Abstract
Religious and political authorities are always in potential conflict and ought to be separated if democracy is to thrive, at least in modern times. This idea is relatively uncontroversial in the abstract, but it becomes disputable as one considers how a ‘wall of separation’ between the two authorities should be established in specific places burdened with history, culture and political traditions. This slim volume by the literary journalist Ian Buruma examines how the tensions between religion and politics have promoted or hindered the realisation of democratic ideals in Europe (Britain, France and the Netherlands), North America (the United States) and Asia (China and Japan).
Taming the Gods consists of three chapters. The first one discredits the simplistic contrast between American religiosity and European secularity, discussing the diverse ways in which secularism has manifested itself within Europe and throughout American history. The second chapter similarly challenges the crude contrast between the (monotheistic)West and the (polytheistic) East, demonstrating that the failure to keep a balance between the religious and the secular is a problem known outside as well as inside the West. The final chapter shifts from diagnosis to prescription, addressing the challenge of radical Islamism in contemporary Europe. Arguing that the resentment, hatred and violence expressed in religious language by minorities in Europe typically result from social alienation and political exclusion, Buruma defends an accommodationist and integrationist ideal to tolerate difference as long as citizens ‘play by the rules of democracy’.
A short book covering numerous issues and ‘three continents’, Taming the Gods inevitably suffers from occasional oversimplification. Multiculturalism ‘as an ideology’ is briefly mentioned and rejected, while non-ideological or less ideological conceptions of multiculturalism are hardly discussed. China and Japan are chosen to represent Asia, leaving us to wonder what ‘oriental wisdom’ Buruma would have extracted if he had focused on other Asian countries such as India and Indonesia.
To underline those shortfalls and denounce Buruma's book as too ambitious is easy, but that would be unfair. Taming the Gods is a sensible commentary on contemporary European politics and society, illuminated by the author's shrewd analysis of relevant issues in China, Japan and the United States. Some will surely find his moderate secularism unsatisfactory, but those who wish to propose a bolder solution must take seriously the significance of Buruma's enlightened scepticism: dare not to attempt to achieve, politically as well as epistemologically, what lies beyond the limits of human capacity.