Religion

Religion, as these books treat it, covers the whole bond between human beings and what they hold divine. It includes the belief that grounds that bond, the worship that expresses it, and the institutions that carry it through time. It also includes the corruptions that shadow it. The idea is great for this collection because nearly every voice in it has something to say on the matter. The Psalms and the Koran, the Buddhist scriptures and the Gita, Homer’s sacrifices and Euripides’ Bacchic rites all bear on it. So do Augustine’s confession, Pascal’s apology and Bunyan’s allegory, Luther’s protest and Hume’s scepticism, Burke’s defence of establishment and Mill’s plea for liberty. Few ideas so plainly divide the ancients from the moderns. Few so stubbornly refuse to be settled.

The first question is what religion is and where it comes from. Hobbes gives the most deflationary answer. Fear of invisible powers, arising from ignorance of causes, is the natural seed of religion¹. Belief in ghosts, ignorance of second causes and attention to casual omens make up that seed². The founders of commonwealths then shaped it into a tool of obedience^3,4. Schiller agrees that a religion born of sensuous man rests on fear of a powerful being rather than veneration of a holy one⁵. Pope pictures superstition, born of fear, making cruel gods in tyrants’ image⁶. Against this stands a long line of witnesses. Virgil’s Evander insists that his people’s annual rites spring from gratitude for a god’s deliverance, not from blind zeal or ignorance⁷. Burke holds that true religion has a salutary mixture of fear, while false religions rest on fear alone⁸. Carlyle calls reverence, distinct from fear, the soul of all religion⁹. For Penn religion is “nothing else but love to God and man”¹⁰, and Woolman calls it an inward life of loving and reverencing God and doing justice¹¹. Rousseau’s vicar sums up the creed as love of God and neighbour, independent of human institutions¹². Emerson makes the moral sentiment the essence of all religion¹³. Mill goes furthest. He suggests that the best unbelievers may be more truly religious than believers, since religion’s worth lies in an ideal of perfection guiding conscience¹⁴.

A third account treats religion as poetry. Taine calls it a poem regarded as true, varying with each race’s aptitude for general ideas^15,16. Shelley thinks the original religions allegorical¹⁷. Emerson finds religious error in making the symbol too solid¹⁸. Arnold predicts that as creeds dissolve, the strongest part of religion will prove to be its unconscious poetry¹⁹.

Whatever its origin, religion’s civil use is widely affirmed. Bacon calls it the chief band of society²⁰. Hobbes notes that oaths add fear of divine vengeance to promises²¹. Hume grants that belief in divine reward shapes conduct whether or not the reasoning behind it is sound²². Rousseau says religion saves more blood than fanaticism spills²³. Washington declares morality impossible to maintain without religious principle²⁴. Burke calls religion the basis of civil society²⁵. Mill records the older view that received divinities held society together, a view under which Christianity appeared as a solvent²⁶.

The worshipper’s relation to God is chiefly one of trust and submission. The Stoics define piety as thinking rightly of the gods and cheerfully accepting what happens²⁷. Marcus Aurelius calls it contentment with one’s assigned lot²⁸. The Koran names true religion Islam, resignation to God²⁹. Thomas à Kempis asks for total acceptance of good and evil from God’s hand³⁰. Woolman strives for perfect resignation, believing that all the Lord allots works for good³¹. Manzoni ends his novel on the moral that confidence in God alleviates troubles³². The authors divide, though, on whether such piety should rest on fear or on love. Browne serves God from love and gratitude and calls those who crouch from fear of hell slaves³³. Bunyan’s pilgrims read fear itself as a sign of grace: “No fears, no Grace”³⁴. Pascal separates the believer who fears to lose God from the unbeliever who fears to find Him³⁵. Aeschylus holds that without holy dread no man does justice³⁶. Mill, at the other pole, warns that exclusively religious moral training breeds a servile character³⁷. The pagan texts show a piety of exchange. Menelaus is detained for omitting hecatombs³⁸. Hippolytus is punished for slighting Aphrodite, though his old servant prays that gods be gentler than men^39,40. Sophocles’ chorus asks what use worship is if the impious prosper⁴¹. Dryden makes piety, the whole duty to gods, country and kin, Aeneas’s first character⁴².

Faith and reason form the most contested ground. Paul rests faith on God’s power, not persuasive words⁴³. Augustine finds the Catholic demand to believe undemonstrated things more honest than the Manichees’ promise of certain knowledge⁴⁴. Browne calls belief contrary to reason the height of faith⁴⁵. Pascal holds that faith is God’s gift and not the product of reasoning⁴⁶, that the heart judges where proofs fail⁴⁷, and that submission is the right use of reason⁴⁸. He also warns that if everything is submitted to reason, religion loses its mystery, while if reason is offended it becomes absurd⁴⁹. Hume turns the same premise into irony. Faith, he says, is a continued miracle subverting the understanding⁵⁰. Rousseau’s vicar argues that natural religion suffices and that revealed religions breed pride and persecution⁵¹. Revelation, he adds, reaches us only through human testimony⁵². Lessing reconciles the two by supposing that revealed truths were given in order to be developed into truths of reason⁵³.

