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"Caiazza, John"
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ATHENS, JERUSALEM, AND THE ARRIVAL OF TECHNO‐SECULARISM
Western civilization historically has tried to balance secular knowledge with revealed religion. Science is the modern world's version of secular knowledge and resists the kind of integration achieved by Augustine and Aquinas. Managing the conflict between religion and evolution by containing them in separate “frames,” as Stephen J. Gould suggested, does not resolve the issue. Science may have displaced religion from the public square, but the traditional science‐religion conflict has become threadbare in intellectual terms. Scientific theories have become increasingly abstract, and science has been attacked from the left as a source of objective knowledge. However, technology, not science, has displaced religious belief, a phenomenon I call techno‐secularism. Robert Coles's suggestion that secularism is a form of doubt inevitably attached to religious belief, and William James's reduction of religious experiences to psychological states, evaluating them according to their “cash value,” are unhelpful. Technology enables us to remake our environment according to our wishes and has become a kind of magic that replaces not just revealed religion but also theoretical science. Techno‐secularism has an ethical vision that focuses on healthful living, self‐fulfillment, and avoiding the struggles of human life and the inevitability of death.
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RELIGION AND SCIENCE THROUGH THE AGES: RESPONSE TO MARANGUDAKIS
Abstract This paper is in response to an article by Professor Marangudakis in Zygon in which he presented a “grand narrative” that predicted the coming of a new “axial age” (Marangudakis, 2012). In his article, Marangudakis criticized parts of my article in Zygon, “Athens, Jerusalem and the Arrival of Techno‐Secularism” (Caiazza, 2005). Two issues separate us: first, whether the Athens/Jerusalem dilemma can or should be overcome in a new axial age, and second, how benign future technological developments will be. Marangudakis thinks that the Athens/Jerusalem dichotomy will be overcome, whereas I think that the dichotomy should and will persist in future ages. I am suspicious of the future effects of current technologies, since they give political elites increased control over the individual, while Marangudakis generally applauds the new technologies (especially biotechnology). The Athens/Jerusalem dichotomy arises as an inevitable part of monotheistic religious belief.
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THE ATHENS/JERUSALEM TEMPLATE AND THE TECHNO‐SECULARISM THESIS—KICKING THE CAN DOWN THE ROAD
The publication of my article “Athens, Jerusalem, and the Arrival of Techno‐secularism” (2005) in Zygon was followed by twenty‐one responses, most of them critical. In this essay I reply by clarifying the earlier one, separating out its two major theses: the Athens/Jerusalem template and the techno‐secularism thesis. The Athens/Jerusalem template is a typology that provides a historical basis for understanding why religion/science conflicts persist by showing that the contrasts between intellectual knowledge and revealed knowledge are permanent features of Western cultural history. Postmodern criticisms often have a negative edge, rejecting “canonical” accounts but not presenting alternative explanations. Historical context is helpful in understanding religion/science conflicts, which continue to exist. The present cultural situation is that technology is replacing religion—and science—as the dominant condition and theory of our culture. Evidence for the techno‐secularism thesis can be seen in the nature of electronic entertainment, which invades the silence required for religious contemplation and obscures the scientific laws that are the basis for the new technology.
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The Evolution Versus Religion Controversy: How Two Mystiques Devolved Into Politics
Caiazza discusses the irresolvable controversy of the last century, one not quite as old as the evolution controversy, and one which took place on different grounds in a different place, namely the Dreyfus Affair and its aftermath. Among other things, he describes how the affair caused the polarization of French political life, making no sense to some of the original group of Christian Dreyfusards, among them Charles Peguy. He remarks that Peguy's phrase about the degeneration of mystiques into politics helps explain why the great debate between evolution and religion still goes on, and which makes evolution constitutive of a political movement and not just another scientific theory.
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Political Dilemmas of Social Biology
The extent to which the emergence of social biology has threatened left-wing & right-wing understandings of human behavior is considered. An overview of social biology's conceptual origins & initial influence upon the human sciences is provided. It is contended that social biology challenges left-wing parties' foundations for supporting egalitarian social agendas & has forced left-wing perspectives to emphasize cultural influences upon human behavior. Conversely, it is asserted that right-wing parties' conventional championing of religious & traditional values has been disrupted by social biology; specifically, it is stressed that social biology's materialist & reductionist nature provides a morality-neutral account of human nature, a development that is antithetical to right-wing groups' value-laden account of human nature. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that left-wing & right-wing parties' stringent efforts to counteract social biological explanations of human behavior illustrate the extent of their concern with social biology; nevertheless, left-wing & right-wing scholars & politicians are cautioned that continued attacks against social biology may reduce the legitimacy of their accounts of human behavior. J. W. Parker
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Dr. Robert Coles, Children, and the Sacred
Caiazza comments on Children of Crisis by Robert Coles. It is composed of three sections, one on Coles's method of research; a central section consisting of accounts of his interviews with children, parents, teachers, and advocates and opponents of school desegregation; a third section that contains final conclusions and reflections.
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The arrival of techno-secularism
In modern times, secular knowledge has been represented not by ancient philosophy, but by modern empirical science, and the conflict has continued under the rubric of \"religion versus science.\" It is in this context that the 150-year-old controversy between evolution and religion is best understood.
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Science and conservative thought
Different \"stars\" of science and their integration into traditional culture are discussed, including Carl Sagan, who promoted scientific naturalism in television series about outer space. However, the barriers to integrating science with tradition are located as much in our conservative series as in the media stars propagandizing for science.
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Social science and the future of sexuality
The recent publication of two books provides an opportunity to reflect on the profound but destructive influence of social science on culture's attitudes towards sexual behavior. These two books make the case that social science was corruptly used to convince the American public that a deterioration of its traditional sexual morality, transmitted by tradition and sustained by religion, was an inevitable process which would result in a progressive, healthful, and expressive attitude towards sexuality.
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