“ … ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ …”
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
‘I think this is the start of the second American revolution,’ said Terry McCord of Michigan, one of the Trump supporters. She said her Catholic faith brought her to the scene. ‘We have to stop Biden. He is not a good Catholic, and he cannot be our president. We are here for President Trump,’ she said.— Woman interviewed who was a member of the Pro-Trump mob storming the Capitol in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021
It may be true that, as Pascal thought, the highest function of reason is to show us the limitations of reason (and whatever Pascal believed or thought about ‘reasons of the heart,’ these were not intended to be warrants for irrationality; even a non-religious person can find meaningful space for ‘reasons’ generated by the intuition or sentiment of love, care and compassion); and Kant, while quite appreciative of the powers of reason, was aware of, and attempted in some measure to delineate its constraints (his pietistic upbringing and sensibilities, it appears, never left him). But that neither means nor implies that faith, especially religious faith, should run roughshod over the powers of reason which, after all, is a God-given power for even the theist. Most religious worldviews I’ve studied, be they of Abrahamic or non-Western provenance (i.e., largely but not exclusively Asian), find formulas, if you will, in which reason and faith are collaborative (or at least not incompatible) ingredients or powers. Faith, sans reason, that is, blind or irrational faith (faith can be non-rational and rational as well), is more often than not, intellectually, emotionally, and morally irresponsible … and occasionally criminally negligent or liable.
The kind of faith displayed by Christians—be they Protestant or Catholic—at pro-Trump rallies and right-wing evangelical Christian events is narcissistic and thus stunningly selfish (and perhaps pathological, given the dispositional penchant for indulging in phantasies and delusions), as well as ethically reckless and thus irresponsible to the effect—one of high statistical probability—of causing harm and possible death to others, given the especially virulent nature of our nation’s pandemic. It is just this irrational and delusional faith (soaked in conspiracy phantasies) that we find prominent among right-wing Christian evangelicals in this country (the exception to the rule, alas, is small but not insignificant), a faith that is often, oddly enough, suffused with xenophobic nationalism and militant self-righteousness, with beliefs and behavior that are egregiously distant from what Jesus is said to have taught and exemplified in the Gospels. This kind of Christian faith is dangerous for sundry reasons, all of which we cannot canvass here, so we should bear in mind that there are other expressions of Christian faith and belief (e.g., leftist evangelicals!), even if they are not in the mass media spotlight, well-known, or comparatively fewer in number. Christian faith is not made stronger, is not made deeper, is not made genuine, when mixed with self-deception, denial, wishful thinking, illusions, and even delusions (these being the conspicuous psychological components of populist right-wing ideologies). Being religious, however adamant or vociferous, does not provide immunity from sheer madness, or being complicit with evil, for that matter.
Should these evangelicals endeavor to be real or true Christians, they might take the trouble to read and ponder the Sermon on the Mount, and the various sayings and parables of the Gospels, to reflect deeply on them, while bearing in mind these, like most religious scriptures, are second hand testimony as it were. This calls for a basic knowledge of the relevant history, including religious history, as well as learning from the hermeneutic endeavors of others who have used the powers of reason in conjunction with their faith in an attempt to understand what Jesus was trying to tell both his disciples and the various groups of people he spoke to about his own Jewish belief and faith. For my part, I have the temerity to recommend one supplement a reading of the Gospels with Anna Wierzbicka’s brilliant volume, What Did Jesus Mean? (Oxford University Press, 2001).
[While I was raised a Catholic, attended Catholic schools until college (save for one semester after we moved to California in 1969), and am quite grateful for my Catholic education. I am no longer either a Catholic or a Christian. Instead, I remain an ardent student of religions (better: religious and non-religious worldviews), including Christianity (that is, the myriad forms of Christianity). My lifeworld, should anyone be interested, happens to be circumscribed largely but not exclusively by Marxism and Buddhism.]
Christians and non-Christians alike might learn something from the following titles:*
- Bortolotti, Lisa. Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs (Oxford University Press, 2010).
- Brakel, Linda A.W. Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and the A-rational Mind (Oxford University Press, 2009).
- Cohen, Stanley. States of Denial: Knowing about Atrocities and Suffering (Polity Press, 2001).
- Diamond, Sara. Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right (The Guilford Press, 1998).
- Hedges, Chris. Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (Nation Books, 2009).
- Lee, Bandy, ed. The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2017).
- Radden, Jennifer. On Delusion (Routledge, 2011).
- Radoilska, Lubomira, ed. Autonomy and Mental Disorder (Oxford University Press, 2012).
- Segal, Julia. Phantasy (Icon Books, 2000).
- Stanley, Jason. How Fascism Works (Random House, 2018).
- Taylor, Gabriele. Deadly Vices (Oxford University Press, 2006).
- Wierzbicka, Anna. What Did Jesus Mean?
* Had I the time, I would have included titles on pathological group phenomena, some of which was identified in the pioneering work of W.R. Bion and the Kleinian psychoanalyst, R.D. Hinshelwood, as well as those who have endeavored to combine the best of Marxism and psychoanalytic philosophy and praxis, such as Erich Fromm, endeavors which, importantly, are often grounded in robust commitments to participatory, deliberative, and representative democracy.
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