People say things about religion all the time. (Laughter) The late, great Christopher Hitchens wrote a book called "God Is Not Great" whose subtitle was, "Religion Poisons Everything." (Laughter) But last month, in Time magazine, Rabbi David Wolpe, who I gather is referred to as America's rabbi, said, to balance that against that negative characterization, that no important form of social change can be brought about except through organized religion.
Cilvēki visu laiku viskaut ko saka par reliģiju. (Smiekli) Lieliskais, mūžībā aizgājušais Kristofers Hičenss sarakstīja grāmatu „Dievs nav varens”, kuras apakšvirsraksts bija „Reliģija visu samaitā.'” (Smiekli) Bet pagājušajā mēnesī „TIME” žurnālā rabīns Deivids Volps, kuru, kā noprotu, dēvē par Amerikas rabīnu, kurš, lai atsvērtu šo negatīvo raksturojumu, ir teicis, ka jebkura veida sociālās pārmaiņas var ieviest tikai caur organizēto reliģiju.
Now, remarks of this sort on the negative and the positive side are very old. I have one in my pocket here from the first century BCE by Lucretius, the author of "On the Nature of Things," who said, "Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum" -- I should have been able to learn that by heart — which is, that's how much religion is able to persuade people to do evil, and he was talking about the fact of Agamemnon's decision to place his daughter Iphigenia on an altar of sacrifice in order to preserve the prospects of his army. So there have been these long debates over the centuries, in that case, actually, we can say over the millennia, about religion. People have talked about it a lot, and they've said good and bad and indifferent things about it.
Šāda veida apgalvojumi par negatīvo un pozitīvo pusi ir ļoti seni. Viens man ir tepat kabatā — no 1. gadsimta p.m.ē. To teicis Lukrēcijs, autors poēmai „Par lietu dabu” — „Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum”. Man būtu vajadzējis to iemācīties no galvas. Tas nozīmē — „tik daudz ļauna cilvēkus mudina darīt reliģija”, un viņš runāja par Agamemnona lēmumu likt savu meitu Ifigēniju uz upuraltāra, lai saglabātu savas armijas izredzes. Šīs debates par reliģiju ir gadsimtiem ilgas, šajā gadījumā patiesībā varam teikt — tūkstošiem gadu ilgas. Cilvēki par to ir daudz runājuši, un teikuši labu un sliktu, un neitrālu par to.
What I want to persuade you of today is of a very simple claim, which is that these debates are in a certain sense preposterous, because there is no such thing as religion about which to make these claims. There isn't a thing called religion, and so it can't be good or bad. It can't even be indifferent. And if you think about claims about the nonexistence of things, one obvious way to try and establish the nonexistence of a purported thing would be to offer a definition of that thing and then to see whether anything satisfied it. I'm going to start out on that little route to begin with.
Šodien vēlos jūs pārliecināt par ļoti vienkāršu apgalvojumu, proti, šīs debates ir savā ziņā muļķīgas, tāpēc ka nav tāda lieta kā reliģija, par ko izteikt šos apgalvojumus. Nav tāda lieta vārdā „reliģija”, tāpēc tā nevar būt laba vai slikta. Tā pat nevar būt neitrāla. Domājot par apgalvojumiem par lietu neesamību, viens pašsaprotams veids, kā mēģināt konstatēt kādas vispārpieņemtas lietas neesamību, būtu piedāvāt šīs lietas definīciju un tad skatīties, vai ir kaut kas, kas tai atbilst. Vispirms es sākšu ar šo vienkāršo veidu.
So if you look in the dictionaries and if you think about it, one very natural definition of religion is that it involves belief in gods or in spiritual beings. As I say, this is in many dictionaries, but you'll also find it actually in the work of Sir Edward Tylor, who was the first professor of anthropology at Oxford, one of the first modern anthropologists. In his book on primitive culture, he says the heart of religion is what he called animism, that is, the belief in spiritual agency, belief in spirits. The first problem for that definition is from a recent novel by Paul Beatty called "Tuff." There's a guy talking to a rabbi. The rabbi says he doesn't believe in God. The guy says, "You're a rabbi, how can you not believe in God?" And the reply is, "It's what's so great about being Jewish. You don't have to believe in a God per se, just in being Jewish." (Laughter) So if this guy is a rabbi, and a Jewish rabbi, and if you have to believe in God in order to be religious, then we have the rather counterintuitive conclusion that since it's possible to be a Jewish rabbi without believing in God, Judaism isn't a religion. That seems like a pretty counterintuitive thought.
