When Men Become Primates

We religious people are not adept at taking criticism. Since religion is based on the idea of divinely revealed truth, most religions would rather hide their imperfections, the better to demonstrate that their practitioners are as infallible as their doctrines.

A recent article in Time magazine identified Utah as the state with the highest rate of depression in America, which seems curious. I have been close to the Mormon Church for 15 years. Mormons lead clean, healthy, and generous lives. They raise close-knit families. So why so unhappy? Because they are not trained to be open about things that trouble them. A Mormon mom, for example, has lots of kids which brings lots of joy but also lots of pressure. But she sometimes has to pretend to be happy, even when she's not. And the lack of an outlet to express unhappiness becomes a dangerous source of melancholy.

The Catholic Church, of course, is legend for the inadequacy of its apologies. Whether it was the scandal of pedophile priests, or the even the great John Paul II's grossly deficient apology for Catholic anti-Semitism and the Church's failure to speak out during the holocaust, the Church often feels that it has to feign infallibility even when it is guilty of serious crimes.

A few weeks ago I published an article criticizing my own religious Jewish community for allowing increasingly shallow values to dictate our dating values. The article sparked scores of emails that told me that, although the problem is real, it should not be published in a newspaper. The critics seemed more upset at the problem's discussion than its existence, even amid the ancient Rabbinical rebuke that the only way to grow as individuals is "to love criticism."

Most importantly, Islam today seems wholly incapable of condemning, with a unified and authoritative voice, the atrocities being perpetrated in its name.

This lack of humility is the principal reason that religion has, over the past few years, come under such ferocious attack from so many bestselling books. Our own arrogance has brought it upon us. But this should not exempt religions' detractors from being criticized themselves for their dangerous reductionist view of humankind that sees men and women as soulless and purposeless primates.

On January 30th, at the 92nd St. Y in Manhattan, I will debate for the second time the world's leading religious critic, Christopher Hitchins, on religion versus atheism. On the same night, I will also launch my new book, The Broken American Male. The two subjects are connected.

Hitchens, like Richard Dawkins, is a radical reductionist. To him we humans are nothing but intelligent mammals, thinking apes. Hence, seeing nothing uniquely human about our species, Hitchens has an extremely negative view of even those whom the rest of us consider saintly.

Of Martin Luther King, Jr. he writes, "He was a mammal like the rest of us, and probably plagiarized his doctoral dissertation, and had a notorious fondness for booze and for women a good deal younger than his wife. He spent the remainder of his last evening in orgiastic dissipation, for which I don't blame him."

Of course, his favorite target is Mother Theresa: "She was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return)... Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when she died as it always had been -- she preferred California clinics when she got sick herself -- ...She was a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud." (Slate.com)

For Hitchens, the fact that saintly individuals exhibit serious flaws is proof that we are all nothing but unimpressive orangutans. For all our talk of a noble soul and human virtue, it is our beastly nature which most predominates.

This reduction of modern man to nothing more than his animal urges is what is most destroying him. Men like Hitchens would have us believe that the material is our truest essence. Hence, wasting our lives at the office making money so we can fill the emptiness of our existence with lifelong consumption is as inescapable as is the male tendency to indulge his genetic urge to inseminate as many women as possible. To the enemies of faith, men are nothing more than walking sperm machines. It is not surprising that they cheat on their wives, programmed as they are to copulate with as many females as possible. Likewise, it is not surprising that they lust for power, conditioned as they are to hunt and horde resources in a world of limited supplies.

Both Hitchens theory and book are seriously flawed, as I intend to point out in our debate. But its mass acceptance on the part of so many who now believe that humans were not created for any transcendent purpose is what allows them to squander their lives on ephemeral pursuits like TV binge-watching and empty celebrity chatter without regret.

Communism and terrorism remain the greatest threats to human liberty. But it is soulless capitalism that has now emerged as the most serious threat to human uniqueness, turning us all into a indistinguishable morass of shallow materialists. We define our success not by the blessings our lives have become to others, but by the money we have in the bank and how many people recognize us on the streets. A man who is taught that he is nothing more than an animal will have no pangs of conscience when he behaves like one, living for consumption, indulgence, and the satisfaction of his hormonal urges. This, as I say in my book, is what is most destroying the American male as he invests his energy at work and returns home an uninspired wreck, unable to love his wife and incapable of inspiring his children.

Long ago the voice of G-d went out to men and called them to the possibility of a uniquely human greatness. Possessed of a divine spirit, they were capable of transcending their genetic makeup and leading lives of romantic monogamy, parental purpose, and communal commitment. It is time for that voice to be heard again.

