A character in a Lawrence Durrell novel, when asked to give his religion, would say "Protestant - purely in the sense that I protest". If that were an adequate definition, a lot of us who are not now religious would suddenly be protestants.
If you are interested in their lives and/or their literatures, you can't help but be curious about their religions as well...
To an extent yes, I suppose. I have at times been moderately curious about religious customs, though far less curious than I have been about literature, culture, history, and language. In truth my interest in religion has been solely to the extent that it is an inseparable part of history and culture. Certainly my curiosity has never gone beyond the abstract. I cannot recall ever feeling anything that might plausibly be called a religious impulse, and I have never felt any void that might be filled by religion, even at the most difficult parts of life. It is said that there are no atheists in the trenches; I am not sure about this. I have been shot at, and religion was the farthest thing from my mind at the time.
The need for religion is the point at which my understanding is weakest. I know, as an intellectual matter, that some people need religion desperately, but I cannot viscerally comprehend the need, any more than I can comprehend the notion that human sacrifice might bring rain in time of drought, or prevent a volcano from erupting.
The Dostoevskian maxim may have been true in Dostoevsky's time. It is less true now, and in time will not be true at all. Think of it as evolution in action. |