Tātad, ieskatoties vārdnīcās un to apdomājot, viena ļoti dabiska reliģijas definīcija ir tā, ka reliģija ietver ticību dieviem vai garīgām būtnēm. Kā teicu, tas ir daudzās vārdnīcās, bet to var atrast arī sera Edvarda Tailora darbā, kurš bija pirmais antropoloģijas profesors Oksfordā, viens no pirmajiem mūsdienu antropologiem. Savā grāmatā par pirmatnējo kultūru viņš raksta, ka reliģijas sirds ir tā dēvētais animisms, kas ir ticība garīgiem spēkiem, ticība gariem. Šīs definīcijas pirmā problēma ir atrodama nesenajā Pola Beitija romānā „Tufs”. Tur ir vīrietis, kurš runā ar rabīnu. Rabīns saka, ka viņš netic Dievam. Vīrietis saka: „Tu esi rabīns, kā tu vari neticēt Dievam?” Un atbilde ir: „Tādēļ ir tik labi būt ebrejam. Tev nav jātic Dievam, tikai tam, ka esi ebrejs.” (Smiekli) Tātad, ja šīs vīrietis ir rabīns, ebreju rabīns, un ticēšana Dievam ir svarīga, lai būtu reliģiozs, tad mums sanāk diezgan neloģisks secinājums — ja reiz ir iespējams būt par ebeju rabīnu, neticot Dievam, jūdaisms nav reliģija. Tā šķiet diezgan neloģiska doma.
Here's another argument against this view. A friend of mine, an Indian friend of mine, went to his grandfather when he was very young, a child, and said to him, "I want to talk to you about religion," and his grandfather said, "You're too young. Come back when you're a teenager." So he came back when he was a teenager, and he said to his grandfather, "It may be a bit late now because I've discovered that I don't believe in the gods." And his grandfather, who was a wise man, said, "Oh, so you belong to the atheist branch of the Hindu tradition." (Laughter)
Lūk, vēl viens pretarguments šim viedoklim. Mans draugs, indiešu draugs, aizgāja pie sava vectēva, kad viņš bija ļoti jauns, vēl bērns, un teica viņam: „Es gribu ar tevi parunāt par reliģiju.” Viņa vectēvs sacīja: „Tu esi pārāk jauns. Atnāc vēlreiz, kad būsi pusaudzis.” Viņš atnāca vēlreiz, kad bija pusaudzis, un teica savam vectēvam: „Nu varbūt ir mazliet par vēlu, jo esmu atklājis, ka neticu dieviem.” Viņa vectēvs, kurš bija gudrs vīrs, sacīja: „Ak tā, tad tu piederi pie hinduisma ateistu filiāles.” (Smiekli)
And finally, there's this guy, who famously doesn't believe in God. His name is the Dalai Lama. He often jokes that he's one of the world's leading atheists. But it's true, because the Dalai Lama's religion does not involve belief in God.
Visbeidzot ir šis kungs, kurš, kā visiem zināms, netic Dievam. Viņa vārds ir Dalailama. Viņš bieži joko, ka ir viens no pasaules vadošajiem ateistiem. Bet tā ir patiesība, jo Dalailamas reliģija neietver ticību Dievam.
Now you might think this just shows that I've given you the wrong definition and that I should come up with some other definition and test it against these cases and try and find something that captures atheistic Judaism, atheistic Hinduism, and atheistic Buddhism as forms of religiosity, but I actually think that that's a bad idea, and the reason I think it's a bad idea is that I don't think that's how our concept of religion works. I think the way our concept of religion works is that we actually have, we have a list of paradigm religions and their sub-parts, right, and if something new comes along that purports to be a religion, what we ask is, "Well, is it like one of these?" Right? And I think that's not only how we think about religion, and that's, as it were, so from our point of view, anything on that list had better be a religion, which is why I don't think an account of religion that excludes Buddhism and Judaism has a chance of being a good starter, because they're on our list. But why do we have such a list? What's going on? How did it come about that we have this list?
