Museum Challenge for a Billionaire

Essay by Karl W. Luckert, March 2001

 

Dear Billionaire,

I do not know who you are, whether you are, where you are, when you have been or might be--whether at this moment you are still a gleam in the eyes of your parents, or whether you are just now being born, "trailing clouds of glory" as Wordsworth would have said. I do not know whether at this time you are being swaddled within a religion, converting to a religion, escaping a religion, struggling with a religion, trying to understand Christ's assessment of material wealth, or contemplating the abandonment of all wealth after the fashion of Indian hippy-monks 2500 years ago. And while mentioning these oriental possibilities, I also do not know whether you understand yourself as being caught up in the wheel of samsara, and worry about positive or negative karma, as an immortal soul or as a temporary bundle of skandhas. Nor do I know whether you may have transferred your faith and reasoning to some newer realm of cyber-karma, struggling to remain something other than a one or a zero.

I do not know you, and it is possible that I will never meet you. I do not know whether you will turn out to be a billionaire with money in a bank, or whether you will rise as a "virtual" billionaire who simply understands how to liberate the necessary funds for a good cause. All of these things are unbeknown to me.

But this much I do know: Some day you will build and establish a global History of Religions Museum.

Why?  Because someone will have to do it! The time is ripe, and the conditions are rife, for humankind to require and demand this knowledge--for its next round of hope, and for survival together.

 

Education still is the Bottom Line for Organized Survival:

          About a century ago the Scottish-born American industrialist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), found an ingenious and useful way to invest his fortune. The ironclad entrepreneur became a philanthropist, not any less shrewd. He became the efficient cause for libraries to be built all across America. To the frontier churches of America, that basically were one- or two-book reform institutions, Carnegie added libraries for the enhancement of America's secular education. He enabled the nation to pull itself up by the bootstraps of general literacy. The libraries that he established have fertilized and stimulated the minds of questing pioneers, and have broadened their self-motivated searches for knowledge. The fresh air that flowed through the open window of literacy has enabled American civilization to breathe, to bloom, and to balance itself for some time to come.

Many a millionaire and billionaire since has tried to emulate Carnegie's example. But in the annals of a great civilization there is room for only one First of any given variety--defined either by a goal or by one's economic identity. It was Carnegie thriving on steel, Ford on cars, and Rockefeller on oil.  In regard to originality and vision it was Carnegie, by far, who had the clearest overview and grip on what this young nation of America needed--the wherewithal of knowledge to cultivate a broader scope of education. Those that followed and imitated him did well. But among the country's philanthropists who targeted education, Andrew Carnegie scored  highest. His successors have endorsed his vision and his reasons by way of imitating him.

Today, a century later, America finds itself again challenged by a new frontier. Cybernetics technology has changed the world for us as much as any industrial innovation in the past has succeeded in changing it. The danger again is intellectual poverty--that is, poverty relative to the newest stratum of worldwide complexity that we are creating. Worldwide challenges are being aggravated in no small degree by progressive cybernetics itself. Increasingly our world is being transformed into a chaotic global village, an ungovernable camping place for multitudes of pilgrims, estranged from one another. The world is faced with the task of accommodating, peacefully if possible, approximately six billion mega-brained squatters.

Faced with all our wonderful technological progress--why will religions then not just fade away? The reason for this fact is simple. The old problems of misery and death are just about as far from being solved as they ever were. Our modern gospels cannot deliver what many people think they promise.

At a superficial level our gospel of democratic capitalism recommends a free global economy--because it would be better for all people to be equally wealthy than to be equally poor. A century of worldwide failed Socialist experiments have taught us this much. So, the pursuit of happiness in the form of wealth is being espoused, instead, as the best hope for everyone. Thereby, with the help of an unusual "invisible" hand, and with a little bit of luck, peace might descend upon a world that is well off. According to the free economy model, everyone is invited to be a predator, and all predators are given equal rights to compete. It is taken for granted that all rational Homines sapientes will enjoy being predators and therefore join the melee of free competition. Obviously, there is something missing in this brave new world.

