The sacred and the human

A post on the 'signs of emergence [the complex christ]' blog is well worth a read. Thanks to Huw for the link. The post summarises Roger Scruton's essay in this month's Prospect magazine which outlines arguments against Hitchens, Dawkins et al: 'the evangelical atheists, shouting from their pulpits'.

Most interestingly, Scruton uses the essay to highlight the work of Rene Girard in order to argue that "religion is not primarily about God but about the sacred, and that the experience of the sacred can be suppressed, ignored and even desecrated (the routine tribute paid to it in modern societies) but never destroyed."

Girard has some fascinating theories on the way in which Christianity is not the source of violence but the solution to it; as God, in Christ, becomes the ultimate victim of our human need to scapegoat others. Scruton's article provides a useful way into Girard's writings, which hold out hope for a way out of our propensity for scapegoating and violence.