The Future of an Illusion

Author(s): Christopher Hitchens

Source: Daedalus, Vol. 132, No. 3, On Secularism & Religion (Summer, 2003), pp. 83-87
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences
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Christopher Hitchens
The future of an illusion

1
Karl Marx
a

was

neither

a determinist

and never

vulgar materialist
was "the
opium
religion

nor

said that

of the people."

What he did say, in his CritiqueofHegeVs

was that itwas at
Philosophy of Right,
once the
of inhuman condi
expression
tions and the protest against them : "the
heart of a heartless world
; the sigh of the
the spirit of a spirit
creature;
oppressed
he said,
less situation."
Secular criticism,
to "pluck the flowers
had endeavored
from the chain, not in order that man
shall wear the chain without
consolation
so
can
he
but
that
break the chain and
"
cull the living flower.
Itwas only in this
context and with these metaphors
that
as an opiate, and
he described
religion
even then not as we would now define a
'con
(or mind-expanding)
mind-dulling
as
an
trolled substance,'
but rather
anal
gesic on the Victorian model.
On his analysis,
the likelihood
that
ever wither
or go
would
away
religion
as very
into a decline must be reckoned
its
the
of
However,
slight.
possibility
a
or a
belief
private
becoming
purely
Christopher Hitchens is visiting professor of lib
eral studies at theGraduate Faculty of The New
School and I. E Stone Visiting Fellow at theUni
He is also a colum
versity of California, Berkeley.
"
nistfor "Vanity Fair. His most recent book is
"Why Orwell Matters" (2002).

source

of comfort

rather than
state
of
and society
should not
be dismissed
either. Freud only extended

personal
amatter

this idea in his celebrated

essay The Fu
ture of an Illusion, by pointing
out the ex
close
correlation
between
traordinarily
doctrines

of immortality
and redemp
human
tion, and the inextinguishable
desire to defeat or transcend death. For
as
as
him, faith was ineradicable
long
humans were in fear of personal
annihi
- a
lation
that seems likely
contingency
to persist. But the strength and
tenacity
of the belief
an illusion

did not make

it any less of

2
of atheism
(and
superiority
also of what I prefer to call anti-theism
and has been called miso-theism)
is less
often stressed than its intellectual
supe

The moral

riority. The intellectual

advantage
hardly
:
we
needs elaboration
do not normally
at face
assertions
accept unprovable
however devoutly
they are main
con
and we possess
increasingly
matters
of
that
vincing explanations
once
the province
of the su
lay within
and
pernatural.
Skepticism
inquiry and
are
means
we have
the
doubt
by which
as we pos
established
such a civilization
sess ;
are a hin
sheer
of
faith
professions
value,

tained,

drance

to investigations

both moral

material.

dalus

Summer

2003

83

and

Christopher
Hitchens
on
secularism

& religion

However,
for atheism

there are some moral

cent fluctuations

in religious fervor and

the evidence
is that millions
allegiance,
of adults now live this way (probably
in their number a fair propor
including
at churches,
tion of the congregations
The Dutch,
and
mosques,
synagogues).

claims

that may be worth putting

First, and most conspicuously,
the atheist cannot be entirely happy with
to death
To be resigned
his conclusion.
is not always a consola
and extinction
tion even to the Stoic
though it does
forward.

some accounts,
by
secularist majority.

its satisfactions.
these satis
Among
at any rate, one can include the
factions,
that mere wish
reasonable
certainty
not
did
help to stack one's in
thinking
tellectual deck. Second, the atheist can

have

3
ismuch
We live in a time when physics
more awe-inspiring
than any faith or any
man-made
deity, and when Galileo's
- that the solar
realization
system is not
has
itself
been
earth-centered
eclipsed
so that we can see the
and re-eclipsed,
solar system itself as a dim and flicker
sweep of
Paradoxical

galaxies
that
ly, it is those who calmly recognize
we are alone who may have the better
life with such
chance of investing human
as it
to possess.
might be made
who decide to try and lead ethi
an invisible authority
cal lives without
are also 'blessed' in another way, be

meaning
Those

a church, a
they do not require
or
or a reinforcing
dogma
priesthood,
some
is
ele
All that is needed
catechism.
to
and the willingness
fortitude,
mentary
cause

follow
wherever

the flickering
candle of reason
itmay lead. Despite many re

84 D

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2003

Ireland

to adopt a confessional
allegiance.
the country with the
For me, however,
most
and intelligent
secular
impressive
recent vic
is India - most
ist movement
clined

tim of the stupidity

lized faith.

and cruelty

of mobi

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well,

That for all they care, I can go to hell.

in an unimaginable
and constellations.

