Blog post, “The Power of Religion“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America

Ledewitz, Bruce

English

Duquesne University: Digital Commons

Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Hallowed Secularism The Collective Works of Bruce Ledewitz, Adrian Van Kaam C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence and Professor of Law 7-11-2010 July 11, 2010: The Power of Religion Bruce Ledewitz Duquesne University, ledewitz@duq.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/ledewitz-hallowedsecularism  Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Law and Philosophy Commons Repository Citation Ledewitz, B. (2010). July 11, 2010: The Power of Religion. Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/ledewitz-hallowedsecularism/441 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Collective Works of Bruce Ledewitz, Adrian Van Kaam C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Scholarly Excellence and Professor of Law at Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hallowed Secularism by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. For more information, please contact beharyr@duq.edu. Title: The Power of ReligionDate: 2010-07-11T09:01:00.000-04:00 7/11/2010--Ever wonder why religion has such a hold onpeople and whether there is any way to do away with religion?Here is part of the answer from Rivka Galchen appreciation ofJorge Luis Borges in the New York Times Book Review onSunday, 6/27/2010: [describing Borges’ relationship with thecharacters in Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Wrecker] “there isa vast unwritten book that the heart reacts to, that it racesand skips in response to, that it believes in. But it’s theheart’s belief in that vast unwritten book that brought thebook into existence; what appears to be exclusively aresponse (the heart responding to the book) is, in fact, alsoa conjuring (the heart inventing the book to which it sodesperately wishes to respond).” But this is more than areader’s reaction to a book. It is our relation to religion.But this is more than our reaction to religion. It is ourrelationship with God. This is Pascal, no?There is anotherway of seeing this power of religion. The question has oftenbeen asked, why did not more Germans oppose Hitler? Some didafter all. In the New York Review of Books, Adam Hirschquotes Hans Mommsen to the effect that what was needed wasnot so much personal courage, as an “alternative utopianvision”. That is why Communists and Christians opposed Hitlerwhen so many of Germany’s leading citizens did not. If we arenot going to be religious believers, what are we going tofind to fill the large spaces in our hearts? If such spacesare not filled, they will just shrink.

July 11, 2010: The Power of Religion

https://dsc.duq.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1440&context=ledewitz-hallowedsecularism

July 11, 2010: The Power of Religion

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Duquesne University: Digital Commons