Totalitarianism and Religion

Well here it is, my very first blog. After resisting the urge for many years just a single quote was enough to stir me into action. Better late than never, so, before I lose the moment:

"I could never follow Stalin. He puts people in the Gulag." That is what doubters tell themselves to rationalize their rejection of Stalin. But the truth is that Stalin does not send anyone to the Gulag. It is those who have hardened their hearts against him who send themselves to the Gulag through their bourgeois attitudes and counterrevolutionary actions. This was not Stalin's plan at all. He truly wants everyone to go to the Worker's Paradise. And it grieves him that so many harden their hearts against him. But he will not force anyone into the Worker's Paradise against their wishes, he respects their free will. So if you don't want to go to the Gulag, just open your heart to the love of Stalin. And stop resisting him.

The parallels between religion and totalitarianism seem clear; we are wired to make a deal with some protective yet controlling force, a father figure. We willingly accept servitude in both mind and body for a promise of eternal life, infinite love, access to moral truth and importantly an answer to metaphysical questions. The fact that our logical brain knows it is highly improbable is not enough to overcome this incredibly powerful desire to access the transcendental, the need to escape death and the harsh reality of nature. It is so powerful that we are also happy to accept that severe suffering may be needed, as Jesus explains in Peter 2:18-21,23:

You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel. For God is pleased with you when you do what you know is right and patiently endure unfair treatment. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you. For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps…He did not retaliate when he was insulted. When he suffered, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.

Jesus often reminds us that poverty of mind and possession is a blessed path to happiness. Mathew 6.34:

Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Judeo-Christian religions tell us we are "born of sin", already imperfect and requiring salvation from the start, that our most basic human desires to learn and understand are evil, for example when Eve wants to 'be like God in knowing right from wrong' tasting from the Tree of Knowledge. We also find that our deepest desire to wish for a more comfortable life is against the last and most incideous commandment; 'thou shalt not Covet thy neighbor's horse'. So even if you think or dream about having a horse you are going to hell!

It is a recurring control mechanism, prevent the people from wishing for more and promise eternal happiness in the next world in return for obidience and servitude in this life. This seems to contradict a scientific and biological understanding of animal and human nature. Science has shown that we owe our existence to the evolution of these chemical reward structures. Why then would a loving God persecute his creatures for traits that lead to our creation?

If we do not assume that the bible was written by someone who was 'all knowing' then things become easier to comprehend. Instead these books so clearly have the stamp of a 1st century understanding of the natural order and espouse a moral stance which now is considered abhorrent by all but the most religious. There is no doubt that genuine moral wisdom can be found in many religious scripts but they are they are outweighed by instruction designed to protect both the message and more importantly protect the ruling elite whether that be kings, dictators or priests. Without such a belief and fear system it is hard to imagine that we would not have seen less wars and many more internal uprisings.

As some suggest irrational belief systems may have an evolutionary basis. Humans have been very successful as a species partly due to advanced pattern seeking and modeling abilities. But with that comes a predisposition to understand 'natural order' through myth and legend (astrology being a modern example). Another attribute common across primates which seems to offer tribal stability is participants acceptance of a 'class or group hierarchies'. To me the evolution or emergence of totalitarianism and religious ideologies seem a natural progression given that we started with these rather flawed behaviors.

A willingness to 'accept our lot' and 'trust in god' would seem to offer a very clear evolutionary edge and it seems reasonable to imagine that less irrational human groups would either have been out-reproduced or simply died out due in power struggles. In a barbaric and ignorant age many of the core principals of religion would seem to offer an evolutionary edge but perhaps our societies have now outgrown our biological makeup. No longer does this offer a benefit to society and as recent tensions between Islam and the West have shown it now hinders or even threatens our existence.


Knowledge And Questioning

Also of equal abhorrence to totalitarian or theocratic ideologies are activities that lead to questioning, enlightenment, reasoning or a deeper scientific understanding or the world. Both ideologies rely heavily on irrational and unchallengeable dogmas that invade all aspects of the individual; routine, meditation, clothes, hair style, genital mutilation, types of sex allowed and even our deepest and most uncontrollable desires (your neighbors wife!) can lead to conviction of damnation either in hell or the gulag.

In the bible, dogma is protected through the condemnation of inquiry, in Mark 10:5 we hear that to enter heaven one must have 'the faith of a child', again making evil our most human attributes:

"whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it"

And again in Timothy 6:20; all knowledge is sinful unless it praises God:

"Don't listen to people who incessantly say empty words that show no reverence for God, and argue stupidly. They call this "knowledge," but it really isn't."

Destruction of the Inner Self

Only with extreme nihilistic destruction of ones self respect, human instincts, intellect and personal identify, can ideologies break through and grip the mind. But it appears we have a worrying willingness to derive great comfort from such personal sacrifice, perhaps it is hard wired in the brain as more and more studies are showing. Giving up these freedoms appears to unlock a child like sense of comfort (often with a smug sense of superiority) and belonging, 'its OK they're in the Father's hands now'.

So perhaps Freud was right when he suggested that as we reach adulthood and realise the lack of protection our real aging or dieing father can provide we crave a replacement, a stronger more powerful all protecting eternal father figure; the greater our need the more powerful the illusion. This concept certainly ties in with monotheistic religions and even in polytheistic incarnations as far back as 10,000BC we see evidence of father figures in gods such as Horus the sun god, the provider of life and the protector from the dark.

To me it seems clear, when we allow the nihilism of ideologies into our very identity and it achieves its goal of becoming our raison d'être there is no escape. No logic or emotion can persuade otherwise because as shown protection against inquiry and mental progression is built right in to the core of the ideology; knowledge is sin, questioning sends you to hell even a desire to better yourself is a mortal sin etc.


Ideology and Conspiracy Theorists

I think we see this trait in a slightly different form in other successful dogmas too. Consider the classic conspiracist, the New World Order believer; infuriating to debate simply because they have bought so deeply in that no mountain of counter evidence could shift them from their core belief in hidden collusion Somehow the more evidence is put to them, the bigger the conspiracy becomes!

The pyscology of belief and faith is an incredibly complex and difficult subject and hopefully it is an area that science will really start to unravel. Maybe then we will see that it has been shaped by culture but to a greater extent by evolutionary factors.

O great Stalin, O leader of the peoples,
Thou who broughtest man to birth.
Thou who fructifies the earth,
Thou who restorest to centuries,
Thou who makest bloom the spring,
Thou who makest vibrate the musical chords..
Thou, splendour of my spring, O thou,
Sun reflected by millions of heart.