A God to Hope For
And Other Essays
by
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"Infidelity," Thomas Paine once wrote, "does not consist in believing or disbelieving. It consists in professing to believe what one does not believe."
Some people embrace religion for social or business purposes. For others, proclamations of belief have become a scam. In that regard, the following thought is instructive: At present, we are witnessing a campaign for the revival of religion which is carried on with all the slickness of modern advertising techniques. Politicians of all parties, many of whom were not at all noted for piety before they began to compete for public office, make sure that they are known as dutiful churchgoers and never fail to bring God into their learned discourses.
Those words could have been written today. But they were written a half-century ago in an introduction to a book of essays by Bertrand Russell entitled Why I Am Not A Christian.
Is a religious revival truly underway? More people are talking publicly about God now than in the past. But there's scant evidence that these people practice what they preach. Instead, we have a plethora of televangelists, politicians with flexible consciences, and others "in the business," who pay lip service to God. "The will of God" is used to justify whatever conduct the speaker chooses. And if caught in a misdeed, miscreants often absolve themselves of responsibility with the mantra, "God has forgiven me."
Still, it's clear that millions upon millions of people have a sincere belief in God. What is the foundation for their belief?
Recent scientific studies indicate that there might be a biological predisposition to believe in God as a consequence of neurological wiring in the brain. Indeed, scientists can now chart the neural circuits that are activated during certain religious experiences. Thus, the belief in God might be as inbred in the human species as other instincts that are necessary for survival such as fear. People believe what gets them through life. Perhaps humanity has needed a belief in God, or Gods, to keep it going through endless hardship. In Darwinian terms, we had to believe in order to survive.
Sigmund Freud taught that the popular concept of an anthropomorphic personal God is a matter of imagination. "Psychoanalysis has made us aware of the intimate connection between the father complex and the belief in God," Freud wrote. "The personal God is psychologically nothing other than a magnified father."
Others believe in God because it's the way they were brought up. It's what they were taught by people they trusted. The belief starts at an early age when a child is sent to a religious institution the same way he or she is sent to school to learn how to read and write. Children in kindergarten aren't old enough to understand why they're there and how education can enhance their life. But it's expected of them, and they go. When a child grows up believing in something from the earliest moments of memory and cognizance, that belief becomes very strong.
A belief in God is also often inculcated as a means of control. "Religion," Seneca wrote, "is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers are useful." Eighteen centuries later, Karl Marx concurred: "Religion als opium des volkes... Religion is the opium of the people." Suffice it to say for the moment that organized religion is the most effective means of controlling minds known to humanity.
Still, for many, apart from all other considerations, a belief in God is embraced because they feel it's the most rational explanation as to how everything in the universe came to be.
Thomas Aquinas was one of the first proponents of "rational theology"—the idea that Christian beliefs can be proven by irrefutable logic in a way that brings faith and reason together. Summa Theologiae, written in 1273, sought to prove the existence of God by means of "natural reason to which we are all compelled to consent." Three primary "proofs" were advanced by Aquinas:
(1) The first cause argument—Everything in the world has a cause. No matter how one explores backward in time, ultimately one comes to a First Cause and that cause is God.
(2) The natural law argument—The operation of the universe is such that a great law-giver has decreed that it be so. The law-giver is God.
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About the Book
We believe that the values we've written about are timeless. Issues might change from decade to decade. One political era evolves into another. But the underlying principles of right and wrong remain the same.
About the Author
In 1977, Hauser began to write. Since then, he has authored twenty-eight books on subjects ranging from professional boxing to Beethoven. His first book—Missing—was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Bancroft Prize, and National Book Award, and served as the basis for the Academy-Award-winning film starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek. The Beethoven Conspiracy—Hauser’s thriller about the search for a lost Beethoven symphony—won the prestigious Prix Lafayette, awarded biannually in France to the outstanding book by an American. Subsequently, Hauser co-authored Final Warning: The Legacy of Chernobyl, again demonstrating his ability to explain and bring to life events of complexity and importance; an ability which has secured his reputation as one of this country’s foremost social critics. The film version of Final Warning starred Jon Voight and Jason Robards.
1991 saw the publication of Hauser’s most important work to date—Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times—the definitive biography of the most famous man on earth. Like Missing, the Ali book was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. The British edition was honored with the William Hill Book of the Year Award in England. Subsequently, Ali and Hauser co-authored HEALING: A Journal of Tolerance And Understanding and criss-crossed the country, meeting with student audiences on their subject. For their efforts to combat bigotry and prejudice, they were named as co-recipients of the 1998 Haviva Reik Award.
Hauser’s books are read worldwide in eighteen languages. He has written articles for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and numerous other publications, and was retained by the Encyclopedia Britannica to author its entries on Arnold Palmer and Muhammad Ali. He lives in Manhattan.
Frank Macchiarola was born in New York City and attended St. Francis College in Brooklyn, the Columbia University School of Law, and Columbia University Graduate Faculties, Department of Public Law and Government. Throughout his career, he has developed interests and expertise in areas of public service, academia, executive management, and law.
As Chancellor of the New York City School System from 1978 to 1983, Macchiarola instituted a series of reforms that have served as models for school systems across the nation. As President of the New York City Partnership from 1983 to 1988, he coordinated the chief executive officers of 120 corporations in an effort to improve economic and social conditions in New York. He has also served inter alia as a Professor of Business and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Columbia University, a Professor of Political Science at the City University of New York, Deputy Director of the New York State Emergency Financial Control Board, President of the Academy of Political Science, and Dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
In 1996, Macchiarola returned to his alma mater, where he currently serves as President of St. Francis College. St. Francis is a Franciscan liberal arts college founded in 1884 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn. It is an independent Catholic College with approximately two thousand undergraduates and 160 faculty members. At St. Francis, in addition to his executive responsibilities, Macchiarola teaches political science, philosophy, and business law.