06.18.07

Hitchens and–?Rajneesh

Posted in Science & Religion at 3:14 pm by nemo

Christopher Hitchens targets God and faith

DALLAS (Reuters) – Combative writer Christopher Hitchens doesn’t mince words in his new book. He thinks religion has done no good.

In the just published “god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything”, Hitchens explains why he thinks religion is man-made, why he regards its claims to moral superiority as preposterous and why he believes religions are intolerant — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

With his trade-mark iconoclasm, he takes aim at more than a few sacred images: Indian independence hero Gandhi’s rejection of modernity would have led to mass starvation; Mormonism is a “plain racket” transformed into a serious religion; a miracle linked to Mother Theresa is a transparent fraud.

Hitchens’ critique of religion has a curious resemblance to that of Rajneesh (who he discusses in his book), who was the first to attack Gandhi and Mother Teresa (maybe not the first, the Indian left was long appalled by Gandhi’s anti-modern bent). I don’t fault Hitchens for that (whether or not I agree with him), but it is significant that, like him or not, Rajneesh, whatever his faults, flaws or failures, was the premier critic of religion in the last generation. Noone can match him (which doesn’t mean we have to agree with him).
The disrespectful sarcastic tone toward monotheism (Christianity and Islam) begins with him.
The point here is that we are watching, not the triumph of atheism, but the ‘New Age’-ing of religion, as secular society (neither religious or non-religious) starts to recycle ‘religion’ in new forms. However great the peril of further illusions here the process is one and the same that we see in the Axial period.
Secular humanists would do well to be vigilant, but ought to face reality: nineteenth century scientism a la Darwinism is a dodo, dead duck, a softball pitch for mad religious prophets of the future.

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