The exceedingly difficult masterpiece "Society Without God" by Phil Zuckerman analyzes the other world of religion and the absence of it. It is clear that this is being done in a location where faith is not common. It is also clear where the author stands because he keeps bringing up the thesis, which states that "the absence of God and religion will not bring about the end of society," throughout the entire work. This is the book's overarching theme, which he attempts to illustrate in numerous ways. First, he starts with a good introduction by specifically stating the religiousness of the United States being one of those countries who rely on God to be the source of hope, faith and good life. The writer also states the basic or the norms where most people in the world would think that the belief in God is equivalent to progress. The good thing about the book is that it maintains its stand on the idea that the lack of religion of a society and the lack of belief in God will not cause economic crisis or chaos. Though there are a lot of examples, interviews and stories within stories, still the message is very clear all throughout.
However, with the utmost desire to justify the thesis, there is a tendency to have a generalization of facts and even stereotype. An example of this is when he said that in Sweden, he has interviewed some people who do not believe in God but still they choose to marry in the church because it is part of the culture without even thinking about it. It counters the idea which he also stated in the early part of the book that people from Sweden, though not religious, are very practical and logical. Why then these practical people would choose to do something that they can avoid in the first place? If indeed, they are logical, then they will not follow something that has no logic, the one that relies on routine and age-old practice.
Another observation which can be seen in the book is the repeated parallelism of religion and God to the presence and absence of progress in the society. He keeps saying, and as his thesis goes, that even if there is no religion and there is no belief in God, Sweden and Denmark have low crime rate and still very much progressive. There seems to be so much push on these two countries as an example to justify the thesis without exploring the very fact that these two are actually a minority if we are going to talk about percentage. Again, the occurrences in these areas cannot well justify and rather prove that the lack of religion and faith in God will make a state progressive. Either way, it will also not make a society poor or chaotic. The interviews done for the book may well be used to strengthen the thesis but definitely not to prove it with scientific figures.
It is also not hard to determine that the writer dwells on interviews and personal experiences in his many years of stay in the area. He further states that life in the non-religious place continues and is not affected by the absence of faith in the higher being. His interview with Jens, Anne and Christian, while helpful in building the thesis, are still a bit forceful in a way that it does not necessarily explain the quality of life of the interview because the questioning done seemed a bit guided or rather leading. It is that kind of questioning where the writer already has an idea of what specific answers he would like to generate and therefore, the results tend to be “planned” as in the case of page 56 during his interview with Christian.
Another aspect that is worth noting us under page 71 of the book when the writer talks of the life of Arne and Agnethe where at the end of the interview, the reader will have the feeling of being “unaffected” over the absence of religion in the life of the interviewee. On page 70, he used the word “impression” several times which makes the whole interview process purely subjective and not subscribing to pure scientific process of obtaining a desirable survey result. Although, this process has been debunked at least twice by the writer in some of its parts.
I cannot help but have a reaction that the process of gathering facts and data for this book is a bit faulty in a way that the writer seems to interview people whom he know, would contribute in strengthening the thesis that “the absence of religion or God,” does or does not affect social progress although the story is supporting mostly the latter. Again, the wholeness of this book is focused on the minority, for which reason, this may not be enough to say that yes, the thesis is indeed correct or at least partly correct in that context.
The above observations about the book are not all too negative as there is also another positive which can be mentioned for this book. The author mentions Albania, North Korea, China and the former Soviet Union on page 31 which are countries who have turned atheists and poverty, corruption and inequality resulted. This is a form of balancing act for the writer in order that the justification and or strengthening of the thesis may not appear to be too much for the readers. This however, contradicts the supposed result which the interviews and researches wish to achieve. There seems to be the movement of going outside the supposed minority, of Denmark and Sweden. This is a good move so as not to torment the reader of the chronological, if not a series of happenings in Sweden and Denmark which all proves and further support what the writer aims to show, that lack of religion or belief in God will result to chaos and economic crisis as perceived by majority of nations who are religious and God-believers.
On page 161, we are once again faced with the definition of a “Christian.” It summarizes that a Christian is someone who does what is just and rightful without necessarily believing in a God. Perhaps this is a brave exploration of the notion of a “Christian.” However, it leads us to thinking that maybe the comparison should be further explored by getting the meaning from a believer. Perhaps there is a need to have a comparison between apples to apples and not merely apples.
Lastly, on page 181 of the book, the writer brings us back to the United States. It seems as if we are being faced with the reality while mentioning that US is the most religious of the democratic countries. In a way, this positive because the author seems to still accept the reality that while indeed there exists nations who are non-believers to a higher being, still, it doesn’t change the fact that there are countries which are God believers and democratic. This is the opposite end of his discourse and the effort to expose the readers to this reality is indeed fascinating.
As a whole, the book is an experiment and a deviation from the typical concept or norm regarding religion. But such experiment needs more research and not more of subjective generalizations. Facts should be stated as they are said and again, should not be limited to sources where cultural beliefs are quite unanimous and form it bring out the effect that the writer wants to appear.
Source:
Zuckerman, Phil. Society without God: what the least religious nations can tell us about contentment. New York: New York U Press, 2010. Print.
