Christianity is content to leave the body alone. Christianity, like all other
religions, sets standards for how the body should be dressed, groomed, and
treated. Hair is a recurring concern for religions: many Protestant sects think hair
should be plain for women and short for men, while Sikh men should never cut
their hair, Hindus may wear their hair matted or tonsured, orthodox Jews may
wear earlocks, and fundamentalist Mormon women wear the "high" hair piled
and curled in specific ways. Facial hair excites religions too, such as the
fundamentalist Muslim requirement that all men sport beards or the opposite
Mormon norm that they do not.
In addition to hair styling, clothing is a prime sign of religious affiliation: the
fundamentalist Mormon women recently seen in the news don similar long,
specially colored dresses; Amish men adopt their suspenders and hats; Sikhs
wear turbans (to contain their unshorn hair); and Muslim pilgrims to Mecca all
put on the same plain, white robes. Orthodox Jews may even strap a phylactery,
a small wooden box with scraps of scripture in it, on their foreheads and arms,
and Muslim women may have to wear scarves or cloaks covering some or all of
their face and body. Sikhs should bear a comb, a bangle, and a short sword, and
both they and Mormons are expected to hitch up a customary kind of underwear.
Clearly religion dictates how one grooms and dresses oneself-not to mention
religious manipulations and operations on the body, such as circumcision and
"female circumcision," tattooing, scarring, piercing, and so on. Religion even
extends into the personal bathing of its practitioners; many religions require
various ritual washings and ablutions-more routine versions of the big Christian
"baptism." Also, religions may contain specific postures and gestures, from the
meditative pose of the Buddhist to the extremities of Hindu yogis, as well as
kneeling, pressing together hands in prayer, making the sign of the cross over the
head and chest, ad infinitum. And last but not least, religion likes to have a say
in human sexual behavior, including who, when, how, and why.
INSTITUTIONS
No religion will succeed unless it can transform its assumptions into longlasting,
socially significant institutions-or, at the very least, insert itself into the existing
institutions of society. The two most obvious points of entry for religion into the
institutional life of a group are family and education. Religion did not invent
either, but as with life events, religion likes to pretend that it did or that only its
particular version of these institutions is the "right" one. Religion may attempt to
dictate the terms of marriage, sexuality, child bearing, child rearing, and familial
roles. It may set up its own educational institutions or demand inclusion in the
general "secular" institutions-with moments of silence, religious displays, or
explicit prayers and religious teachings.
Another potent place for religious intervention is political or governmental
institutions. In some religions, like Islam, religion is essentially law and
jurisprudence, the share a law supposedly providing a guideincluding a court
system-for all decisions from marriage to business to war. Religious penetration
of politics can take many forms, from outright theocracy as in Khomeini's Iran or
Afghanistan under the Taliban (or the theocratic program of the Christian
"dominionists" or "reconstructionists") to pious leadership, to hiring of clergy for
the military, to religious displays on government property, to religious slogans on
money, and to the phrasing of oaths and pledges. Additionally, wherever
religious people go and whatever they do is likely to have the mark of religion
on it, including their workplaces-where employees may erect religious shrines
and employers may organize prayer groups or religious study groups.
Finally, the arts generally, from music and painting and sculpture to literature
and philosophy, are shaped by religious themes: how much of the Western art of
the last two thousand years has been a reiteration of Christian myths and
images? Meanwhile, Greek and Roman art conveyed the religious sentiments of
those cultures, as Hindu and Buddhist art has, while Jewish and Muslim art has
been constrained by the principle that realistic depictions are forbidden. Even
contemporary media like television and movies continue to transmit religious
messages-overtly in The Passion of the Christ and covertly in The Matrix and
other offerings and genres that talk about "the one" and "saviors" and such.
An important fact to remember is that if religions cannot have their place in
the institutions of society, even dominate those institutions, then they will create
their own. If a religion cannot control the secular schools, it will found its own
sectarian or "parochial" ones or else simply "homeschool" its children. In the
extreme, if a religion cannot dominate the government, it may withdraw into
seclusion (like the Amish or the fundamentalist Mormons) or attempt to conquer
the government (like the Taliban) or establish one of its own (like the "Christian
Exodus" movement in the United States that aims to literally occupy and control
its own state government and secede from the United States if necessary-visit
http:// www.christianexodus.com to see their plans for South Carolina).
