Tapsearch Com EditorReligion vs. family
August 3rd 2007 01:22
Steven Pinker has a great piece about genealogy in The New Republic. He's just wrong about religion, though:
There's a certain logic to this, but the simple fact is that religion is primarily transmitted through family. Without family, there's no longstanding tradition to look back on.
Also, this theory predicts that countries with the strongest family ties will have the weakest presence of religion. In fact, we see the opposite -- secular states see the most family breakdown and the highest divorce rates. In fact, many religions prohibit divorce.
He has more of a point regarding love of country, as a look at the Muslim world shows. Steve Sailer often makes the point that cousin marriage is common among Muslims; as a result, their strong family ties and love for nepotism make good government difficult.
But (A) cousin marriage isn't exactly what "the American right" means by "family values." Sailer writes that the difference lies in "extended (as opposed to nuclear) families." And (B) jumping back to hammer the point home on religion, emphasis on family certainly hasn't undermined Muslim nations' commitments to Islam.
Contrary to a shibboleth of the American right, family values do not uphold religion and country; they subvert them. An extended family is a rival coalition to any other group, held together not by an ideology or social contract or common purpose but by brute genetic relatedness. And it is a coalition with an unfair advantage: relatives care for one another more than comrades do. Religions and political movements thus have to undermine family loyalties.
There's a certain logic to this, but the simple fact is that religion is primarily transmitted through family. Without family, there's no longstanding tradition to look back on.
Also, this theory predicts that countries with the strongest family ties will have the weakest presence of religion. In fact, we see the opposite -- secular states see the most family breakdown and the highest divorce rates. In fact, many religions prohibit divorce.
He has more of a point regarding love of country, as a look at the Muslim world shows. Steve Sailer often makes the point that cousin marriage is common among Muslims; as a result, their strong family ties and love for nepotism make good government difficult.
But (A) cousin marriage isn't exactly what "the American right" means by "family values." Sailer writes that the difference lies in "extended (as opposed to nuclear) families." And (B) jumping back to hammer the point home on religion, emphasis on family certainly hasn't undermined Muslim nations' commitments to Islam.
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