The Guardian 26 January, 2005
Culture and Life
by Rob Gowland
The Wrath of Gods
We haven't come very far have we? In fact, we may actually be going backwards.
In the 18th century, there was joy among civilised people because thought had finally broken free of the cant of religion. It was hailed as "The Enlightenment".
Science had at last replaced superstition and fear of the unknown. It was thought these twin evils, having been cast aside at last would never rise again.
There was much — indeed, an enormous amount — that was still unknown. But it was also clear that everything in the universe was in fact knowable. It was just a matter of time and research.
It was the age of the triumph and consolidation of capitalism, which in the 18th and 19th centuries finally took over from feudalism. And capitalism's drive for sources of profit in turn required the rapid development of science and technology.
A skilled workforce, an educated populace, was a prerequisite for the further development of this new dominant social system. Ignorance and superstition were a hindrance to it.
Except, paradoxically, when they were of use, such as in times of war. And because of capitalism's promotion of greed and competitiveness these were distressingly frequent.
They were of use too during the various economic crises that capitalism was prone to, crises that caused great misery and suffering among that same skilled, educated and increasingly secularised workforce.
Meanwhile the proponents of religion and other forms of obscurantism were not idle, fighting back with all their might to regain their lost hold on the minds of the people, to rebuild their position of influence, to undermine and overthrow the new dominance of science in intellectual life.
Today, in the period of capitalism's decadence, this assault on a scientific world view is more vigorous, more widespread and more sophisticated than ever before.
Many scientists, displaying to their shame a flawed and defective understanding of scientific method, have allowed themselves to be caught up in this counter attack. They have lent their voice and prestige to claims that science and religion are not incompatible, even to claims that science "proves" the existence of god, or at least an "intelligent designer" whose hand is behind everything.
Ours is a time when political reaction is attacking democratic rights and freedoms around the globe. At the same time the people are rallying to resist these attacks and to overthrow oppressive regimes.
In these circumstances, right-wing political forces have passionately embraced religious fundamentalism — Christian, Islamic and Jewish — as a potent weapon in this ideological struggle.
Once again, ignorance and superstition are being promoted with all the resources capitalism commands. A huge effort is being made to make going to church fashionable again.
Bourgeois politicians are keen to identify themselves as being religious, so as not to alienate a newly rediscovered "religious vote". Religious schools are given copious funding even as state schools are starved of it.
Small wonder, in this climate, that some of the most reactionary of the various church leaders felt bold enough — and were foolish enough — to publicly display their ignorance and superstition in the wake of the tsunami disaster.
The Anglican Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, observed sagely to journalists: "disasters are part of His warning that judgment is coming", from which one gathers that Jensen expects the judgement to be somewhat on the vindictive side. "God of love", indeed.
Amjad Mehboob, the Chief Executive of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, added his two cents' worth, to the effect that "whatever happens in the world, it happens with the sanction of God, and nothing can happen without His sanction".
He also indicated that only god knew "whether the victims had brought the disaster on themselves". Talk about blaming the victims!
Ancient peoples, lacking any other knowledge, used to think that the rumblings of volcanoes or shakings of earthquakes were the grumblings of an angry mountain god, who had to be placated with ritual and sacrifice.
But we have progressed a long way since those times, and now can identify the causes as the movement of geological strata deep within the Earth's crust.
Clearly, however, scientific knowledge cuts little ice with the Jensens and Mehboobs of this world. They prefer a primitive credo that natural disasters are the work of a wrathful god displaying his powers by killing thousands of innocent people.
Even other religious leaders had the sense to dissociate themselves from such wilful ignorance: The Dean of St Mary's Cathedral, Neil Brown, described the view that the tsunami was either god's vengeance or his warning as "a rather horrible belief".
(Anglican Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, following a flood of protest and recrimination aroused by his comment, claimed rather lamely that it had been "taken out of context", although it is hard to imagine what context would have been appropriate.)
Rabbi Raymond Apple, senior rabbi at Sydney's Great Synagogue, recognised the contradictions in the religious position: an all powerful god must by definition be responsible for everything.
"We create major theological problems for ourselves if we just start automatically blaming god for everything evil that happens." [Or for everything good, but that's another story.]
The Enlightenment, like everything, is a process, and clearly it is a process that still has a way to go.