Wendy Kaminer has written some of the most interesting popular cultural analysis and criticism in recent years. She has a sharp eye for detail, and strong opinions. By no means a conservative, she is also not a standard liberal either. Her earlier book I’m Dysfunctional, You’re Dysfunctional (sadly out of print) was an especially trenchant critique of the recovery movement. Her latest publication, rather misleadingly named Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials, is a mixed collection of articles on the role of religion in US public life.

Kaminer’s position is straightforward. She is an atheist, and she sees all religious belief as irrational. She sees little difference between mainstream religions and obscure cults, as far as the rationality of the beliefs concerned goes. She accepts the rights of people to believe whatever stupidity they wish, and she even admits to her own occasional readiness to believe unsupported claims, but she objects to religion becoming part of public policy and law.

Of course, 95% of Americans say that they believe in God. Furthermore, an astonishing number of Americans believe in ESP, psychic healing, UFOs, astrology, reincarnation, and aliens. Kaminer groups all such beliefs together: whenever a belief is not supported by evidence, it is an instance of irrationalism. Clearly she recommends a strong suspicion of most claims. She doesn’t find it surprising that people are so gullible — in fact she sees it as perfectly understandable, but she wishes that people would recognize that their beliefs are irrational.

It is when the religious claim that they are a besieged minority that Kaminer becomes annoyed. From her perspective, it seems rather that it is atheism that is treated intolerantly. She is also dismayed that religion is held in such awe in our culture, where criticisms of mainstream religion are seen as offensive. She notes how frequently it is mistakenly supposed that without religion, it is impossible to be ethical. She counters that it is impossible to be religious without one’s ethical acts being motivated by an agenda. Kaminer is particularly alarmed when government is ready to rely on religiously sponsored welfare and substance abuse programs. She believes very firmly in the importance of the separation of church and state. This is especially important in modern society that includes not just people of Judeo-Christian faiths, but many Muslims and Hindus as well. Normally, when Americans support religious programs, they are supporting Christianity. Kaminer points out that the Christians would be much more sympathetic to the separation of church and state were it non-Christian religion that was being advanced.

Not only does Kaminer attack the role of religion and irrationality in modern America. She extends her criticism to the new age discourse of spirituality. Her caustic comments about The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure are especially enjoyable for those who like myself are sympathetic to her outlook. She skewers the smug and stupid slogans and double-talk of new age writers with crisp prose that should provoke cheering from like-minded readers.

If it were merely the silliness of entertainment such as Touched by an Angel that Kaminer were addressing, her complaints might seem excessive. The power of her critique comes from her observation that figures such as Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson are taken seriously. She notes that such pop gurus are unenthusiastic when asked to justify their claims or meet objections to their ideas.

In the last chapters, Kaminer extends her criticisms even more widely to what she calls junk science, recovered memories and the Internet. By this stage, her book is running out of steam. In her chapter on claims of abuse, she goes over much of the same ground as Elaine Showalter’s book Hystories (reviewed in Metapsychology July 1997). Her complaints about the anti-intellectual aspects of the Internet are already somewhat old-fashioned and simplistic.

Thinking of the book as a whole, I can only speculate as to how it will strike a strongly religious person. Her arguments concern cultural trends more than particular authors, and thus, because of the nature of her project, she can’t make her argument watertight. I hope that she succeeds in provoking her readers to examining their beliefs. Her aim is not to force people to abandon their beliefs, but instead to make them realize the proper place of religious or spiritual belief in public life. I imagine that her antagonistic attitude towards religion will alienate many potential readers, but I would encourage them to at least listen to what she has to say.

I grew up in Britain, and throughout my school years during my childhood, I went to religious school assemblies every day. My own experience was that such exposure to religion tends to encourage a skeptical attitude. Having to sing hymns and say prayers every day merely had the effect of making my peers and me more skeptical about religion. So I’m not convinced that the separation of church and state is necessary for the protection of rationality: rather, I suspect it is enough to make sure exposure to religion needs is accompanied by encouraging people to be thoughtful and inquiring.

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Categories: General, Philosophical