an attack by a demon, or at least by something unseen. Clergy, Catholic and Orthodox, weighed in. One Orthodox priest suggested that Carlson’s Episcopalian background had left him without the spiritual armor such events require.

“Then came another oddity: Gregg Phillips, now associated with FEMA’s response-and-recovery operations, said he had once been transported — somehow, against his will — to a Waffle House fifty miles away in Rome, Georgia.”

Most recently, reports a wire service: “A polarizing Harvard astronomer known for splashy theories about alien visits has been tapped by the White House to lead a team of outside scientists to study the national security risks posed by UFOs.” 

The Times, of course, is exquisitely secular, as is the wire service. Another way of saying that: they are a product of Rationalism and Scientism, as are so many professors, teachers, doctors, lawyers, businessmen,  clergy, and politicians. (Carlson recently made headlines again, claiming that in private, the current president rails against traditional Christians and pro-lifers. We report. You discern.)

But interesting it is, that despite its worldliness, secularists such as those at The New York Times have caught scent of what is wafting in the wind. Suddenly, vast numbers of people who in recent decades—indeed in the last century—would have given supernaturalism no truck are suddenly believers.

Reason: the mainstream media, which was so exclusionary of such “nonsense” just a few short years ago, no longer rules the roost. It has been replaced, in many quarters, by YouTube, podcasters, bloggers, and social media.

Now, when something mysterious occurs—an alleged miracle, vision, strange aerial phenomenon, supposed haunting—word gets out via text messages, email, TikTok, and the now-countless cell cameras.

No longer is public discourse ruled by three agnostic networks, PBS, and national or local radio stations and newspapers. Many of those—including most recently CBS radio—have ceased to exist.

Instead, voilà: the internet.

This replacement of mainstream media has caused its share of problems, including falsity, scams, and over-credulity. (Careful with “deep-dive” podcasters who really dive deeply not at all and love use of the f-word, which mainstream media for the most part still forbids).

But it also has been like a veil—spiritual blinders—lifting. It’s a good development. As they say these days:

 

 

For this unleashing of supernatural reports has led to many, especially the young, to take note of actual demonism.

And that has caused them to reconsider the Bible and Christianity, which many thought was nearing extinction but is now a big deal for Generations X and Z. Tucker Carlson chatting about an attack by a dark force! Endless feeds of paranormal reports! Charismatic preachers behind large Shure microphones blasting charismatic “gifts” to millions!

As Katya Ungerman, the guest columnist for The Times, put it, “in a far more orthodox but no less striking development, Catholic churches this Easter welcomed some of the largest convert classes in many years. Eastern Orthodox parishes, too, are reporting remarkable growth, especially among young men. One Antiochian Orthodox priest said he had never seen anything like it in the history of Orthodoxy in America.

“All of this unfolds against a national atmosphere that has become, in a word, uncanny. The solid world seems less solid. The old explanations seem thinner. We see humanoid robots on White House carpets. We hear former intelligence officials speak under oath of crashed UFOs, reverse-engineered craft, and recovered ‘nonhuman biologics.’ We watch as technology, official secrecy, spiritual hunger, and cultural exhaustion blend into a strange mist.

“The result is a kind of re-enchantment.”

That’s a word with which one has to use caution.  Spirituality is one thing—Bible Christianity—but enchantment often trends toward the occult. So with the “thumbs-up” comes often a:

Pew has reported in 2024 that nearly a third of Americans consult occult venues like astrology and tarot cards at least once a year. What was once dismissed as occult, superstitious, or eccentric has drifted toward the mainstream, noted Ungerman.

For many Americans, life is no longer dictated by economics, psychology, and politics. The young now recognize manipulation from beyond the veil. The consensus once established by institutional gatekeepers has been fractured if not shattered.

That agreement has fractured.

“Yeah!” as they say.

“Awesome!”

Three thumbs-up. With the collapse of secular institutional authority, a massive spiritual vacuum has opened. The columnist argues that into this void has rushed a return to “a medieval atmosphere.”

Medieval? Or more sophisticated astute and perceptive of future challenges?

The reversion is not so much to the Middle Ages as to the earlier days of Christianity, when evil was seen for what it was and miracles were believed for the simple reason that they happen. Many are recognizing there was and is an actual Person, a Savior, the Son of God, named Jesus.

The modern world promised to banish mystery.

Instead, mystery has returned— and so has conversion.

If that’s “medieval,” so be it. The world as fashioned solely by Scientism and the flesh has proven to be shallow (and often very wrong) indeed. With strength of belief do we face an exciting if challenging future.