A Hitchens and Harris Worth Keeping

The other day, in the religion dept. computer lab, I had a powerpoint slide open that asked “Is there a Hitchens and a Harris worth keeping?”  (This is a nice rhetorical device used by academics to say “many people believe that this reading is, by and large, full of excrement, but I’m assigning it anyway and here’s why.”)  A colleague looked at my computer screen, shook his head and answered “No.”   This is a response similar to others that I have gotten from other students when I tell them that I have my undergraduates read portions of God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens and The End of Faith by Sam Harris in the “Religion and Morality” section of religious ethics (alongside John Paul II and the Dalai Lama, among other authors).  There are many folks who believe that the question I posed warrants a no, a pithy dismissal, or simply to be ignored altogether.  I, however, think that – in addition to being accessible, popular, and good conversation starters – these two authors provide some key  points that should be made over and over again in a religious studies classroom (despite some major shortcomings in the works as well).

The section of the course wherein these readings fall is titled “Must one be religious to be moral?” examining the link between religious belief and ethical conduct.  Alongside this question,  I pose several others for the students to be asking as they read the variety of responses: first: What differentiates a “religious ethic” from an “ethic”? (carrying on a conversation from the beginning of the semester regarding what exactly constitutes religion)  Second: “if not ‘religious’, what must one be to be ethical?”  The second question draws the students’ attention to the naturalization of certain modes of ordering the world as prerequisites for establishing an ethical system as well as who is doing the ordering and, possibly, why?  In answering the primary question with an emphatic “No! One must not be religious if one wishes to be ethical,” both Hitchens and Harris helpfully point towards my additional two questions.  Further, their calls to abandon religion can be rephrased as rather poignant critiques (or, at least, point towards helpful areas of inquiry).

For Hitchens, the religious monopoly on explanation has been broken and religious notions are no longer needed to make sense of how the world works.  They should, therefore, fall by the wayside in favor of science and rationality.  Harris, likewise, argues for the triumph of science and rationality but in a different manner – critically engaging peaceful religious folk/what he terms “religious moderates.”  For Harris, those religious folks who are non-violent are simply ignoring part of their texts (he seems to equate religion with scriptural literalism – I tweeted him about this, but he has yet to get back to me).  His point is that the act of privileging a text enables violent appeals to that texts authority: even appeals to the peaceful portions of sacred texts are problematic because parts of them are not so peaceful.  For Harris, non-violent religious people can’t have their cake and eat it too – if the text is deemed “holy” and authoritative, get ready to see some people to use all of it as such.

By saying that one must never be religious to be moral, these two authors appeal to science and rationality, however, their appeals to ground morality in science and/or rationality sound quite similar to the dalai lama’s appeal to common spirituality as the grounding of morality or the pope’s stating that all of humanity asks the same question (“what must I do to inherit human life?”).  Once I draw the rhetorical parallels, between these arguments, I’m able to talk about how in all of them, some contingent mode of thinking is naturalized and modes of ethical conduct are then introduced to those who accept the naturalization.  Herein lies the Hitchens and Harris worth keeping.

Both note that philosophical views, widespread opinions of the day, and one’s upbringing (among many other factors) impact what makes a person label certain behavior as morally good or bad – religion can’t be seen as the sole factor in determining one’s outlook on what constitutes acceptable behavior.  However, if, to borrow Hitchens’ language, religion’s monopoly on explanation has been broken, why should that monopoly be re-applied to science and reason?  Or for that matter politics and economics (topics for the second portion of the course).  By refusing to accept grand, universal narratives – religious or otherwise – one becomes free to ask “who is speaking here?”  “what systems are in place that are allowing them to speak?” “what authority do they have and where does it come from?” Hitchens cautions readers to be wary of monopolies on thought and Harris cautions readers to be careful with and skeptical of modes of thought they take as authoritative.  By drawing attention to the many factors that shape an ethic alongside unwavering skepticism of naturalization, both Hitchens and Harris provide the grounds for a critique of their own work.  They do so, however, in a manner accessible and understandable in the college classroom and provocatively enough to to start discussion – something truly worth keeping, at least on my syllabus.

Thanks for reading