In Northern

government
recently, despite
or
to register as Protestant
inducements
in the census
if only on the
Catholic
false promise
of compensation
for past
-12
of
de
wrongs
percent
respondents

it deftly

ing bulb

an actual

British

expect to be free of the pervasive

solip
sism that disfigures
If
religious
thought.
or a comet
an
should
occur,
earthquake
fill the sky, he can be sure that this devel
is not all, indeed not at all, about
opment
and vain human
his own brief existence
aspirations. W. H. Auden put
when he wrote
(as a hopeful Anglican)

now have

4
Those who write about religion and who
tell me that it stands for, or substitutes
or
or emotional
for, various nationalist
I
needs, are telling me what
is
and
know
what
trying
already
nobody
to deny. Those who maintain
that it is a
force in human
strong and continuing
affairs are simply bashing
their shoul

historical

ders against an open door: I knew that

too. Those who write about religion and
create
tell me that "God does not merely
than
he
other
himselfalso
something
are
to
this
himself
other,"
gives
claiming
to know

that they cannot

something
know. If Imade a concession

possibly
an argument

in

itwould
the religious,
to admit that there
be this : I am willing
a
may be unknowable
things. It's poor
to be told that
return for this admission
with

already know the mind of

was the
to
That
god.
ground of argument
an
of
and
what's
the
with
point
begin
ineffable deity if he can be so readily
like
by banal mammals
comprehended
the devout

ourselves?
expected

At

least the faithful

to display

should

a little reverence

be

also true of the 'secular'

here. But apparently

they can't wait to
seize their little shred of local and tem
poral

taken by
irreli
mentality.
Ostensibly
on
based
faith
and
gious despotisms
take the
praise and adoration
invariably

authority.

And why is that? Their god already

the past and the future, and has
on
over
paradise and hints
as the
to get there. His kingdom,

controls

dominion
how

Christians
which

world

the demand

say, is not of this world.

does religion actually
for obedience?

But in
exact

In this one.

How

tyranny

is

If I truly had such a belief, itwould

or at least would have a
chance of doing so. But does it bring con
tentment
to its adherents
?Not at all !
can know no peace until
They
they have
coerced everyone
else into sharing their
news. Does this argue for confi
good
dence in the belief? Not self-evidently.
conclusion,
then, is that
My provisional
happy,

the religious
impulse lies close to the
root of the authoritarian,
if not the total

5
Some

obvious connections
notice even from the most

can't avoid
casual

ob

server:

a
religious absolutism makes
good match with tribal feeling and with
- two
sexual repression
of the base in
gredients

of the fascistic

style. This

is

Stalin and the pre

that
system
regarded the Czar
in the light of the divine is fairly obvious.
China and especially North Korea can be
between

decessor

tears. Versions
of this fantasy appear in
all creeds, with discrepant
degrees of
on the
literal-mindedness
depending
date and on the society.

itarian, personality.

and
rather, that fanaticism
have a strong if not ineluctable
to take a theistic form. The

tendency
connection

this analysis of his agitation

explains his
more
could be
appeal. What
intelligible,
or more
trite ? But how would
it explain
his theology? According
to him, all is de

make me

form of cult worship.

North Korea today
this idolatry to an extent not
attained even by Hitler or Stalin or Mao.
But this observation
does not just mean
what many
take it to mean
that fanati
cism or tyranny can take an atheist form.

manifests

Itmeans,

odd.
confoundedly
you may choose to tell me that
Osama bin Laden (say) is upset about
and Medina,
and
Jerusalem and Mecca
still raw about the Crusades,
and that
Now

cided by heaven, and the true believer

assured eternal luxury and congratula
to the
tion :a vast promise
compared
of this vale of
brevity and vicissitude

forms

the religious

to have modeled
their precepts of
on Confucianism.
The Japa
authority
nese
militarists
emperor-worshiping
of Zen as their inspi
took the principles
ration and employed
them as a training
new
manual.
(See the fascinating
study
a
Zen at War, written
Brian
Victoria,
by
a
was
in
Buddhist
Hitler
savant.)
pagan
some ways but he
got the Roman Cath
shown

to celebrate his
olic bishops
birthday
from the pulpit every year. The other fas
cist leaders in Europe - Mussolini,
Pavel
ic in Croatia, Franco in Spain, Salazar in
- were
in Hungary
in
Portugal, Horthy
more or less
alliance
with
the
explicit
and one of them (Father Tiso in
Vatican,
Slovakia) was actually in holy orders.
Luther
Ah, but what about Martin
Iwould
King, Jr., and Gandhi?
reply,
are not
first, that if religious believers
to accept the connection
be
willing
tween faith and horror as necessary,
they
should be careful in proposing
any close
connection
between
faith and good
works.