This gospel refuses to be universally applicable. The facts are known to almost everyone--that a few countries on the planet are capable of overproducing any one commodity, and that any cycle of overproduction precipitates a recession. But few people dare to face it. So, as the fortunes of various nationalities, among industrial frontrunners as well as among beginners, continue to wax and to wane, an even greater variety of nationalisms, socialisms, imperialisms, and democracies are going to compete with one another and woo the friendship of some of those that are successful and strong, as well as to achieve the pacification of a maximum of the world's momentary victims. All the while, being periodically forsaken by their profit-motivated providers, most of these victims have no recourse but to turn back to their traditional religious "ways" for comfort, for salvation and for inspiration. Old gospels of salvation will be rediscovered, revived, and refitted.

Here is the problem! There is no genius alive today, nor has such a genius ever lived, who could sort out all the many motivations that drive and justify the actions of all the desperate peoples in the world, among allies as well as among enemy nations. All modern leaders--in spite of their artistry and public personae--are facing the melee of the world's needs and combatant motivations while they themselves are groping in the dark, trying to learn the ropes. Bogged down by a lack of general understanding, their usual solution for establishing tranquility in the world amounts to no more than an armistice here and there, imposed by greater force or by greater economic leverage. Having to fight for peace is not only a paradox, but also a contradiction. Being blackmailed into buying peace, from a motivation of guilt, might seem reasonable in most situations--because it is less expensive than fighting. Over the longer run, however, it will hurt any rich or poor nation that misjudges the political shenanigans of its neighbors or competitors. And then, if we consider the constant possibility of international nuclear blackmail, the well-intentioned world economy no longer seems capable of being balanced. What an irrational way it is, trying to survive in a world infested by Homines sapientes!

No, there is not a single member of that celebrated species who has sufficient knowledge to see through the complexity of this modern-day global ferment. Needless to say, what I am proposing here in line of a remedy is not a full solution either. It is a minimal and hopeful first step in another direction--as all educational programs happen to be. Only this much is certain, whatever confusion there will be incited upon the world stage, in times ahead, the old religious systems that here and there have survived will be used, covertly and overtly, to motivate, to encourage or discourage a people to remain either indifferent, to sue for peace, or to wage war.

Religions are the de facto checks and balances for war and for peace. They must be better understood--even if for no other reason than to preserve a semblance of calm or hope. Any modern system of education, that neglects this basement realm in the Homo sapiens collective experience, will add momentum to a dysfunctional world. On the other hand, the nations for which religions today are a subject matter for free and open study will probably fare better tomorrow.

One can point a finger to almost any plot of land on the globe, and one will find examples of how ignorance about religions—how such ignorance cultivated either by a religious or by a secular leadership—has generated strife and persecution. For example, countries that until recently have labored under Marxist ideology and dogma, that have learned to depreciate religious phenomena as throwaway nonsense, are today especially at a disadvantage. Leaders, raised and educated in these nations, generally, are unable to see religious traditions as relevant outcomes of real historical situations. As a result, they cannot possibly produce rational policies toward the religions that linger in their lands—much less introduce religious freedom. One can nag them about "human rights abuses" as much as one desires, they have not the wherewithal to understand the underlying subject matter.

I am happy to say that America has been blessed far beyond the efforts that it has expanded on behalf of such understanding. The blessing came as part of the people's general insistence on liberty and freedom--it came as if by an "invisible hand" (to borrow again that metaphor from the history of economics). But this invisible hand is no great "invisible" mystery, at least not for those who have contemplated the world's ideologies and the dynamics of education. It is simply a matter of producing a sufficient number of educated individuals who, in times when paranoia of this or that imbalance threaten the nation, do know how to understand their religiously motivated friends and enemies. Even if those that understand are far outnumbered, by those who still struggle from ignorance, a small amount of seasoning is better for the soup than none at all.

