There are two types of atheistic criticism of our society. Christopher Hitchens’ legacy was the idea that belief in the divine poisons everything; makes life unliveable for us in society together. The criticism of Bertrand Russell, however, focused on the base human desire for power and control, which is manifested in religion, in politics, in war, in family structures.
The former critique is important but short-sighted. We all practise this first kind of critique, against other religions if we are religious, and against all religions if we are atheistic. We all see that certain world-views (always belonging to ‘others’) are poisionous and so we reject their implementation amongst us and stick to what works and seems sensible to us. As soon as one begins with this first critique it’s noticeable straight away that we are dealing with issues of power and control; as we are in all our relationships and politics.
The latter critique has a further-reaching power to it. Power and control are issues for all of us. In regards to power and control, dominance and aggression, none of us can call ourselves free, free-thinkers, objective. Even more, we’ve all been involved in wielding power against others, we’ve all played a role in the societal problems of racism, classism, colonialism and every other reduction of the power of others and the expansion of our own control. This latter critique allows none of us the higher ground. By all being now responsible for participating in structures of dominance and control, whether religious or political, we are all also responsible for dismantling those structures when they result in injustice and oppression, religious, political and cultural.
A critique of religion, alone, will not do. Marx and Freud started with a critique of power and control, basic human desires, and moved to a criticism of religion from that starting point (an important move). We need to move to self-criticism, in terms of power and control, as the ultimate criticism. I know many irreligious who feel they are ‘right’ in their rejection of belief and religiosity - but stop there in terms of their participation in helping this world be free. I know many religious who feel they are ‘right’ in their rejection of unbelief and licentiousness - but stop there in terms of their participation in helping this world be free. We must move from a critique of belief and unbelief to a critique of ourselves, all of us, in terms of how we are wielding power and control. This is not a move we a free to avoid because even in our inaction we are enabling and allowing systems of dominance and exploitation to continue.
