Homo Religiosus

Karen Armstrong has an article on God in Foreign Policy.  She suggests that the “New Atheists” (Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, et al) have got it wrong:

These writers are wrong — not only about religion, but also about politics — because they are wrong about human nature. Homo sapiens is also Homo religiosus. As soon as we became recognizably human, men and women started to create religions. We are meaning-seeking creatures. While dogs, as far as we know, do not worry about the canine condition or agonize about their mortality, humans fall very easily into despair if we don’t find some significance in our lives. Theological ideas come and go, but the quest for meaning continues. So God isn’t going anywhere. And when we treat religion as something to be derided, dismissed, or destroyed, we risk amplifying its worst faults. Whether we like it or not, God is here to stay, and it’s time we found a way to live with him in a balanced, compassionate manner.

Two problems: Must “meaning-seeking” necessary entail “religious”?

And, is “As soon as we became recognizably human, men and women started to create religions” really a reasonable interpretation of history?  With introductory claims like these, any foreign policy implications become even more murky.

- Colin

Related posts:

  1. Religious Holidays for Everyone!
  2. Reason and faith in higher education
  3. Is social conservatism a new religion?
  4. Paid religious holidays
  5. The (im)possibility of secular judgment

October 26, 2009 · Filed Under Faith

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  • Editors

    Jacob Bronsther is a law student at NYU, a former Fulbright Scholar to Mauritius, and a graduate of Cornell University. He has an MPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford.

  • Sam Gill is a consultant in Washington and a graduate of the University of Chicago. He studied Political Theory at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

  • Marc Grinberg is a Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. government and a graduate of Princeton University. He earned an MPhil in Political Theory from the University of Oxford.

  • John Rood is the founder of Next Step Test Preparation and a graduate of Michigan State University. He has an AM in Political Theory from the University of Chicago.

  • Luke Freedman is a student at Carleton College, pursuing a double major in Philosophy and Political Science.


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