The Abuse of Evil by Richard J. Bernstein

Author:Richard J. Bernstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley

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Evil and the Corruption of Religion

The popular post-9/11 discourse about good and evil corrupts religion. There is no doubt that the religious right in the United States has been exerting a growing influence on American politics. But we must not identify religion with the religious right – or with what has been called the “New Christian Right.” We must not allow any denomination, group, or coalition of religious groups to “steal” the mantle of religion and to determine what is evil. In my introduction, I indicated that at the heart of the world religions – including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – the concern with good and evil has been central. Every religion seeks to characterize what is good and evil – and how we are to combat the evil that lies within us and within the world. From the perspective of monotheistic religions, it is God who is the source and ground of our morality – the basis for distinguishing good and evil. Many modern thinkers have maintained that we do not have to appeal to religion to ground our morality. Kant was a Christian believer who has had a great influence on Protestant theology and religious thought. Nevertheless, he categorically asserts “for its own sake morality does not need religion at all . . . by virtue of pure practical reason it is self-sufficient” (Kant 1960: 3). But this is not what many ordinary religious persons believe; on the contrary, they believe that religious faith grounds morality and the knowledge of good and evil.

When we examine the world religions, we discover that in every great religious tradition there has been an ongoing discussion and debate about the very meaning of good and evil. Living religious traditions are not monolithic. There really is no such thing as the religious understanding of good and evil. There is no such thing as the Christian, the Jewish, or the Islamic conception of good and evil. And this is just as true for the entire range of living religious traditions. Plurality and diversity are not threats to religious traditions; they are what keep religious traditions alive. Religious concepts of good and evil are essentially contested concepts. To say that good and evil are essentially contested is not to say, “Anything goes.” On the contrary, it means that one is under an obligation to explain and justify one’s distinctive religious understanding of good and evil. There is a great religious tradition of faith seeking understanding. And this seeking involves questioning, thinking, and struggling to clarify and deepen one’s faith. Alasdair Macintyre gives us one of the best succinct definitions of a tradition – including a religious tradition. He tells us that “a tradition not only embodies the narrative of an argument, but is recovered by the argumentative retelling of that narrative which will itself be in conflict with other argumentative retellings” (Macintyre 1977: 461). This applies to the retelling of competing conceptions of good and evil. Consequently, we betray what is best in a living religious tradition when we identify religion with uncritical dogmatism or fanaticism.

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