Imagine a world without religion

By Jeff Long

"This world would be the best of all possible worlds if there was no religion in it!" -- John Adams, letter to Thomas Jefferson, April 19, 1817.

I happened upon this quote while perusing an old periodical in my university office in Carnahan Hall, notably (for trivia buffs), the oldest academic building on Southeast Missouri State University's campus. As the story of Jesus' resurrection is recounted in Christianity this weekend, otherwise known as Easter, Adams' apparent appeal to atheism is jarring.

Like so many provocative quotes, the epigram that begins this column reveals itself to be terribly misleading if we take the time to put in context. The full passage Adams wrote to Jefferson more than 200 years ago deserves our attention. It reads somewhat differently than the aforementioned. To wit:

"Twenty times in the course of my late reading have I been on the point of breaking out, 'This world would be the best of all possible worlds if there was no religion in it!' But in this exclamation I would have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly. Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company. I mean hell."

I spend five mornings a week teaching the Bible -- Old and New Testaments -- to students at Southeast. It's the most fulfilling work I've ever done, teaching the basics of religion using the literature claimed as "scripture" in the Judeo-Christian context. It is with a great sense of relief to discover that John Adams, America's second president, didn't actually think my efforts are without meaning. Adams' endorsement is not needed but as a person who values what Gary Chapman calls "words of affirmation," it is gratifying nonetheless.

As Christians around the world mark the 2019 arrival of Easter, we are all too aware of the plague that religious strife has brought the world. But what we do not know is what it would be like to live in a culture where religious faith is entirely absent. For John Adams, hell is the word he conjured to describe such a reality.

It is easy, as former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright wrote in 2006, "to blame religion -- or more fairly, what some people do in the name of religion -- for all our troubles, but that is too simple. Religion," this Czech-born Episcopalian mused, "is a powerful force, but its impact depends entirely on what it inspires people to do."

My final thoughts this Easter weekend return to a dusty series of books, a gift from a beloved former parishioner, known collectively as "The Story of Civilization." In it these words are revealed:

"Religion is the last thing the intellect begins to understand ... science gives man greater powers but ever less significance. It improves his tools and neglects his purposes. It is silent on ultimate origins, values and aims. It gives life and history no meaning or worth that is not canceled by death or omnivorous time. So men prefer the assurance of dogma to the diffidence of reason; weary of perplexed thought and uncertain judgment, they welcome the guidance of an authoritative church, the catharsis of the confessional, the stability of a long-established creed. Ashamed of failure, bereaved of those they loved, darkened with sin, they feel themselves redeemed by divine aid, cleansed of guilt and terror, solaced and inspired with hope, and raised to a godlike and immortal destiny."

Imagine on this Easter weekend, a world without religion. John Lennon did, and he united with the infinite on a December day in 1980. Imagine a world without the clarion call of Jesus. Personally, I'd rather not.