Rational understanding is the only--I mean the ONLY--key that enables leaders to govern evenhandedly. And fortunately, rational understanding always can be enhanced by way of facilitating exposure to more data and information. This was the core of Andrew Carnegie's vision. And this also harmonizes with the vision of the person to whom this open letter is being addressed.

 

From Imperial Religions to Democracy:

We must not deceive ourselves forever. Modern democratic or socialistic systems are not the innocent offspring of formerly narrow-minded monarchies and empires. They are the shaggy heirs who have descended from other shaggy traditions. The historical transition from ancient holy empires, governed by gods and sons of God, to reactionary early Christianity that was inspired by a low-class Son of God, and from there to the return of Holy Empire under regents of God, and on to reactionary secular Democracy and Socialism, is linear dialectic and quite easy to see. Equality among human brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, implied initially by the fact that they all were children of the same heavenly Father, became "natural equality" among secularized humankind later on. Thomas Jefferson derived this secularized human equality from certain laws of Nature—that is, from the maternal apparition of the Greek Gaea whom Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and Romanticism have re-valorized as Mother Nature.

 

The "Other" Economy:

I have now written what initially I intended to say. I could have stopped here. But as a slave to my professorial habits, I will repeat my message from another angle. Trying to illustrate the nationwide deficiency in religious-historical sophistication, I shall point to some very obvious and superficial events in recent American history--the presidential races from 1992 to 2000, as well as to some religious or moral conflicts that were associated with these. Inasmuch as these happenings are well known to everyone, I can save myself the details and simply present a few general observations.

          During the 1992 presidential election campaign a winning insight dawned on the Clinton-Gore team: It is the economy, Stupid! Later, as the presidential team interacted with the wider world, and as their activities expanded beyond the realm of their electorate, the next larger scope of reality dawned: It is the economies of all nations interwoven! 

Then the election campaign of 2000 demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt, that all along one very important factor had not been sufficiently recognized. Different religious backgrounds have predisposed different candidates and campaign teams to different styles of shoveling manure, and they also have predisposed them to different innate reactions while defending against such incoming matter. Religious habits have built the roads upon which political adversaries--like everyone else--end up traveling, exposing the guilt trips of their opponents and exhibiting their own for contrast. So, yes, in political situations, when push comes to shove, there prevails another kind of economy, and it is called "religion."

Our materialistic economy has evolved, in primeval times, from a dance around shiny treasures, some of which were mined from the bowels of Earth. By contrast, this "other economy" of religion frequently tends to orient itself in the opposite direction of our planet's gravity. People engaged in this other economy tend to pray skyward or to meditate "beyond." This other economy to some extent ignores values anchored in the material realm. The roles of debts and deficits in the materialistic economy are replaced in this other economy by moral indebtedness, by sins committed, and by intangible pangs of guilt paid. Weakness is acknowledged non-materially whenever a person confesses a mistake or failure. Inversely, moral power accrues for those who know how to accept with relative grace the confessions and apologies of others, and who can calm anxieties that do trouble the souls of average sinners. This entire "other economy" of dealing in sins, guilt, and forgiveness is what traditionally has been subsumed under the larger category of socialized or organized "religion."

Will American politics ever be able to sort out its religious and secular ingredients? At certain crucial moments of democratic transition, religion and politics in America are being staged and played smack under the shadow of the English "papal" royalty. Old romantic dreams die slowly, and the royal head of Great Britain happens to be the formal head of the Anglican Church. All the while, the role of a ceremonial "papal" king or queen turns out to be quite incompatible with the duties of an active American president, who is commander in chief. This is why the British themselves have a prime minister to do the dirty work.

The British dream-legacy has contributed to frictions that have wounded a number of American presidents--especially those who have risen from, or identified with, less ritualized denominations. Public confession is being handled differently in the royally blessed high Anglican tradition than in Protestant denominations where the "priesthood of all believers"--and therefore also "confession to all believers"--is taken more literal. Far too literal to suit "high church" taste and often even themselves!