Miracles sharpen the dispute. For Pascal, miracles and doctrine judge each other⁵⁴, and so many false miracles could not exist unless some were true⁵⁵. Calvin, a Christian too, dismisses the Church’s continuing miracles as lying wonders that serve idolatry⁵⁶. Hume argues that rival religions’ miracles cancel one another⁵⁷ and that no testimony can found a religion⁵⁸. Rousseau finds that doctrine and miracle prove each other only in a circle⁵⁹. Emerson complains that the churches turned Christ’s tropes into false miracle⁶⁰.

The causes of unbelief are diagnosed differently. Bacon blames religious divisions, the scandal of priests, profane scoffing and learned peaceful times⁶¹. Pascal asks that sincere doubters be pitied, though he cannot excuse those who neglect to seek^62,63. Burke calls man a religious animal⁶⁴. The moderns register decline. Carlyle finds Mother Church a disregarded step-mother⁶⁵. Emerson laments that revelation is treated as finished, “as if God were dead”⁶⁶. Arnold hears the Sea of Faith withdrawing⁶⁷. Mill foresees a transitional period of weak convictions until a credible faith arises⁶⁸. Scripture’s authority is questioned from several sides as well. Hobbes grounds it in the Church’s authority rather than in immediate revelation⁶⁹. Augustine reveres it as humble in style yet deep in mystery⁷⁰. Locke warns that indiscriminate reading confuses children⁷¹.

Prayer raises its own questions, above all whether one should petition at all. Marcus Aurelius would ask the gods for freedom from fear and desire, not for events to change⁷². Rousseau’s vicar refuses to ask God to break His order⁷³. Emerson calls petitionary prayer theft and meanness⁷⁴. Aesop’s Hercules tells the waggoner to put his shoulder to the wheel⁷⁵, and Confucius says his prayer has long been his conduct⁷⁶. Pascal defends petition: God established prayer to give creatures “the dignity of causality”⁷⁷. Lincoln observes that both sides in the war prayed to the same God and could not both be answered⁷⁸. Hollow prayer is condemned throughout. Luke’s publican is justified over the Pharisee⁷⁹, and the Koran condemns those who pray lazily to be seen⁸⁰. Claudius in Hamlet learns that words without thoughts never go to heaven⁸¹, and Burns gives Holy Willie his self-righteous prayer⁸². Against such failures stand silent prayer and inward waiting. Woolman describes inward stillness that utters only what truth opens⁸³, and à Kempis prays for God to speak inwardly⁸⁴. Prayer for the dead divides the Christian authors. Dante’s souls in Purgatory beg the prayers of the living⁸⁵. Luther scorns masses for the dead as money-getting mockery⁸⁶. Browne wishes such prayer were consonant with truth⁸⁷.

The ancient rites appear in vivid detail. Nestor’s sacrifice to Athene includes the gilded heifer, the washing of hands and the burning of the victim’s hair⁸⁸. Herodotus describes Egypt’s hereditary priesthoods and rules of purity⁸⁹. The gods in Antigone refuse sacrifice while a corpse lies unburied⁹⁰. Eumaeus holds that strangers and suppliants come from Zeus⁹¹, and Aeneas and Latinus bind their treaty with oaths sworn on altars⁹². The Vestals keep the sacred fire under vows whose violation threatens Rome itself⁹³. In the Bacchae ecstatic worship promises that souls may be near God⁹⁴, while Pentheus denounces it as blasphemy and is destroyed for it⁹⁵.

The prophetic tradition turns against such outward forms. The psalmist offers God a contrite spirit instead of burnt offerings⁹⁶, and Pascal traces the passage from outward rite to circumcision of the heart⁹⁷. Pascal still praises Christianity for joining external ritual to internal spirit, so that it suits both the common and the learned⁹⁸. Luther calls ceremonies scaffolding, to be laid aside once the structure stands⁹⁹. Penn holds that the less form in religion the better¹⁰⁰. Herbert, by contrast, explains the Church service as a reasonable sacrifice of confession, prayer and praise¹⁰¹. Augustine approves church singing for weaker minds, though he confesses it a sin to be moved by the voice rather than the words¹⁰². Hume notes that images and ceremonies enliven devotion¹⁰³. Luther calls pilgrimages devil’s inventions¹⁰⁴, yet Browne honours pilgrims and processions as real devotion despite their errors¹⁰⁵. Ruskin attacks a theatrical Christianity of organ and aisle that neglects plain righteousness¹⁰⁶.

The sacraments draw the same lines. À Kempis calls Communion the chief medicine of the soul¹⁰⁷. Luther denies that endowed masses are sacrifices¹⁰⁸, and Hobbes mocks transubstantiation¹⁰⁹. Voltaire’s Quaker rejects water baptism altogether¹¹⁰. Pascal praises confession to one man bound to secrecy¹¹¹, and laments that baptized Christians now carry the world’s vices into the Church¹¹².

