Caveman Logic: The Persistence of Primitive Thinking in a Modern World by Hank Davis Page A
Authors: Hank Davis
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that bridge and decided to stay home. But that’s not about God’s plan. It has to do with bringing greater sophistication about the natural world around me to the decisions I make.
Even though Brother Juniper’s spiritual quest continues to appeal to many people in the twenty-first century, there are actually exceptions to this descent into Caveman Logic. On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia blew up unexpectedly, killing all its crew and scattering debris over the state of Texas. The nation was in shock and looked for answers. Surprisingly, much of the quest remained focused on the natural world. For months after the tragedy, the nightly news brought details of the physical decomposition of the spacecraft. Headlines detailed the search for defective parts or design, along with who was responsible for such oversights. Certainly, there were passing references to “God’s will” and the heroic crew “finding peace in the hereafter.” But basically, the nation remained focused on the physical/logical world in its attempt to make sense of the tragedy. Apparently, there was enough comfort in the ultimate message to satisfy our need for prediction and control. The verdict was simply, “You can’t cut corners indefinitely in the design and construction of spacecraft. At some point, you or someone else will pay the price.”
In all likelihood, some of the loved ones of the crew may have found these physical accounts of the tragedy incomplete and still wanted deeper, more spiritual answers. The question “Why my son?” requires a different explanatory logic than “Why that craft?” Nevertheless, it is heartening that the majority of the American public were satisfied to remain rational in the face of a tragedy of this magnitude.
The destruction of spacecraft, like rope bridges, does not always bring out the best in our mental skills. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger was similarly destroyed in a sudden and horrifying explosion, killing all aboard. I attended the Ebenezer West Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia, the following Sunday and was treated to a sermon explaining the reason for the tragedy. We were told, “The hand of God had reached down and smacked the craft out of the sky. It was meant to put man back in his place and teach him to stay here on earth where he belonged and not to try to sneak into the kingdom of heaven.” Talk about causal agency! Prediction, control, and understanding all wrapped up in one vengeful deity. Just stay here on earth wallowing in ignorance and the Lord will be well pleased with you.
TSUNAMI THEOLOGY
Given the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina coupled with New Orleans’s reputation as a sinful city, it was just a matter of time before Bible-thumping preachers got on the band-wagon about the wrath of God. They did not disappoint. And such pronouncements were not confined to more extreme regions of the Bible Belt. Indeed, the fall 2005 issue of the admirably even-handed Religion in the News publication from Trinity College featured a lead editorial titled, “Was New Orleans Asking for It?” 1 Author Mark Silk surveyed extensive coverage of the disaster and concluded that the inclination to blame the events on a vengeful God provoked beyond endurance was indeed widespread across the United States. There were exceptions such as the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer , which cautioned against confusing natural occurrences with theology. The Inquirer went so far as to label as “blasphemy” any attempt to view Katrina as divine retribution. But these attempts at reason and restraint were an almost inaudible minority view compared to the bleating of conservative and fundamentalist Christian leaders.
How does one dispute such statements? Most critics of the right wing simply said, as the Inquirer had, “Don’t do that. It isn’t right to exploit the tragedy for your own social agenda.” In a refreshing bit of contrast, however,
Even though Brother Juniper’s spiritual quest continues to appeal to many people in the twenty-first century, there are actually exceptions to this descent into Caveman Logic. On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia blew up unexpectedly, killing all its crew and scattering debris over the state of Texas. The nation was in shock and looked for answers. Surprisingly, much of the quest remained focused on the natural world. For months after the tragedy, the nightly news brought details of the physical decomposition of the spacecraft. Headlines detailed the search for defective parts or design, along with who was responsible for such oversights. Certainly, there were passing references to “God’s will” and the heroic crew “finding peace in the hereafter.” But basically, the nation remained focused on the physical/logical world in its attempt to make sense of the tragedy. Apparently, there was enough comfort in the ultimate message to satisfy our need for prediction and control. The verdict was simply, “You can’t cut corners indefinitely in the design and construction of spacecraft. At some point, you or someone else will pay the price.”
In all likelihood, some of the loved ones of the crew may have found these physical accounts of the tragedy incomplete and still wanted deeper, more spiritual answers. The question “Why my son?” requires a different explanatory logic than “Why that craft?” Nevertheless, it is heartening that the majority of the American public were satisfied to remain rational in the face of a tragedy of this magnitude.
The destruction of spacecraft, like rope bridges, does not always bring out the best in our mental skills. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger was similarly destroyed in a sudden and horrifying explosion, killing all aboard. I attended the Ebenezer West Baptist Church in Athens, Georgia, the following Sunday and was treated to a sermon explaining the reason for the tragedy. We were told, “The hand of God had reached down and smacked the craft out of the sky. It was meant to put man back in his place and teach him to stay here on earth where he belonged and not to try to sneak into the kingdom of heaven.” Talk about causal agency! Prediction, control, and understanding all wrapped up in one vengeful deity. Just stay here on earth wallowing in ignorance and the Lord will be well pleased with you.
TSUNAMI THEOLOGY
Given the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina coupled with New Orleans’s reputation as a sinful city, it was just a matter of time before Bible-thumping preachers got on the band-wagon about the wrath of God. They did not disappoint. And such pronouncements were not confined to more extreme regions of the Bible Belt. Indeed, the fall 2005 issue of the admirably even-handed Religion in the News publication from Trinity College featured a lead editorial titled, “Was New Orleans Asking for It?” 1 Author Mark Silk surveyed extensive coverage of the disaster and concluded that the inclination to blame the events on a vengeful God provoked beyond endurance was indeed widespread across the United States. There were exceptions such as the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer , which cautioned against confusing natural occurrences with theology. The Inquirer went so far as to label as “blasphemy” any attempt to view Katrina as divine retribution. But these attempts at reason and restraint were an almost inaudible minority view compared to the bleating of conservative and fundamentalist Christian leaders.
How does one dispute such statements? Most critics of the right wing simply said, as the Inquirer had, “Don’t do that. It isn’t right to exploit the tragedy for your own social agenda.” In a refreshing bit of contrast, however,
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