Flight From the Absolute: Cynical Observations on the Postmodern West. volume I.

Does “religious belief” concern only those believing in some form of the supernatural or is everyone religious? What if religion was simply a set of beliefs enabling us to make sense of our lives? Might even "secular" Western elites be religious? How would this affect our view of the history of Western civilisation? Can science play a role in religion? More

What we see is much influenced by how we look. In the culture wars presently gripping the West this is a critical issue. One of the key issues is the definition of the term "religion". What is a religion? Can one "do without a religion?" How one defines this term has a wide-ranging effect on matters as diverse as ethics, the origins debate, sexuality, freedom of expression, euthanasia, the environment, biotechnology and artificial intelligence. In the Anthropology of Religion one observes that all civilisations are rooted in a worldview, a religion. Following the logic, one can go on to begin to make out the dominant religion in the West. What are its characteristics? What is its cosmology? Which elite groups are involved in its propagation and what are its myths, its rituals and methods of recruitment? Where may it lead us?