Religion and Morality

Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “Templeton Address” conveys in many ways a true picture of the world, but his thesis and presentation have nonetheless missed the target. He argues that the ills of humanity can be best ascribed to man’s ignorance of the divine, and hence argues for a resurgence of religious faith. Yet this is not the ultimate goal needed in the West and other parts of the world but only one path. Mankind dearly needs a return to moral values, whether these are religious values or nobility of character within a secular respect for life is not important. In focusing on the path to healing that passes first through God, Solzhenitsyn has run the risk of deterring and distracting mankind from the true needs of the world. The pursuit of virtue must be reawakened within the world populace and all paths to this goal must be exploited.

Whether referred to as the absence of divinity in their hearts or the presence of a corrupt and empty character, the actions of men over the last century speak of the same thing. Solzhenitsyn, says “the failings of human consciousness, … have been a determining factor in all the major crimes of this century”, and surely this is true, for all the great crimes have shown a disregard for life. Clearly though one must recognize that it is not the lack of divinity per se that Solzhenitsyn sees as the flaw in these people; after all one must only consider the great crimes brought about by men espousing the virtue of their God. No, what Solzhenitsyn desires to engender in man is a respect of life, internalized values, and nobility of character. Such nobility of character and virtue can in fact be described as a religious faith in the majesty of life itself for as Dr. Bushrui is wont to say, “Everyone must have a respect for the power of life, or else you’re dead.” Certainly, everyone is capable of recognizing that religion gives us guidelines for how to live our lives in peace and harmony with those around us. We can easily understand how Solzhenitsyn would advocate a return to religious reverence as the cure for the moral deficits easily recognizable in society. There is probably even considerable truth to the notion that moral values associated with established ritual and doctrine become far harder to stomp out than similar nobility by itself, as the failure to crush the Russian Orthodox church has shown. However, the preachy style and misplaced emphasis of Solzhenitsyn’s thesis ultimately serve as a distraction from the goal and the multitude of courses by which it might be reached.

Through his emphasis on the need for divinity as the guiding force in a person’s life, Solzhenitsyn has single mindedly blocked other paths to spiritual and moral development. The great diversity of the world includes atheists, agnostics, and many faithless performers of ritual alongside those few who truly hold God utmost in their hearts, and many of these spiritually stagnant peoples are unlikely to see merit in Solzhenitsyn words calling for a return to faith. They may become as repulsed as the Lutheran upon hearing the Baptist condemn those of his faith to hell. However, few people will argue that the world could be a better place were it populated with more noble and righteous individuals. Society universally fears crime, war, corruption, and anarchy, thus appealing to our hopes for reducing and eradicating these blights can be well received. People will advance toward this goal more easily if given a path that varies only gradually from the one they already walk. In this way asking people to be better individuals and members of society is more amicable than suggesting they need to make the major life change of finding God. In America, we have often failed to teach the most basic life skills of respect and moral values to our young and many of them remain lost with only concern for themselves. Even in a secular society there should be a place for anyone to pursue noble ideals and develop virtuous character, however the pressures of the current world forget that developing the man himself is at least as important as teaching the man the things he needs to know. Returning to Solzhenitsyn thesis one might note that were people given a true education in character and moral values this would inevitably lead to the consideration of religion wherein the oldest and disputably greatest moral systems are rooted. Men brought to this point through self-derived enquiry are endowed with a far greater chance for a true acceptance of God than that offered by external arguments for conversion.

Solzhenitsyn has expounded at great length on the problems brought about by a lack of morality, but he has mistakenly labeled this as a need for a return of faith. His goal is clearly a return of values to people’s lives, which can be accomplished by religion, but might also arise from the direct support of values and proper behavior even among secular cultures. The focus on the power of God may well have alienated the very people he needed to reach and distracted others from the very goals at hand. By pursing morality and nobility of character in all its forms coincident with strong religious communities, we maximize the potential to elevate humanity above the base actions wrought upon the Earth by mankind’s selfishness and lack of direction.