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– THE MYSTERY OF BEING HUMAN – death in war; and Communism (in theory at least) privileged the inhabitants of the distant future over the expendable present generation. The millenarian and the totalitarian converge at so many points, not least in the terrible ironies of the distance between the radiant theory and hideous practice. What Albert Camus referred to as ‘slave camps under the flag of freedom’ mirror the torture and blood baths of religious wars waged to promote the teachings of the Prince of Peace. In the ever-receding future of the earthly Paradise promised by totalitarian regimes, a future for the sake of which nothing or no-one should be spared, the prospect of choirs of angels and a pleased deity is replaced by the expected gratitude of generations to come. In this respect, as in so many others, these secular religions are deeply anti-humanist. CODA: INFIDELS AWAKE! SALUTE THE HAPPY MORN The provision of transcendental, and hence unchallengeable, justification for the establishment and maintenance of political power based on hatreds old and new, might seem a warning to humanism to distance itself from religious modes of thought. Even so, there is, as Philip Larkin wrote, something that ‘never can be obsolete’: 212
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– God and Eternity for Infidels – Since someone will forever be surprising A hunger in himself to be more serious – ‘Churchgoing’ A hunger, that is, that the ideas of God and eternity seem uniquely to address; a seriousness without which life is in danger of becoming two-dimensional. Taking humanity seriously therefore includes engaging with the undelivered hopes and promises of religion; reflecting on what our religious past and present says about us and on the extraordinary truth that for much of history humans have lived their lives in the light and darkness of ideas to which, according to humanism, nothing corresponds. What kind of creatures are we that are able to create such wonderful works and perform such terrible deeds at the prompting of a God that does not exist? And, more to the point, what kind of future can we make for ourselves when we are free of this notion but do not wish to lose the profundity from which it grew? A passage from an ex-Christian Diarmid ­MacCulloch in his Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years is particularly pertinent: I still appreciate the seriousness which a religious mentality brings to the mystery and misery of human existence, and I appreciate the solemnity of religious liturgy as a way of confronting these problems. 213

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– THE MYSTERY OF BEING HUMAN –

death in war; and Communism (in theory at least) privileged the inhabitants of the distant future over the expendable present generation.

The millenarian and the totalitarian converge at so many points, not least in the terrible ironies of the distance between the radiant theory and hideous practice. What Albert Camus referred to as ‘slave camps under the flag of freedom’ mirror the torture and blood baths of religious wars waged to promote the teachings of the Prince of Peace. In the ever-receding future of the earthly Paradise promised by totalitarian regimes, a future for the sake of which nothing or no-one should be spared, the prospect of choirs of angels and a pleased deity is replaced by the expected gratitude of generations to come. In this respect, as in so many others, these secular religions are deeply anti-humanist.

CODA:

INFIDELS AWAKE! SALUTE THE HAPPY MORN

The provision of transcendental, and hence unchallengeable, justification for the establishment and maintenance of political power based on hatreds old and new, might seem a warning to humanism to distance itself from religious modes of thought. Even so, there is, as Philip Larkin wrote, something that ‘never can be obsolete’:

212

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