To a religious person, Martin Luther King's imperfections make his achievements all the more impressive. Had he been flawless, it would have been intuitive for him to purge the United States of its Jim Crow racism and restored the country to its founding ideals of equality. But the fact that he did so amid the herculean struggle of an imperfect character proves that men can rise above their material natures and lead lives of earth-changing purpose. And in so doing, Martin Luther King, whose birthday we celebrate this Tuesday, became the greatest American of the twentieth century and inspired the rest of us to overcome our own imperfect natures and make America a more perfect country.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's newest book, 'The Broken American Male' is published this month. He has just launched This World: The Jewish Values Network." www.shmuley.com

Comments

[realitytrumpsbull]

I guess it's official, then, the government's making monkeys out of us?

ROTF

[GoreyFantod]

That this man actually sells books filled with this claptrap makes me feel ill.
Others have illustrated his fairytale, pre-Enlightenment view that humans are not animals, but what about the rest of his post? Here are just a few that jumped out at me:
"Mormons lead clean, healthy, and generous lives. They raise close-knit families. So why so unhappy? Because they are not trained to be open about things that trouble them."
Gross generalizations coupled with an ignorant, simple-minded explanation.
"lack of humility is the principal reason that religion has, over the past few years, come under such ferocious attack from so many bestselling books"
Umm, arrogance is one of the reasons, but there are plenty of others.
"Communism and terrorism remain the greatest threats to human liberty."
Communism? Really? This is what card players call a tell.

[HeevenSteven]

Rabbi Boteach,
I understand and share you concerns about the decline of our popular culture and consumerism of our nation; but to blame this on Darwin and Hitchens is nothing but ridiculous.

What the religious completely fail to grasp is that non believers can and do reject the false choice that reductionist = purposeless.

The truth is that we don't need to be told what our purpose is; we make it for ourselves; and we embrace our humanity dearly, because we know it's all that we have. We don't believe we're going to be saved by the rapture or the messiah. Until you get past that mental block, you'll never discover what really plagues us.
In addition to the false choices you offer, you add straw-men. Our overweight celebrity obsessed shopaholic culture are caused by Darwin and Hitchens and their ilk? Have you visited any shopping malls in the bible belt recently?? Have you browsed the book section in your local Walmart?

This the most religious of the industrialized nations is also the most hypocritical, militaristic, and hegemonic. Communism and terrorism are NOT, I repeat NOT the existential threats of our time. Our wasteful use of our natural resource ARE. Our own hubris, hegemony, militarism, and consumerism are threatening the entire planet. This has little to do with Hitchens, Darwin or any other natural world view and everything to do with Hubris and our population that has continually being told that we owe our good fortune to being blessed by god.

[Merlin7]

It's increasingly obvious that religious belief -- i.e., belief in the supernatural with no evidence whatsoever to justify such belief -- is harmful to humankind. Just check today's headlines.

If humans hope to survive this nuclear age, they will have to move beyond religion and rely on reason and common sense to conduct their affairs.

[bigtimepatriot]

"This reduction of modern man to nothing more than his animal urges is what is most destroying him."

You feel that man is being destroyed? I'm sorry you have such a dismal outlook on humanity, perhaps if you had some kind of faith based belief system you would be more hopeful and optimistic.

Oh wait, you DO have a faith based belief system and you thnk man IS being destroyed?

Well thank god you aren't an atheist, then your lack of grounding might make you have a NEGATIVE outlook on life and your fellow humanity. Oh wait, even with Gods help you DO have a negative outlook on life and your fellow man?

What was your point here exactly?

[PlanetKansas]

There are no Zen Masters because the definition contradicts the very meaning of Zen.

The Hindus believe that one can worship anything, because everything would still be a manifestation of god. To them, worshiping a blue dancing flute player, a bleeding saint, science or Elvis, if you do the work, you'll get to where you are going to.

The answers are as infinate as the individuals asking the question and there is no single path except what one truely believes inside.

I am not claiming to know any answers and have read my share of theology and cosmology, but what I do know for certain is that one has to find a sense of spirituality and meaning in a world of suffering if they are to survive and be whole. Psycho killers and Corporate CEOs both share psychological profiles of lacking any conception of suffering, their own souls or spirituality. I don't want humanity based on an Ann Rand world.

[anfractuous]

How is it that all the Orthodox families I see are teeming with kids? Where did they all come from? Must have something to do with sperm swapping and an obsolete desert ideology which enforces pointless fecundity through an ingenious thicket of prohibitions and admonitions.
You can waive the wand of sanctity over it as much as you like, but how is sex in an Orthodox household any more worhshipful than a quickie in the broom closet?

[tommo]

This looks like the guy who makes the news show rounds, can only speak with his volume set at 9, and never listens to anyone else. Apparently he knows it all. Praise the lord!!

Here he said that athiests think of men and women as soulless and purposeless primates.

