Is Christianity the cause of humankind’s decline? Perhaps not specifically Christianity as much as what any extreme giving of oneself over to any cultural or religious structure, which may lead to the relinquishing of rational thinking and submission to systematic forces that are not questioned.
Nietzsche delves deeply into the dangers of people positioning themselves within a system of beliefs where faith is the root. Such faith can perpetuate and/or excuse non-moral behavior and/or irrational behavior. How is that better than living without any structure, without any rules of conduct wherein a supreme being is believed to be the ultimate judge and dictator? When nations clash and cultural differences lead to war, violence and hostility, where is the value in faith then? It is this notion that Nietzche touches on when he refers to the “Evil One”. “Christianity has taken the side of everything weak, base, ill-constituted, it has made an ideal out of opposition to the preservative instincts of strong life; it has depraved the reason even of the intellectually strongest natures by teaching men to feel the supreme values of intellectuality as sinful, as misleading, as temptations” (128-129). The act of surrendering one’s instincts is to become depraved, and in turn, loses moral value. If we forgo our capacity to utilize our natural instincts, our intellect, then we have made ourselves weak.
The Anti-Christ expresses a severe distaste for the lack of use of reason, the relinquishing of one’s power to think, to pull from within oneself a sense of what is, in relation to what are the confines of faith. To have faith does not make one moral, but rather requires one’s submission of what is real, natural, and intentional use of reason. The confines of faith are that one is required to repress all natural states of being and acting with oneself, and instead is attached to a system, a system where personal instincts, drive, and reason are replaced with dogmatic principles and authority. Nietzsche argues that there is no moral value in such a system.
Religion has failed to serve as a definite guarantee for morality. There is no certainty to the value of morality in relation to faith, regardless of the religion and the time, which is a problem that The Anti Christ details through the critique of Christianity, Judaism, and all organized religion. Throughout the almost systematic attack on Christianity, the terms and principles based in the religious structure are shredded and redefined as baseless, demoralizing, and harmful to all who lie in its path.
Undoubtedly, there are issues in any religious, moral system. However, is that problem truly rooted in religion's desire to stifle instinct? I don't think that giving in to our instincts and disregarding any reason to control them is the best way to live. Reason is a higher faculty of man, how is engaging in reasoning becoming "depraved," as Pauline summarizes Nietzsche here?
ReplyDeleteYes, there have been so many wars and catastrophes that resulted from religious conflict. Although it is the people who are responsible for these conflicts; the idea of war is not in the bible or other religious texts. It seems as if it is the peoples interpretation of the bible mixed in with their own ideas which cause these problems. So, is there a difference between religion and how it was originally intended to be, to how it is?
ReplyDeleteit seems as if religion is the picture on the cover for the book of war; and since the people have said that religion is that way, democratically, it is.
Well, I think the danger in religion isn't that the religious text demands one act in violence toward another. It is the narrowing of mind, of reason to follow a strict interpretation of the text that creates rigidity and sometimes leads to the kind of chaos we've seen result from religious fanaticism.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with Pauline that religious texts lead to the "narrowing of mind" which then results in people having a limited understanding and limited sympathy towards other religions. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but not once do other religious texts - Bible, Koran, or the Hebrew Bible, for example - speak of any support or empathy for other religions. They strictly limit themselves to reason within their own.
ReplyDeleteAs a result, extremely religious people, who show similar aspects as to an obsession, can lead to hostility from their part towards people who do not follow that respective religion.