America's Holy War of Secular Theologies
Marisa Van Saanen Monday, 29 November 2010
The provocative premise of Robert Nelson's The New Holy Wars is that the most important American "religions" today are not any of the world religions (nor the fundamentalist strands of those religions that populate the headlines), but actually two forms of "secular religion" that have emerged out of the Judeo-Christian traditions of Western civilization. First, economic religion, which Nelson argues is responsible for the modern centralized regulatory and welfare state, promotes a narrative that "human beings can produce an ideal world, or heaven on earth, by ending material poverty through productivity, efficiency, and scientific management" (348). Second, environmental religion proclaims that "[W]e once had an ideal world, or Eden, which was destroyed by progress, economic growth, and industry, and ... we must repent and return, to Eden" (348).
Environmental religion is in part a reaction against the perceived excesses and dominance of economic religion, and its influence is growing in the 21st century. And, Nelson argues, the conflict between these secular theologies is not only the foundation of our modern social debate, but will continue to have deep implications for how we order our society's relationship with nature.
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