“Man cannot live on bread alone” began the speaker for the Revolution (the recent Christian Union series of events), and right he was too. I was sorted though, I had a BLT. The holy trinity, this divine coalition held together by faith and mayonnaise has been my bulwark against so many of the iniquities of life. Of course, like any faith, it has its own mysteries and obscure meanings. Is tomato a fruit or a vegetable? Should the rasher be smoked, marinaded in maple or plain? What should vegetarians eat? Difficulties can be overcome, but it is the search that will constitute meaning. But let us return to the Christian question. The biggest problem this world faces, according to the eminent speaker, is not the dull old ones trotted out by the left; global warming, famine, genocide etc. etc. Oh no, it is a conflict at once internal and global, the problem is SIN, or rather the unholy trinity of ‘Shove off God! I’m in Charge!’ And most perfidious of all, ‘No to your rule’! That is, the greatest problem is a rejection of God’s law, and an assumption that human beings should make their own choices about how to live. This, he continued, was mistaken, for the world is not our world, it is God’s world, and we must abide by his rules to achieve immanent happiness and the life immortal. These can only be achieved by accepting Jesus’ love, asking for forgiveness for our sins and learning to live the life he commands us to. Deadly. This, incidentally, is the only treatment he gives to the question that was the topic of the debate, i.e. that of the alleged homophobia and sexism of Christianity. Jesus loves you all, you see, just as long as you keep your pants on outside of holy matrimony. And no, civil partnerships don’t count, so don’t even try. But I digress.
I’m not interested in proving or disproving God; that’s so last year. My real interest is that of God’s law versus human will. To explore this debate, I will turn to other long-dead bearded men. A Russian fellow once wrote that “If God existed, it would be necessary to abolish him”. Why? Well, because this fellow (Mikhail Bakunin was his name) felt that Christianity is an alienation of humanity from our will, divesting ourselves of our freedom. He went on to argue that “the history of religion, of the birth, grandeur, and decline of the gods… is nothing, but the development of the collective intelligence and conscience of mankind.” What he means is that humanity creates gods and mythologies, and these reveal more about our historical development than of the mysteries of the world and universe. But the goal is to recognise this and do away with the mystification of the world that we create through religion. The eminent speaker had argued that the Bible needs no defence, that it is a flashlight given by God to us to help us understand the world around us. True enough, but it is humanity that created God, the Bible and the entire Christian mythology (and all others). We should not feel betrayed because it’s wrong, because it’s sexist, homophobic or whatever, we simply need to accept it for what it is; a mythology, a body of stories that we have used to understand the world and our place within it. This is part of a valorisation of human activity in itself.
What the hell does this mean? Let’s turn to another dead bearded man for a hint. But bear in mind that it isn’t holy writ; it has value only insofar as it can be applied to the real conditions of our lives.
Socialism is man’s positive self-consciousness, no longer mediated through the abolition of religion, just as real life is man’s positive reality, no longer mediated through the abolition of private property, through communism.
This, from Mr. Marx, raises more problems; what is socialism and why does it express a ‘positive self-consciousness’? Well, the point is that positive self-consciousness, a realisation of humanity’s creative power involves the transcendence of religious thought. That is, we must move beyond all systems of thought that displace human creative activity and position it outside of ourselves, in God, Brahma or whatever. The goal of socialism is to abolish the mediation of human activity that decentre human self-determination and place it in the hands of a particular class. Capitalism is the alienation of this creative power through the selling of labour, while religion is the alienation of our self-determining consciousness through an acceptance of mystical beliefs. The problem, as an article last week pointed out, is not religion but humanity; it is humans who cause war and countless other atrocities. Blaming this on religion misses the point; it is humans who have created the world we know, in all its brutality, injustice, grandeur and beauty and it is humans who have the power to supersede the old world and create a new one, based on equality, liberty and collective self-determination. We will not find the road to a better world in any books by any bearded men, divine or otherwise, but in ourselves, in our fears and our desires; in our concrete social existence. A better world will only arise if we create it. If you’re interested in a secular group of anti-authoritarian socialists who are interested in exploring the way to a better world, the Black Cat Group meet Mondays at 6pm on RB1 (atheism is not an entry requirement!). For more info see our blog at www.blackcatgroup.blogspot.com.
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