[Peace-discuss] Chomsky on religion and the ethics of war

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Chomsky on religion and the ethics of war
	William Crawley | 13:40 UK time, Sunday, 25 October 2009

"I don't join the New Atheists. So, for example, I wouldn't have the arrogance 
to lecture some mother who hopes to see her dying child in heaven -- that's none 
of my business ultimately. I won't lecture her on the philosophy of science."

That's how Noam Chomsky responded today, during our conversation about politics 
and religion. While Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens challenge the claim that 
religion has made any constructive contribution to the world, Chomshy lauded the 
sacrificial work of the murdered Archbishop Oscar Romero and the social critique 
of liberationist theology.

When I asked him for contemporary examples of religion making a positive 
contribution, he told me this: "The Catholic Bishops Conference in the United 
States comes out with statements that are so progressive that the press won't 
report them. The Pope's new year messages are often not reported because they 
would be considered so far 'to the left' (whatever that means in the US spectrum)."

Though himself an atheist or agnostic, Chomsky opposed both the tone and the 
focus of the new atheist movement. Here's another excerpt from today's interview:

Chomsky: "I'm not impressed with it, frankly. And I don't think they address the 
concerns, feelings and commitments of seriously religious people. Yes, they do 
address the concerns of people who think the world was created ten thousand 
years ago, but they're not going to listen to these arguments -- not in the 
arrogant form in which they are presented. Discourse is possible. And if people 
want to believe in, say, a future life, or a divine figure, that's their right. 
What does bother me much more is, for example, reading publications from the 
Hoover Institute at Stanford University which describe Ronald Reagan, their 
divinity, as a 'colossus' striding over the country whose spirit looks over us 
like a loving ghost.

Crawley: "Good Lord."

Chomsky: "Yeah, I'm almost literally quoting. When secular figures are turned 
into divinities, they way they are in Peian Yang or Stanford University -- that 
I don't like."

We also talked about pacifism and the justification of war. Noam Chomsky denied 
that he was a complete pacifist. He supported the Allied military response to 
Hitler, and when pressed he accepted that the British intervention in Sierra 
Leone was justified. But, in general, he said, the case for war is a very hard 
sell, and governments turn to military action much too easily, without fully 
exhausting peaceful means.

Noam Chomsky was speaking to me, ahead of his visit to Belfast next week. He'll 
be giving this year's Amnesty International Lecture on Friday evening. That 
event has been sold out for quite some time, but the lecture and audience event 
will eventually be screened online on the Amnesty website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/10/chomsky_on_religion_and_the_et.html