Steven Weinberg, a prominent American physicist, once offered these thoughts in a 1999 speech, delivered in our nation’s capital:
Religion is an insult to human dignity. Without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
I’m intrigued by Weinberg’s idea that religion has the wherewithal to inspire “good” people to do evil things. I will not attempt to refute that point. History, after all, is replete with examples of good people doing evil things in the name of religion. The crusades. The Salem witch trials. The Holocaust. The Ku Klux Klan. The Taliban. The list of evils emerging from distorted religious conviction is as long as it is heartbreaking.
The question that I would raise, however, has to do with Weinberg’s speculation that, if religion were somehow to be eliminated from human consciousness, we would be left with a far better condition—a condition in which only the evil people would perpetrate evil acts.
Surely I’m not the only one who finds this line of thought misguided and simplistic.
Every week, we hear stories about abusive husbands hurting their wives; jilted lovers doing harm to the ones who jilted them; and jealous spouses shooting the husband or wife suspected of infidelity. These acts are committed by otherwise noble and respected citizens. Perhaps Weinberg would want to eliminate love from human consciousness as well, since, when distorted, it seems to produce such tragic results.
The same political power that produces democracy can also produce tyranny. Good people (relatively speaking, of course) are guilty of accepting bribes and brokering clandestine deals, all in the name of a political cause. Perhaps Weinberg would want to eliminate political proclivities from human consciousness as well, since, when distorted, they seem to produce such Machiavellian maneuvering.
Or what about money? How many “good” people have been led into evil pursuits because of the seductive lure of wealth? Wars are fought, after all, for oil and territory every bit as frequently as they are fought for religion. Perhaps Weinberg would want to eliminate capitalism from the human consciousness as well, since, when distorted, capitalism tends to produce a willingness to render evil if the price is right.
Is religion really the “insult to human dignity” that Weinberg suggests? At times, perhaps. But, then again, any process has the potential to insult human dignity when that process becomes more focused upon egocentric control than it is upon the maintenance of its original purpose.
It sounds to me as though Weinberg is unfairly attempting to make religion a scapegoat. There is nothing new about that endeavor. But I would hope that such a learned man would see the danger of such sweeping generalizations. I would remind Weinberg that, historically speaking, even the pursuit of science, when distorted by the quest for power, can lead to manifestations of evil.
Eric,
Now that’s what I call insightful! I really enjoyed reading that!
People are always looking for some external force or institution to blame for the evil in their lives: religion, the welfare state, George W. Bush, their “upbringing,” etc…
In the meantime, they fail to deal with the real source of evil: the sinfulness of the human heart…including their own.
Cheers………….
Jeff
Eric…thoughtful post…as usual. It does seem like atheism is picking up steam. Christopher Hitchins has written a book about the death of religion and has been running the talk show circuits. What he says is very disturbing although, I haven’t yet read his book.