Just because we don't believe the silly but dangerous superstitious nonsense like all those who follow religions, that doesn't mean we automatically debase or hold others in low esteem.

Many religions believed their gods came from virgin births and performed "miracles". Anyone who really believes that stuff today is a childish superstitious fool.

All religions are a mistake. Their followers believe the most ridiculous things, people swallowed by whales or flying up into the sky, products of mass-hyste­rical-craz­y thinking -- viral nonsense. People who believe such things, and try to get others to believe them, should be treated exactly how we treat people who walk city streets shouting at things only they can see. But instead I am considered an evil pagan for not falling into lockstep.

As a friend said, "They got it off a piece of paper in a jar in a cave in a desert. That's where these people get their information."

All religious leaders are snake-oil salesmen (plus a few women). They are no better, and most do more damage than palm readers and astrologers and should be taxed as such.

May all the pro-war, pro-torture, faux Christ-ies like Baghdad Bush, Falwell, Perkins, Sun Yung Moon, Ronald Reagan, burn in their imaginary hells.

[Nutcase]

Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid, tastes great.
Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid, can't wait.

[derik]

Let us for sake of arguement, say that god exists. Then, I am now faced with figuring out which one. i.e. Jewish, Christian, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist (yup, they have a not-god as opposed to no-god), and whatnot. Going further, let us say that the Jewish god is the real thing (call it G_d). Now, I have s similar problem with which Jewish god to go with. It does get interesting when we try to figure out which Christian god is the real thing. So, maybe if you guys and dolls can let us know which one to go with we can then all go back to decoding the genome and feel the joy of evolution pulse through our minds. In my opinion, the we are all machines with codes. As far as where this code came from I do not know. Obviously, in a mathematical sense, if we had an infinite world of stuff the infinite combinations of stuff could very well generate the codes. Obviously, that is theory. I think the Sumerians had it right when they made a tree of gods. As we know, a tree can grow leaves as needed. So, there it is, god is a programmer. Our proof is that we know the code exists and the only people that can write code are called programmers. And guess what, the tree of programmers is quite large. Now, as far as the good books from god, well those are also codes written by some collection of programmers. Either way, it seem to be a good military strategy manual along with some nasty behavior.

[Dendroica]

I assume Shmuley is an affectionate form of "Shmulech"? (never quite got the transliteration of Yiddish into English. Should that be a hard "h" at the end, or a soft "k"?)
Look, don't compare Hitch to Dawkins. Dawkins is a learned man, a gentleman, a real scholar. You could learn from that man...

Hitch is a momser, a real schtarker, someone who would kick his own grandmother to prove a point. While in most cases I'd be on his side of the argument, I wouldn't mind if you give him a good whack across the forehead for being such a miserable mammal. I really think he's got far more reptilian qualities than Homo Sapiens.

Anyway, good luck, hope you enjoy yourself, keep the faith.

Signed, Shloime the athiest (I never quite did get that transliteration from Yiddish into English...)

[factanonverba]

You write: "To the enemies of faith, men are nothing more than walking sperm machines. It is not surprising that they cheat on their wives, programmed as they are to copulate with as many females as possible."

Well there is a biology theory, theory as in dictum that can be proved, called the theory of extramarital sex. It is quite simple. The larger the difference between the male and female of the species the greater number of mates the males claim. Gibbons, a close primate relative of ours, are identical in size and are exclusively monogamous. Gorillas, even closer relatives of ours, are much different. Males outweigh females 2.5 to 1. Male gorillas keep harems of anywhere from 4 to 9 females. Elephant seals are even more extreme. The males weigh 3,000 pounds, the females around 300. Elephant seal males have harems running in the dozens. As for humans, males are slightly larger than females. The theory then would predict that humans are mildly polygamous. Which is of course what we are.

Pity you don't actually observe the world you live in.

[Nommo]

Talk to the residents of Crown Heights and surrounding areas about the mad pressure members of the Rabbi's community put upon them to obtain their property. To some, it amounts to harassment. Is this the consumption you speak of?
Is that what your religion teaches?

[Quaoar]

"Long ago the voice of G-d went out to men and called them to the possibility of a uniquely human greatness. "

Apparently that's not all that "God" is telling men:

http://tpedit.sv.publicus.com/article/20080107/NEWS08/986513661

Non-Human Primates are probably better off not hearing "God" or following his instructions.

[EngineerBill]

Shalom Rabbi;
I wish I could write and not give your post a hard time as other commenter's have. But I too have a problem with this writing. Like Dr. de Waal, I too feel you are being unfair to primates. Orangutans did not create the Holocaust, Nuclear weapons or global warming. I think the need for faith is not to prevent us from being merely primates. But to prevent us from being the far worst monsters that we are all too capable of being. Faith, prayer and charity may soften G-ds severe decree. It also keeps us from being far worse than any ape.