The

of black
emancipation
America
and the independence
of India
were not sacred causes :
were
they
fought
for by many people of no religion
(and
opposed by many people of profound
faith). No

supernatural

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Summer

2003

85

The future
of an illusion

Christopher was
Hitchens
on
secularism

& religion

or is necessary

in either

is vindicated

claim

religious
the references

case, and no
by it. Take

to god out of Dr. King's

none of their
and
they lose
speeches
Hin
moral force. Take the ostentatious
duism

out of Gandhi's

worldview

and

you increase the chance that sectarian

in India could have been avert
fratricide
in any case, can
ed. In neither outcome,
it sensibly
in human

that god

be argued
affairs.

intervened

those who wish that he would

Again,
had better be careful what they ask for. If
their god can claim credit for miracles,
for
then he cannot avoid responsibility
many
think

other

drastic

occurrences.

Iwould

and illogical to argue that

of god:
the existence
suffering disproves
there seems to be no ground for connect
ing the two ideas in the first place. But if
Iwere arguing for the existence
of a god,
Iwould be careful to avoid citing happi
ness or
lest I arouse that
good fortune,
same base and illogical (and
corollary)
in the minds
of the uncon
thought
vinced.
it base

6
If Karl Rahner

really said that "the mys

and rad
enfolds
[me] in an ultimate
tery
itself to [me]
ical love which
commends
as salvation and as the real meaning
of
then why should he not
[my] existence,"
be asked how anybody can know this ?
: it
His statement
is inoffensive
enough
a
a crusade or
or
does not propose
jihad
an Inquisition.
But it is circular and
So is his related

meaningless.
"The world

claim

that

receives God, the infinite

to such an ex
and the ineffable mystery,
tent that he himself becomes
its inner
as
most
life." This is just as interesting
some saffron-cloaked
told
by
being
mendicant
that all things are part of the
Few of us have not had
great whole.
:a feel
some moment
of 'transcendence'
ing that there
86 D

ismore

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Summer

to life than the

2003

And few of us have not

strictly material.
:
been tempted by harmless
superstition
a sensation
that something may have
no
for a purpose. However,
happened
has
any nontautological
body
proposed
reason

to suppose that this ismore

than
an emotion,
to
and it is quite possible
once
survive cheerfully
enough,
having
that the problem
of interpre
recognized
tation that superstition
has no
proposes
resolution.
Iwas

I
being intentionally
gentle when
as 'harmless.'
to superstition
I
to be
that it is forgivable
suppose Imean
co
fateful
impressed by, say, apparently
or
moments
unusual
of
incidences,
beauty in the natural order. However,
are to be
while
credulity and solipsism
found in every person,
it is not usually
referred

to praise someone
for
thought advisable
his credulous
It
and solipsistic
aspects.
civ
the
work
education
and
of
is, rather,
to employ rea
ilization to train the mind
son and to respect evidence,
to be modest.
the individual

and to train

Somebody
to detect a divine design in re
claiming
spect of himself may phrase the idea in
even submissiveness.
terms of humility,
But this false modesty
is, as always with
a
of the most
false modesty,
symptom
self-centeredness.
("Don't
majestic
mind me
I'm just busy doing god's
In individuals,
Imust
work.")
say that I
find this mainly
irritating. But by all
means
let them devote some of their day
to prayer and reflection,
and to an
awareness

of the transience

of all things.
not
is
the recogni
however,
Religion,
tion of this private and dutiful attitude.
It is its organized
from the pri
eruption

vate

into the public realm. It is the eleva

tion and collectivization
of credulity and
and
the
of these
arrangement
solipsism,
into institutional
dogma and creed. It is
to decide what shall be
the attempt
taught, what shall be allowed by way of
sexual conduct and speech and even

thought, and what shall be legislated.

And it is the attempt to make such deci
sions beyond challenge,
through the
invocation
of a supernatural
authority.
to do
Inmany places, the attempt
these
as a

Thefuture
of an illusion

accepted
things has been implicitly
failure as well as a his
resounding

torical outrage, and itwill be noticed

that those societies
that honor pluralism
and liberty the most are those that have
in bounds. How
learned to keep religion
efforts to undo
ever, there are constant
the secular state and it is important
for
us never to
what
and
forget
happened,
are
what happens, when
these attempts
successful.

7
A word

in closing

on the 'anti-theist'

position.
I discover when
I read the claims of
even the more meek Tillich-like
theolo
am relieved that
are
gians that I
they
untrue. Iwould positively
detest the all
em
stress-free
embracing,
refulgent,
I have no wish
brace that they propose.
to live in some Disneyland
of the mind
and spirit,

some Nirvana

of utter null

to de
promise
completeness.
Religion's
liver this is inmy opinion plainly false.
But what it can deliver me is the prospect
of serfdom, mental
and physical,
and the
chance to live under fantastic and cruel
laws, or to be subjected

to frantic vio

lence.

is a straight
faith and
murder
and slavery. But that there is a
connection
is undeniable.
I analyze the sermons of bin
When
asserts
Nobody
line of connection

that there
between

Laden, I cannot see how his claim to

is any
divine authority and prompting
better or any worse
than anybody else's.
to dispute his con
And I am not content
clusions

only with

essential

premise.

people

who

share his

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2003

87