edifice to the heavens; Roman emperors wanted to be gods and snuffed the Christians who refused to play
along; the philosophes were certain that they were paving the way to pure rationality; Freud said God is a
mental projection; classical behaviorists (not believing in a psyche) said that everything comes down to
conditioning (no God, no soul, no mystery).
But now Gilgamesh is an interesting story (people don't base their lives on it), the tower of Babel is a
figure of speech, and the Roman emperors are seen as grasping at straws as their empire tottered. The
philosophers are seen as influential but also excessively optimistic about human rationalism and, some of
them, as highly impractical (claiming, for instance, that human society could be perfected). And
Freudianism and strict behaviorism have lost a lot of ground to other psychological theories. In the
meantime most educated people-educated, I mean, in a general sense-continue to believe in God. This is
an astonishing fact.
Some industrialized cultures have effectively abandoned religion-Sweden, for example, is a very
secular country. But I notice that highly secular countries are also countries that require high levels of
conformityI'm thinking of Canada's increasingly repressive speech codes. Guys like us would go crazy in
boring, conformist secularist countries like Sweden and Canada.
Think about it: You need God to keep your life interesting. Imagine how bored you'd be if you didn't
have religion to be pissed off at. God doesn't mind being of service-that's his job (sort of).
Here's a question: What's a good biological explanation for the amazing success of Christianity? So far
as I can tell, no other system of thought (to use a phrase) has succeeded as it has. It has thrived in ancient
and postmodern times, in highly industrialized and very simple societies; it lives in democracies and
dictatorships, among illiterates and intellectuals, among the poor and the wealthy, and among Africans,
Asians, Hispanics, Europeans and Alaska natives. (Last I heard, the largest Christian church in the world
is in South Korea.)
The Christian experience ranges from the Pentecostal snake handlers of the Appalachians to the highly
ritualistic churches of Eastern Orthodoxy to some of the brainiacs of the Ivy League. The only other
system I can think of that seems to have appealed to nearly as wide a range of people (albeit only in the
modern world) is communism, which itself could only have been born in a general Christian culture.
Judaism is identified with ethnicity; Confucianism, Buddhism and Hinduism haven't caught on in any big
way outside Asia; Islam doesn't seem to do well as a minority faith or in democracies.
There must be something about Christianity that makes it especially attractive to humans (understanding
that it has many localized and historic competitors). Its tenacity and ability to thrive in radically different
circumstances says, at the least, that it holds high appeal.
Peace,
Preston
Dear Preston,
Your last note has a lot of good analysis combined with a thought-provoking point at the end. I have an
answer-mostly just more food for thought.