Digital Religion

Digital Religion

First of all, apologies for not posting in so long - I have such bad writing habits, all you have to do is look at the posting frequency to see that! Anyways, been thinking of the two of you who still read this blog (if that!)...

Anyways, I just finished listening to Ben Bova's Jupiter on tape; if you haven't read any of Ben Bova's planet series, I recommend - I've read the two Mars books and now most of Jupiter (more on that in a moment) and have enjoyed them all. But Jupiter had an intriguing quote that got me thinking. In the book, the Earth's political entities have been taken over primarily by reformist, born-again religious institutions. From evangelical Christians in the U.S. to right-wing Islamic reformers in the Middle East and conservative Buddhists in the East, the scientific, intellectual and political discourses have taken a conservative bend. In America, the right-wing is recruiting dogmatic scientists to "spy" on more liberal researchers at off-planetary outposts. Thus it was early in the book where a recruiter is speaking about why the religious governments have succeeded. He states that religion is "digital" in nature; that because conservative religions offer clear, black-and-white distinctions between good and evil, they propagate like digital files - ones and zeros - efficiently and without distortion.

Now, at first this seemed like a ludicrous suggestion - the proliferation of different religious sects alone seem to contradict the fact that religions are transmittable without distortion. But then I started to think about the general intellectual and political tenor of today's America. I do believe that one currently sees the radicalization of views into black-and-white views; thirty years ago, liberals and conservatives could actually work together civilly in running the government.  But now, thanks to left- and right-wing media outlets, a deeply divided Congress, and an aggressive, take-no-prisoners style of political attack, a person is solely left or right, democrat or republican, religious or heretical, etc. It seems that leaders want to either succeed or perish, to destroy their enemies in a no-hold barred political battle royale. I have long desired leaders who lead based on the good of the people, not the good of their political viewpoint. Alas, I have been disappointed.

So my question becomes, is this black-and-white, right-and-wrong radical viewpoint a symptom of the "digitalization" of culture? Does the digital world - it's inventions, software, etc. - break thinking into on and off, yes and no answers? Where middle, grey viewpoints are illusions, requiring only a greater resolution to show the clear, polar distinctions? A frightening thought, and one that supports the promotion of "analog" thinking...

Postscript

By the way, the copy of Jupiter on tape was damaged when I checked it out of the library, so if anyone can drop a note on how the book actually ended, that would be appreciated...