The religious life of the individual begins in conversion. Saul is struck by heavenly light¹¹³. Augustine hears “take up and read”¹¹⁴. Bunyan’s man cries out over his Book¹¹⁵. Manzoni’s Unnamed recites his childhood prayers¹¹⁶, and Pascal submits his mind to Christ¹¹⁷. Rousseau shows the counterfeit, a destitute youth induced to convert for the sake of subsistence¹¹⁸. Once converted, the believer faces the question of grace and works. Luther holds that faith alone justifies¹¹⁹, yet the justified Christian serves his neighbour freely¹²⁰. Bunyan’s Christian exposes Ignorance’s trust in his own duties¹²¹. Bunyan also insists that “the soul of religion is the practick part” against Talkative¹²². Browne warns that faith without works cannot be boasted of¹²³. À Kempis makes the cross the sole way to holiness¹²⁴. Mill objects that Calvinism roots out faculties a good Maker gave to be cultivated¹²⁵.

Monastic renunciation appears in Buddhist and Christian dress alike. Sumedha gives up wealth for the hermit’s life¹²⁶, and Dante celebrates Francis’s marriage to Poverty¹²⁷. Its corruption is satirized just as widely. Chaucer’s Monk scorns the old rule¹²⁸. Luther attacks vows of chastity¹²⁹. Manzoni shows a novice bound for ever with scarcely any consciousness of what she does¹³⁰, yet he also gives us the friar Cristoforo dying in the plague hospital out of charity¹³¹. The clergy are judged by a similar double standard. Chaucer’s Parson practises what he preaches¹³², and Herbert dreads the account of so many souls before he accepts the priesthood¹³³. Milton’s corrupt shepherds are “blind mouths”¹³⁴. Luther dissolves the separate priestly estate, holding that baptism makes every Christian a priest¹³⁵. Emerson asks preachers to bring men to God without mediator or veil¹³⁶.

Hypocrisy has its classic figures in these books. Molière’s Cléante distinguishes true devoutness from charlatans who trade on godliness¹³⁷. Bunyan’s Christian condemns By-ends for making religion a stalking-horse for gain¹³⁸. Superstition is anatomized as well. Bacon lists ceremonies and ambitious prelates among its causes¹³⁹. Hume finds it sheltering in abstruse philosophy¹⁴⁰. Burke would tolerate it as the religion of feeble minds¹⁴¹. The worst corruption is persecution. Bacon forbids making religion a cause for massacre¹⁴². Mill shows that persecutors were sincere, pious men, and that charges of impiety condemned both Socrates and Christ¹⁴³. Defoe’s irony puts the extirpation of Dissenters in the mouth of a zealot¹⁴⁴.

The dispute over the Church turns on its marks. Calvin defines the true Church by pure preaching and right administration of the sacraments, not by Roman visibility¹⁴⁵. Luther attacks the preachers who promise release from purgatory when the money rattles in the chest¹⁴⁶. Pascal takes the Church’s inflexible endurance as a proof of its divinity¹⁴⁷. Unity is sought by different means. Bacon distinguishes fundamentals from opinion and holds that unity is not uniformity¹⁴⁸. Milton likens schisms to the cutting of stones for God’s temple¹⁴⁹. Browne denounces sects that damn one another¹⁵⁰. The Quakers’ silent meeting, which Voltaire describes, abolishes the paid priesthood¹⁵¹.

From these quarrels the case for toleration grows. More’s Utopus thought it arrogant to compel belief¹⁵². Milton would tolerate many congregations rather than force conformity¹⁵³, and Vane reserves conscience to Christ alone¹⁵⁴. Voltaire sees Jew, Mahometan and Christian dealing peacefully at the Exchange¹⁵⁵. The American Constitution forbids any establishment of religion¹⁵⁶. Burke still defends establishment as instilling in those who hold power a sense of accountability to God¹⁵⁷. Adam Smith observes that clergy dependent on voluntary contributions show more zeal than established ones¹⁵⁸.

The diversity of religions poses the last question. Rousseau finds it absurd that a Christian and a Turk alike adopt their ancestral faith and each calls it true¹⁵⁹. Pascal grounds Christianity in the uniquely ancient witness of the Jews¹⁶⁰. The Koran believes in all prophets without distinction¹⁶¹. The Gita accepts a leaf or flower offered lovingly¹⁶². The Buddha refuses to make the holy life wait on speculative questions¹⁶³. Blake bids heathen, Turk and Jew be loved¹⁶⁴. Propagation, too, appears in mixed light. Pliny finds the early Christians harmless yet calls their faith a contagious superstition¹⁶⁵. Eliot gathers Indian churches by fasting and covenant¹⁶⁶, while Paré records how Spanish cruelty estranged the Indians from the faith they were offered¹⁶⁷. Darwin defends the missionaries for abolishing human sacrifice¹⁶⁸.

Several questions remain open across this long conversation. One is whether religion is gift, invention or poetry. Another is whether faith completes reason or offends it. A third is whether outward forms help the heart or betray it. And no consensus emerges on whether many faiths can share a single truth or only a common peace.