TIME
Religions define the very notion of time for their members. This is true of large-
scale time keeping, such as calendars and annual cycles. When Westerners state
that it is the year 2010 or whatever, they tacitly declare Christianity's victory
over time: it is the year 2010 according to the Christian calendar, but it is not
"really" 2010 or any other year. Muslims have their own calendar system,
starting from the first year of the Muslim era; Jews have theirs, Hindus have
theirs (actually more than one), Chinese have theirs, Mayans had theirs, and so
on. Not only do religions colonize calendrical time, but they fill the year with
their events and activities, including annual "holidays" as well as shorter cycles,
like seven-day weeks with a "sabbath" day inserted into each one (whether it is
Friday for Muslims, Sat urday forJews, or Sunday for Christians-and for the
Romans they cribbed it from). Religions even determine the macrostructure of
time, whether it is "linear" with a definite end, as in Christianity, or circular with
indefinite time before and after the present, as in Hinduism. At the smaller scale
of time, as we have already mentioned briefly, religions shape the day, defining
when the day even begins (sundown of the previous evening in Judaism,
midnight for some, sunrise for others, etc.) and filling it with religious
observances, such as the five daily prayers of Islam, prayer at meals and
bedtime, hourly church bells, attendance at mass or church, or the like.
SPACE
Finally, religions literally colonize the physical space they inhabit. Even the most
"otherworldly" religions put their sign on the material world. Every religion has
its "sacred places," which may be cities where leaders or institutions are based or
the religion started (as in Rome, Jerusalem, Salt Lake City, or Mecca
) or
locations where important religious events occurred; for many religions, specific
mountains, lakes, rivers, or other features have significance and power. Religions
usually need ceremonial grounds, to conduct rituals or to bury the dead
("consecrated earth"). Most religions construct sacred buildings of some sort,
from cathedrals and mosques to stupas, ashrams, convents, temples, and
synagogues. In addition to their own religious spaces, religions typically try to
brand other public or private spaces. Many religions have an identifying design-
the cross, the crescent, the star of David, the wheel of dharma, the swastika-with
which they tag all the sites they can; they may also place statues, inscriptions,
and other kinds of displays, permanently or occasionally (as at Christmas time).
Among the most extreme examples is the "Christ the Redeemer" statue that
stands over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the 120-foot colossus literally claims the city
as its own. Religious people often carry this branding procedure into their homes
and workplaces, erecting altars, shrines, icons, portraits, mezuzahs, or whatever
the religion requires. And, like the practice of naming people after religious
mythology, places are often named so as well, which literally inscribes the
religion onto the map and immerses believers (and nonbelievers too) into the
geographically reproduced myth-world of the religion. Think, for instance, of
Christian-named places in the United States like New Canaan, Connecticut;
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania; St. Paul, Minnesota; the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
in Colorado, or Corpus Christi ("Christ's body"), Texas.
CULTURE SPREADING INTO CHRISTIANITY
As we said previously, cultural integration is a two-way street: culture adapts to
and is suffused with religion, but religion also adapts to and is suffused with
culture. In other words, not only does religion replicate itself through the many
parts of culture, but culture replicates itself through the religion, recasting a
religion like Christianity in the culture's own image. Loftus is insightful to stress
in his introduction to this volume the adaptive capacities of Christianity or any
religion. Since its inception, Christianity has accommodated itself to its cultural
surroundings-and necessarily so, since a religion that is incompatible with its
cultural context would be unintelligible and therefore unappealing to the people
of that society. The consequence is that there is no such thing as a single, unified,
global Christianity but instead many, different, local Christianities, which often
do not recognize each other, accept each other, or even comprehend each other.
Elaine Pagels finds such religious adaptation in the very founding documents
of Christianity. Each of the four gospels is a product of its particular historical
moment and political perspective, written for-and against-someone; each thus
was influenced by the rival or enemy of the day. Mark, generally held to have
been composed first, "takes a conciliatory attitude toward the Romans" but
quarrels "with the Jewish leaders-the council of elders, the Sanhedrin, along with
the Jerusalem scribes and priests-who had rejected God's Messiah."26 This
Christianity is a dispute between Jewish factions. Matthew reflects the
establishment of a distinct Christian identity and community, separate from "the
Jews," that is, "the majority, who reject the gospel, [and therefore] have forfeited
their legacy"27 Luke, as "the only Gentile author among the gospel writers,
speaks for those Gentile converts to Christianity who consider themselves the
true heirs of Israel"; at the same time, he makes comparative peace with the
Jewish authorities.28 By the time of John, the historically last version, an
exclusive and tight-knit Christian community has emerged, which is commanded
to love each other "while regarding their Jewish opponents as offspring of
Satan."29 To say nothing of the unofficial or "noncanonical" gospels like
Thomas, Mary Magdalene, and Philip, which paint yet divergent portraits of the
man and his mission.
The diversity of Christianity did not end when it was adopted and
institutionalized by the Roman Empire. Rather, differences of opinionnow
branded heresy (from hairesis for "to choose")-persisted, not the least on the
question of Jesus' divinity: Docetists believed that Jesus was purely divine and
not human; Gnostics believed that only they possessed the "mysteries" of Jesus
and could be one with him; Arianism taught that god was not three but one, that
there was no biblical authority for the trinity concept (replacing it with a
"unitarian" view). Books and essays were composed by Christians arguing with
and condemning each other for false doctrine, such as Hippolytus's The
Refutation of All Heresies, Irenaeus's The Detection and Refutation of False
Knowledge, also known as Against Heresies, and Tertullian's "Prescription
against Heretics." The only ways to settle these disputes became fiat and
violence: committees like the Council of Nicaea in 325, overseen by the emperor
Constantine, determined official Christian policy, while as early as 385 Bishop
Priscillian of Spain and six followers had the honor of becoming the first
Christians to be executed over theology.
