Roger Scruton Essay
In “The Spector: Humans hunger for the sacred, why can’t the new atheist understand,” Scruton’s main purpose of the article is to educate others about the new atheists strong disagreement on the existence of religion. More so on the value that religious people place on sacred things. Throughout the article he states the new atheists and religious people’s position on certain topics; communism, sacred objects. Roger Scruton’s position on religion seems partially unclear. However, based on his title and his tone when mentioning New Atheist arguments, he portrays himself as a theist. It is unclear whether he is a non realist or realist. Throughout the reading he neutrally states both positions, with no clear personal opinions or position of his own. Scruton’s article clearly expresses his negative position regarding communism and positive position on sacred things, yet he fails to successfully convey his
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Communism has been linked to atheism in the past and is sometimes viewed has a correlation between the two. “We live in the glare at affluence, and cannot easily discern scared things, which glow more clearly in darkness” (pg.3, par. 2) Scruton stated after mentioning the struggles that people who were affected by communism encountered. The fundamental things that they saw as sacred and fought to maintain were being jeopardized due to communism and its demands. What Scruton was trying to express with that phrase is that communism’s focus was on wealth and power, whereas sacred things have significant value because they usually lead to faith. The faith that individuals practice within their religion and the things that they consider to be sacred, such as family, loyalty, and beliefs. Scruton’s tone in the two phrases mentioned above, give a comprehensible explanation of Scruton’s disagreement with atheists way of
America, throughout the ages, has always despised Communism and Communistic beliefs; however, during the 20s to around the 90s, there was a deeper hatred for Communism and a fear that lingered in most Americans’ hearts. Communism is a political theory that was derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. The majority of Americans strongly disagreed with
The fear of early twentieth century dystopian writers is the fear that people in general had in this era; what is the impact of communism or what the future of religion with evolution and Darwinism would be. The may concern was that if religion was obsolete, what would replace it as the moral compass of the people. One of the most important individuals of the early twentieth century Karl Marx had his own philosophy for a replacement. The role of religion in Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is stated as,” But Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis…’" (Marx 19) That new bases he mentioned in the quote is the state, the new morale code that society must follow.
This was against the teaching of the Orthodox Church which was not tolerated by the Bolshevik party as it had been deeply involved in the Tsarist system and the belief propagated by it that the Tsar was God's representative on Earth was the basis of its power. Religion in general was considered the "opium of the masses" as it was described my Marx the founding father of communism. The church's physical resources were taken from it and its ability to spread its message was damaged by the outlawing of religious education outside of the home and by the activities of the League of the Militant Godless a Bolshevik sponsored organisation intended to spread anti-religious propaganda. Bolshevik success in this area was varied as it did succeed in destroying the church as organisation but surveys of the peasantry in the 1920s found that 55% of peasants were still practicing Christians. The survival of religion is probably due to the often more lenient policy practiced locally which would often permit religious people to join the party in contravention of central policy.
Communism ensures a lot of power and equality, as in “Harrison Bergeron”; however, the acts of both governments differ from each other and from the U.S. government. Communism today has no copyright laws, no private property laws, and the government owns the economy in its entirety. Communism stresses the ending of both religion and the entire morality established upon religion. Communism theoretically tries to improve respect within society, but instead it abolishes all concepts of morality (Communism and Amorality). The structure of communism encourages the establishment of classless and stateless society based on the common title of the means of production (Structure of Communism).It tries to offer an alternative to the problems assumed to be inherent with capitalist economies and the heritage of imperialism and nationalism.
According to Marx, religion comes from the imagination of the mind, “Man makes religion.” (H/R,p.11) Marx believes in Atheism and that religion is simply justification to our actions and behaviors as “followers.”
Communism was the ideology followed by the Soviet Union. Originally founded by Karl Marx, it said that everything should be owned by the government and then divided up equally among the people who would then all work for it. For the communist party in Russia, their political system was always in danger. From the start of the Russian Revolution there have been dangers to communism. Before World War II most of the western nations ignored Russia simply because it was a communist state and the western nations actually supported Hitler because they believed that Germany would provided a buffer against Communism. The permanent threat against Russia gave the incentive to expand and spread communist influence as much as possible to keep their way of life intact, it was very much Russia against the world. However not only was the Soviet Union communist, they were totalitarian, meaning all the power was with the rulers. While this was effective for keeping the standard average of living the same for everyone and preventing poverty, it also led to a poor work ethic among the working population...
"Karl Marx on Religion: The Opiate of the Masses?" About.com Agnosticism / Atheism. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
...reams which take possession of us because we give them force, but which we can just as easily deny" (180). This is further reinforced by Ch'en's idea that "In the last hour I have felt nothing of what used to weigh on me" (192). Ch'en is the terrorist for the insurrection. His faith had isolated himself from the world instead of submitting to it. We have a personal need for connection, Ch'en is isolated until the end, when all differences are subsumed. Communism gives a sense of escaping isolation. For under this ideology there is a personal connection and a feeling of equality. It is the ultimate fulfillment to live his idea, and more importantly to die for his cause - a cause that is much greater than the individual. In the end Ch'en becomes the bomb.
Viewing the textbook there are many approaches to the word “religion”. The basic meaning of religion is “The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods.” According to Stephen Prothero he states “That those who preach the oneness of religion are being disrespectful of the profound, and in his view irreconcilable, differences between religious traditions. This is somewhat correct. We do look at traditions and religious acts the same way. We feel as if you act upon a tradition of faith then it could appear as a religious act. The descriptive approach that the textbook mentions is that our faith would be more understood and token seriously if we as humans knew the differences between the two. We also
Religion is the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods, a particular system of faith and worship or a pursuit or interest followed with great devotion (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). From religion, many new groups, communities and further derived religions have formed. Closely related to religion and with endless controversies surrounding it’s classification as a religion is the concept of Atheism- which is defined as the disbelief or rejection of a deity. Descending from this is a social and political movement in favour of secularism known as New Atheism. Understanding the historical content concerning the emergence of atheism, this essay will then address how various aspects within the field inclusive the goals, structures and approaches have emerged and developed over time in comparison to the original atheist ideals.
1996 Ed. Columbia University Press. "Communism" The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations Ed. Columbia University Press.
However, this creates a circular argument because religion is partially the reason that man has a conflicted understanding of his nature, so religion cannot provide justification for communism without it being a self-contradiction; thus, the compatibility is diminished
Religion is an organized collection of beliefs and cultural systems that entail the worship of a supernatural and metaphysical being. “Religion just like other belief systems, when held onto so much, can stop one from making significant progress in life”. Together with religion come traditions that provide the people with ways to tackle life’s complexities. A subscription to the school of thought of great scholars
Marx saw religion as a tool for class oppression because of the conflict it provided for societies. According to Marx, “religion is the opium of the people” and “religion promotes stratification because it supports a hierarchy of people in Earth and the subordination of humankind to divine authority.” Marx believes that man makes religion, and not vice versa. He argues that religion is a mere product of man and is for people who have not won himself or has lost himself again. He calls for the banishment of religion stating that religion is just an illusion of happiness and the abolition of it is a demand for real happiness. Religion highlights social conditions and causes people to think and act the way religion teaches instead of having individuals act based on their own agency.
6. Bohdan R. Bociurkiw and John W. Strong, Religion and Atheism in the U.S.S.R. and