To begin with, the Anglican confession divides all possible human sins into two categories--into the category of sins "done that ought not to have been done" and the category of deeds left undone that "ought to have been done." Inasmuch as all human sins fall under one or the other of these two categories, the supplicant obtains fifty percent relieve off the bat, that is, by virtue of making a grammatical and analytical common-sense distinction. An extra percentage can be obtained by simply playing the indecision factor, between the "acting" and the "not acting" alternatives. But in any case, with a sure fifty percent of instant divine relieve being available for a leader's conscience, he or she can remain standing taller and longer without risking status by making damaging public confessions.

The supporters of such a religiously stiffened leader will understand the high threshold of guilt and/or public confession that is being assumed--simply as being the acceptable norm for hypocrisy and decency. On the other hand, leaders with a lower threshold of guilt, such as is being cultivated in the ritually "lower" denominations, have greater difficulties establishing a strong regal persona. The media enjoy ganging up on such "weaklings" who do not play royal ritual very well--that is, the silent ritual of silencing feisty inquisitors by way of mirroring back on them in kind. In any case, a Museum for the History of Religions, that evenhandedly exhibits all religions and denominations along the same linear historical track, would make available historical data that illuminate the playing fields of religious-political users as well as abusers.

 

Religion in Secular International Affairs:

The English-American political tradition is not unique in its exploitation of religious complications. Foreign religions have confounded many an American and foreign diplomat. Religious-political complexities are being encountered in every corner of the globe. They are endemic to human nature and deeply rooted in the history of every culture. Throughout human history no war has been waged that has not been justified without recourse to some sort of popular religious ontology. Old Christian crusader traditions have been facing off with Muslim holy warrior traditions. And speaking about Holy War—a recent American president, after a bombing raid in preparation for winning the Mother of all Battles, assured our nation: "Today the world is a safer place, because our airmen have done the will of the Lord."  I cannot tell for sure whether this commander in chief ever realized that a Lord, who could be claimed in this manner as our war deity, is no longer the "almighty God" of monotheism.

Religion gets involved not only in the justification of war, but also in the deliberations of making peace. No lasting peace accord in human history has been sealed without appealing to the same greater-than-human dimension by which preceding acts of aggression were also justified. Of course, nowadays there circulates plenty of pretence regarding secular efficacy. So for instance, the stability that Tito has imposed on Yugoslavia was based on secular force. It was a lop-sided peace, and off balance from the start. Under his heavy hand the milder initiatives that would have been possible among the people—such as education for inter-religious understanding and tolerance—were deemed unnecessary and were therefore neglected. How many human lives, how many tears and billions of dollars did it finally cost to fix this neglect!  And the job is even now only half finished! A history of religions museum, of the kind I envision and propose here for America, sponsored by an enlightened leader and accompanied by a program of education for inter-religious understanding, could have stabilized the Yugoslavian situation from the start, and at a very small fraction of the present cost.

 

War and Peace in the Near East:

Then there is a never-ending conflict between people who pray while standing and people who pray while standing and kneeling and prostrating. I am referring to Jews and Muslims in the land of Palestine. Five, ten, twenty years from now, American presidents will probably still be expected to mediate peace in the Near East. In the course of this Near-Eastern confrontation Western Christendom, on average, has become more of a hindrance than a help to negotiating peace. What American president has not been sweating in the shadow of this grand cloud of reverence for God's written promises and partialities!  That is—as these promises do appear to lay people, printed in English and other European languages.

As long as Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and all the world's educators are not given open access to the neutral and honest display of each other's histories, to the results of recent historical and archaeological scholarship, and to the most likely historical probabilities, rational peacemaking in the Near East, and elsewhere in the world, will not be possible. Divisions among various peoples of the world are just as mythical as are the covenants and the divine favors they claim. They are as imaginative as are the titles they hold to sacred sites or to ordinary real estate. What cannot be spoken aloud by a statesman, and what cannot be mentioned among the adversaries even during well-intentioned peace negotiations, can nevertheless be displayed openly to serious students, as bare historical data, in a History of Religions museum. Once the people know the historical data, their leaders will be free to mention them with a measure of honesty.

