Session 6a: Us versus Them
3rd Global Conference
Thursday 15th March – Saturday 17th March 2012
Prague, Czech Republic
How Jonathan Edwards Unmasks Religious Hypocrisy
Bruce Davidson
Hokusei Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan
Uncovering the evil of religious hypocrisy was a persistent concern in the writings and career of Jonathan Edwards, the American theologian and philosopher (1703-1758). In his view, the essence of all evil and the root of all hypocrisy was narcissism. Edwards considered that the faith of false converts arose from purely self-centered concerns. Naturally the hypocrite often had a high degree of self-confidence –what people nowadays would call high self-esteem. Edwards discovered in scripture and in his own observations a set of signs that often reveals the presence of religious hypocrisy. One was an overriding concern for emotional and mystical experiences rather than moral life and character. Self-centeredness also led the hypocrite away from the realm of objective truth and rationality. Usually the religious hypocrite embraces a customized theology, fashioning a deity and a religious life that suits him. In contrast, authentic piety springs from genuine love for God that goes beyond simple self-interest and manifests its reality in the form of a consistent, transformed life and character that stands the test of time. If he were alive today, Edwards would probably see the mystical and psychotherapeutic trends of the contemporary world as an encouragement to self-delusion and religious hypocrisy.
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Mortality Salience and the Rhetoric of Demonisation
Charlene Burns
Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire, USA
Terror Management Theory (TMT) is a robust construct from social psychology that sheds light on the process through which people justify committing acts of evil. In this theory human motivations arise from tension between biological instincts for self-preservation and awareness of the reality of death (Mortality Salience). Human cultural groups manage the ever-present nascent terror by constructing worldviews that resolve existential panic in the face of death and instilling a sense of self as valuable in a world of meaning. Empirical research supports TMT claims that religions are especially powerful in ameliorating this anxiety because they promise immortality and are grounded in concepts not easily disproven. If we live up to the expectations and values of our cultures we ultimately qualify for death transcendence. Increased Mortality Salience due to challenges to worldview lead us to attempt resolution through attempts to convert the Other to our worldview, demeaning the other, assimilation of others into one’s own worldview, or accommodation. Should these methods fail to defuse the threat, the most extreme and yet most effective approach is to eliminate the problem through annihilation of the other. In this paper I test the claims of TMT through analysis of the writings of two historical figures — 16th Century Christian reformer Martin Luther and 19th Century Presiding Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, Confederate States of America Stephen Elliott– in order to assess the usefulness of this theory in deepening our understanding of the rhetoric of demonization.
Download Draft Conference Paper (pdf)
We Do Not Tortue: American Exceptionalism and the Evil of Torture in Popular Culture
Mikko Poutanen
University of Tampere, Finland
The paper I wish to present is centred on the concept of American exceptionalism specifically in the context of how it has redefined previously set moral boundaries of good and evil in the application of American foreign policy. The most notable, or rather notorious, example of this has been the claimed use of torture to acquire intelligence in the War on Terror. I will seek to discuss the unique concept of moral absolutes based on American exceptionalism to explain how at the same time an objectively evil moral act can be justified by a subjective reframing of the narrative. An established narrative is crucial for either condemning evil acts in the case of those who would seek to accuse the United States of war crimes, or in defending evil acts as a necessity to the point of claiming they were not evil at all.
All of this speaks to the malleable nature of evil which is quick to adapt and adjust, and to provide a narrative of necessity and even victimhood to offer legitimizing factors for those who want to deflect accusations of evil. Joining torture and evil is a controversial topic, also often employed in popular culture, notably in television series such as 24, and Battlestar Galactica. These popular culture conceptions of torture can either amplify the critique of evil, or again reinforce the narrative of the ticking time bomb, where no options are presented. Ironically, it is also possible that the public can observe a more critical narrative on torture (and evil) via popular torture than at times is presented by the news media.
The topics described will provide with a concise and yet fascinating topical study on how evil in torture is perceived, and how it affects public discourse especially in the United States today.
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