The Huntings And the Burnings

The story of humanity in every age and every custom is this: humans have an innate need to believe in something bigger than themselves. Whether this is religion, work, their group of friends, or simply an ideology, we seem to need something like this to keep ourselves sane.

This fact is repeated all throughout human history, only the names and locations change.

Religion has gained a bad rap over the years, and history is rife with various huntings and burnings performed in the name of God. Some say religion has done much more harm than good, and yet here we are.

I've quoted Michael Crichton before, because he does such a great job of pointing out how the green environmental movement is more religion than anything else. Assuming he's right, it's not all that surprising since church attendance is down as much as it is.

Here's Michael:

There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

I think what Crichton is getting at here is that humans have decided that these beliefs are necessary because it's helpful in some way. It doesn't necessarily mean that their beliefs are correct (or incorrect), but that's probably less important in this context than the belief itself.

As far as "right beliefs” go, this applies subjectively to the person doing the believing. Obviously, whatever beliefs a person holds to be true are the "right beliefs" according to that person, which by default means that any belief to the contrary would be a wrong belief (or at least a "less right" one).

Regardless of what one purports to believe, we do need to have boundaries that everyone (or most everyone) agrees on. The freedom we enjoy here comes part and parcel with the understanding that people are going to be free to do stuff we don't like, so we need to be okay with that if we expect to have our own freedoms. We have laws for a reason and people, by and large, are okay with them.

Humans, by their very nature need to believe in something, and whether that thing is even true or not is beside the point. Cultural history bears this out.

I don't think it's a coincidence that as church attendance has plummeted, phrases like "believing in climate change” and the constant invocation of "The Science" (during failed Covid policies based on that science) have totally overtaken popular discourse. The splitting of our society into different cliques, each with their own vastly different worldviews, with no tolerance for other ideas is the "new normal". Now the biggest heresy going is "denying" whatever the current orthodoxy is. Asking questions and demanding explanations is discouraged and frowned upon and not only gets one booted from certain social media sites, but also can leave you without a job.

The main reason (by far) I haven't been part of a church for the last couple decades is not because I think churches are terrible, but precisely this idea that questioning the rules (or the reason for the rules) is forbidden in many (or most) churches. Now that same attitude has moved into the political realm and drenches my social media feed. And it's not just one-sided either. The whole deal is just a circle of fingers pointing at each other while the owners of said fingers do exactly the thing they're pointing out in others.

I was having this conversation with someone on social media a while back and right away the atheist in the group felt the need to make himself known.

So, you’re implying that being an atheist means something is missing from your life. And as a former Christian turned atheist I can tell you that we really do not need these ancient made up stories to have a meaningful human experience.

I found it interesting that when stating his beliefs, this person used the word, “we”, indicating that there's more to it than just a personal decision. I actually wasn't talking about atheists at all, but it's not surprising that the atheists in the crowd would want to let everyone know how they identify. Most people feel the need to be part of a bigger group - even atheists.

Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist writer said, "The comfort you get from believing a falsehood is like a drug and it’s a perfectly valid argument to say that there’s everything to be said for the drug.”

This is an awful lot like Karl Marx’s idea that “religion is the opium of the masses”.

Strangely, Dawkins has also been described as "the biggest recruiter for creationism in this country,” ostensibly because of his “intellectual intolerance”.

These days, we are constantly warned of the ever-growing demon army of “isms” and “phobes” responsible for every societal ill. At the same time, purpose and meaning are still largely fleeting. Is it any wonder, given these conditions, that people choose to lean on something bigger and more powerful than themselves?

Whether it's established religion, woke ideology, rabid environmentalism, or some new-fangled atheism - we all ingest our opium of choice. Somehow it helps us to cope with and feel better about the way things are, or in some cases it simply makes us feel like we are better than those who don't use our particular brand of opium. At any rate, we’ve found a way to keep ourselves somewhat sane in an insane world. Time will tell how successful we are, but until then, I’m afraid we can expect the huntings and burnings to continue.