Religious claims and the structure of political logic, in the United States, are not significantly different from those in the Near East. Annual presidential declarations at Thanksgiving do function, as a matter of fact and in evolutionary context, as a purchase price that is being paid to Almighty God—in the form of a liturgical bundle of words of thanks—for legal title to homeland and real estate. Just imagine what war and peace in America would be like, today, if all "polytheistic" American Indians held convictions similar to those held within Near-Eastern monotheisms or in modern-day reactionary atheisms!

 

Why a Museum?

The primary style of learning, among primates as well as among their descendents in the Homo sapiens branch, surely is their skill of imitating exemplary models. Whatever subject one chooses to imitate with zeal, that one celebrates. Homines sapientes celebrate by displaying the objects of their fascination in a grandiose manner. Whatever is displayed by way of artistic magnificence, and whatever is memorialized, that subject matter will quickly be established in our institutions of research and of learning. 

We have dedicated state buildings and erected monuments to memorialize heroes and meaningful events—to teach American history and citizenship. We have museums of the natural sciences, museums of natural history and of the human not-so-natural history, museums of industry, of military science, technology, the arts, astronomy, archaeology, and many more. And all these displays of information lend legitimacy to the inclusion of their worthy subject matter into the curricula of our schools. This is the free manner in which a free people may highlight fresh and necessary subject matter in their system of education. Legislative maneuvers and presidential orders cannot be the primary moving force for educational reform at the grassroots—especially with regard to a subject matter about which the majority of legislators, judges, and administrators nowadays know far too little. Once a subject matter is authoritatively and conspicuously displayed for academic and public scrutiny, it will come alive by itself. Tourists will flock to the displays. Some of these tourists are teachers, and all are students. They will begin to give that subject matter some attention.

However, to this very day, the greatest nation and superpower in the world has no museum that would display, evenhandedly for public scrutiny, the history of all religions.

Translated into the idiom of modern democratic ideology, this amounts to saying that this great nation, that presents itself to the world as the beacon of Democracy, has no institution that would survey and display, evenhandedly for public scrutiny the "world history of societal checks and balances!" In pre-modern days it was mostly the religions that did the "checking" and the "balancing" against the rulers that held sway. And contrary to political pretense, religions throughout the world, still today, carry most of the load of mobilizing the human conscience. And precisely this core area of democratic essentials--mankind's loftiest thoughts and patterns of group behavior, that have been cultivated worldwide for waging war and for making peace, as for everything that is doable between these extremes—has not been memorialized for our overall educational processes.

The only museum of an appreciable size in the world, dedicated to displaying religious data, and that possibly could claim for itself the epithet "History of Religions Museum," is the one being maintained at the Vatican in Rome. But even if someone in the United States could replicate their centuries of effort, it would still be unsatisfactory for educating citizens for a secular democracy. There is a great difference between a trophy collection of vanquished religions, compared with a humanistic teaching museum that displays—and constantly updates and revises—the histories and profiles of all religions.

It is refreshing to hear that in Spring 2001 a Museum of World Religions will be opening in Taiwan. I am not familiar with the details, but I assume that their displays will be arranged from a Buddhist perspective, which means mostly a-historical.

By contrast, the comparative and rational study of religions, in the context of Western civilization, is caught up in the strong tailwind of linear time reckoning. Within that context of Western civilization one cannot but display the full dimension of history. And that dimension includes sequences of historical events, together with observed effects and probable causes. At a global Museum for the History of Religions, students will be able to monitor the "pulse" of human souls and minds—of those whose wisdom they wish to emulate as well as of those whom they merely wish to understand. They want to understand how all peoples in the past have been adjusting to changing circumstances, all the while responding to greater-than-human realities, to less-than-human realities, and to each other.

 

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