In order to frilly grasp the inescapable malleability of religions, we must
consider the basic processes of culture and its subdomains including religion.
However much cultures may strive for stasis and equilibrium, they are
continuously subject to change and evolution. New items appear in a culture by
either innovation or diffusion-innovation if inventions or discoveries are made
by members of the society, diffusion if ideas or practices or objects seep into the
society from another society. Simultaneously, old items are lost through
abandonment or replacement. Other existing items undergo reinterpretation in
the light of shifting circumstances and exposure to foreign ideas, new
technologies, and changing environments. Two of the most important and
recurring cultural processes are syncretism and schism, by which cultures are
blended or broken. In syncretism, two or more cultural sources interact, blend, or
fuse to create some new cultural mix; a fine example is the "cargo cult"
phenomenon seen on Pacific Islands as a response to the invasion of Western
soldiers, Western goods, and Western Christianity. In schism, a cultural element
splits into two or more independent items or movements, following separate
courses of development thereafter.
Christianity itself could and should be seen as an innovation or
reinterpretation within Judaism; it started out as a "Jesus movement" along with
multiple competing movements in Roman-occupied Jerusalem, such as the
Essene and Zealot factions. As Christianity spread, local nonChristian elements
diffused in while Christian elements diffused out to the local groups and
religions. Christianity absorbed many influences, from the Latin language and
the hierarchy of the Roman Empire to Germanic/ Nordic practices like yule trees
and Easter eggs. There is ample evidence to conclude that the "date" of Jesus'
birth was borrowed from previous religions l
ike Mithraism, since there is no
basis whatsoever for December 25 in the Christian scriptures.
Like an avalanche, Christianity or any growing and spreading religion or
culture picks up bits and pieces along the way and incorporates them into itself.
But Christianity did not only fuse with local cultures, it also fissioned into
separate and competing, sometimes hostile, cultures. The first great fission was
the permanent split of Eastern (Orthodox) from Western (Latin/Roman)
Christianity around 1054; a temporary and lesser-known schism in the late
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries left the Roman church with two and then
three simultaneous and rival popes. Christianity continued to spit out schisms
before and after that period, including the Albigensian/Cathar, Huguenot, and
Hussite movements; one response to these developments was the establishment
of an Inquisition to root out and destroy schismatics. However, Christianity
underwent another irreparable rupture with Martin Luther's "Protestantism,"
which spawned countless imitators and competitors, such as Calvinists, Baptists,
Quakers, Methodists, and so on. Christianity, if it ever was united (and it was
not), was forever divided. Of course, the immediate result of these divisions was
fratricidal war for more than a century.
American Christianity is thus not unique in its history of innovation, diffusion,
loss, reinterpretation, syncretism, and schism, but it is noteworthy: Alexis de
Tocqueville commented in 1830 that the United States was distinctive not only
for its general high level of religiosity but for the diversity of its religion, the
"innumerable multitude of sects" it contained.30 Americans were great religious
practitioners but also great religious innovators:
Here and there throughout American society you meet men filled with an
enthusiastic, almost fierce, spirituality such as cannot be found in Europe.
From time to time strange sects arise which strive to open extraordinary
roads to eternal happiness. Forms of religious madness are very common
there.31
Indeed, the list of new and exceptional forms of Christianity born in the United
States is truly impressive, while every kind of Christianity and other religion
ever known to humankind can be found here as well. And those religions foreign
to America, like Buddhism, were given an American stamp: most American
Buddhists practice a very different religion than, say, Thai or Vietnamese
Buddhists, a distinct version of "American Buddhism."
America's religious fertility has produced a colorful pageantry. While
Baptism, Quakerism, and Methodism were not invented here, they achieved their
greatest success here. The period from 1720 to 1750, known as the First Great
Awakening, saw the rise of a distinctive type of revivalist, evangelist, and
populist style of Christianity that is still seen today. At the same time,
"spiritualist" traditions like Swedenborgianism (which survives today: see
http://www.swedenborg.org) mixed facets of Christianity with other features
that, even at the time, were regarded as "new age." A Second Great Awakening
occurred in the early/mid-1800s, much of it in upstate New York, which was
actually dubbed "the burned-over district" for the plethora of religious
movements that flared there. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(Mormons) appeared in this era, as did the Millerites and Seventh-Day
Adventists; other groups like the Shakers saw their greatest growth. Also, a
movement toward "primitive" or nondenominational Christianity emerged as
congregations began calling themselves simply "Christian" or "Disciples of
Christ." Around 1827, William Nelson Darby gave modern Christianity one of
its more enduring innovations, the notion of the "rapture," which most American
Why Faith Fails The Christian Delusion Page 4
