In our image
A scholar argues that God is humanity’s mirror
Reza Aslan has examined the integration of religion and culture in “No God But God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam” (2010) and “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” (2014). His latest attempt surveys the human inclination to project our thoughts, emotions and values upon a being who literally reflects our own experiences: “We fashion our religions and cultures, our societies and governments, according to our own human urges, all the while convincing ourselves that those urges are God’s.”
Religious worldviews have been used to validate the social construction of gender, the rules for society, the basis of governance (from city-state to empire), and concepts of justice, morality, and the afterlife. This is not a book about the nature of God butthe nature of us.
Mr. Aslan begins with primordial humans (using Adam and Eve as symbolic models) and explores the many social scientific theories of the rise of what we deem “religion.” Religion as a unified system did not exist until the 17th century; the ancients understood divinity as permeating every aspect of daily life. From the cave paintings of huntergatherers to modern articulations of our place in the universe, Mr. Aslan demonstrates that all religions share the common element of humanizing God(s).
Why do we do this? It appears to be an inherent trait of the human brain and the ways in which we seek meaning in a reality that exists beyond ourselves. However, there is a dark side to this reality; humans are not perfect. While tracing the ancient concept of animism to polytheism to modern monotheism, he discusses the problem of theodicy: How can a benevolent, omnipotent God also be responsible for evil?
The ancients solved this problem by assigning both natural as well as individual disasters to various divine beings. Like humans, these divinities became angry, jealous, and often contradicted the rules of society. In the three Western religious traditions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), the source of evil was not God, but human sin. The cultural articulation of “sin” (and who committed sin) was a human projection of our needs and wants onto God. By humanizing God, we assigned divine status to our evil nature as well. Hence, we rationalize religious exclusion and violence in God’s name.
Mr. Aslan’s solution is to “dehumanize God,” to encourage people to understand the existence of a reality that goes beyond human experience. We can do this through analogy, he says: “Think of God as a light that passes through a prism, refracting into countless colors. The individual colors seem different from each other but in reality they are the same. They have the same essence. They have the same source. In this way, what seems on the surface to be separate and distinct is in fact a single reality, and that reality is what we call God.” The “countless colors” sanction the diversity of beliefs while maintaining the oneness of the divine as the basis of a shared concept that could unify our planet.
A pipe dream? Are humans capable of articulating a divine essence without the lens of human experience?
Missing from the book is a detailed study of the human experience of “revelation,” the claim that God communicates with humans. It is surprising that this emotional experience of being possessed by God to channel his wishes is not discussed. Is this also a physiological element of the brain, survival skills, or simply a rationalization of dogma and practice? At the same time, the positive role of the function of religious beliefs and rituals in ethnic identity and community cohesion is neglected. The 80 pages of footnotes would have better served to shore up his arguments in the text, even at the risk of making it longer.
Whether you agree with him or not, Reza Aslan has provided a fascinating exploration of the interaction of our humanity and God.