Jūs, iespējams, domājat, ka tas tikai parāda, ka esmu iedevis jums nepareizo definīciju un ka man vajadzētu piedāvāt kādu citu un pārbaudīt to caur šiem piemēriem, un mēģināt atrast kaut ko, kas ietver ateistisko jūdaismu, ateistisko hinduismu un ateistisko budismu kā reliģijas veidus, bet es patiesībā domāju, ka tā ir slikta doma, un iemesls, kāpēc es domāju, ka tā ir slikta doma, ir, jo es neuzskatu, ka šādi darbojas mūsu priekšstats par reliģiju. Manuprāt, mūsu priekšstats par reliģiju patiesībā vairāk līdzinās sarakstam ar paradigmu reliģijām un to apakšgrupām, un, ja parādās kaut kas jauns, kas tiecas kļūt par reliģiju, mēs jautājam: „Vai tā līdzinās kādai no šīm?” Ne tā? Manuprāt, mēs šādi domājam ne tikai par reliģiju, un tas ir... no mūsu viedokļa labāk lai viss šajā sarakstā ir reliģija, tāpēc es nedomāju, ka reliģiju uzskaitījums, kas izslēdz budismu vai jūdaismu, varētu būt labs sākums, jo tie ir mūsu sarakstā. Bet kāpēc mums ir šāds saraksts? Kas notiek? Kā nākas, ka mums ir šāds saraksts?
I think the answer is a pretty simple one and therefore crude and contentious. I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with it, but here's my story, and true or not, it's a story that I think gives you a good sense of how the list might have come about, and therefore helps you to think about what use the list might be. I think the answer is, European travelers, starting roughly about the time of Columbus, started going around the world. They came from a Christian culture, and when they arrived in a new place, they noticed that some people didn't have Christianity, and so they asked themselves the following question: what have they got instead of Christianity? And that list was essentially constructed. It consists of the things that other people had instead of Christianity.
Man šķiet, ka atbilde ir diezgan vienkārša un tāpēc sākotnēja un strīdīga. Esmu pārliecināts, ka daudzi tam nepiekritīs, bet, lūk, mans stāsts. Patiess vai nepatiess, bet tas ir stāsts, kurš, manuprāt, labi palīdz saprast, kā šis saraksts varēja rasties, un tāpēc palīdz, domājot par to, kāda tam varētu būt nozīme. Manuprāt, atbilde ir tajā, ka eiropiešu ceļotāji aptuveni kopš Kolumba laika sāka apceļot pasauli. Viņi nāca no kristiešu kultūras, un, ierodoties jaunā vietā, viņi ievēroja, ka daļa cilvēku nepazina kristietību. Tādēļ viņi uzdeva sev jautājumu: „Kas tad viņiem ir, ja ne kristietība?” Būtībā šo sarakstu izveidoja. Tas ietver to, kas citiem cilvēkiem bija kristietības vietā.
Now there's a difficulty with proceeding in that way, which is that Christianity is extremely, even on that list, it's an extremely specific tradition. It has all kinds of things in it that are very, very particular that are the results of the specifics of Christian history, and one thing that's at the heart of it, one thing that's at the heart of most understandings of Christianity, which is the result of the specific history of Christianity, is that it's an extremely creedal religion. It's a religion in which people are really concerned about whether you believe the right things. The history of Christianity, the internal history of Christianity, is largely the history of people killing each other because they believed the wrong thing, and it's also involved in struggles with other religions, obviously starting in the Middle Ages, a struggle with Islam, in which, again, it was the infidelity, the fact that they didn't believe the right things, that seemed so offensive to the Christian world. Now that's a very specific and particular history that Christianity has, and not everywhere is everything that has ever been put on this sort of list like it. Here's another problem, I think. A very specific thing happened. It was actually adverted to earlier, but a very specific thing happened in the history of the kind of Christianity that we see around us mostly in the United States today, and it happened in the late 19th century, and that specific thing that happened in the late 19th century was a kind of deal that was cut between science, this new way of organizing intellectual authority, and religion. If you think about the 18th century, say, if you think about intellectual life before the late 19th century, anything you did, anything you thought about, whether it was the physical world, the human world, the natural world apart from the human world, or morality, anything you did would have been framed against the background of a set of assumptions that were religious, Christian assumptions. You couldn't give an account of the natural world that didn't say something about its relationship, for example, to the creation story in the Abrahamic tradition, the creation story in the first book of the Torah. So everything was framed in that way.
Rodas grūtības turpināt šajā virzienā, jo kristietība ir ārkārtīgi, pat šajā sarakstā, tā ir ārkārtīgi specifiska tradīcija. Tā ietver visdažādākās lietas, kas ir ļoti, ļoti specifiskas, kas ir kristietības vēstures īpatnību rezultāts. Viena lieta tās pamatā, viena lieta, kas ir pamatā vairumam kristietības izpratņu, kas ir īpašās kristietības vēstures rezultāts — proti, tā ir reliģija, kas cieši saistīta ar ticību. Šīs reliģijas cilvēkiem ļoti rūp, vai tu tici pareizajam. Kristietības vēsture, iekšējā kristietības vēsture, lielā mērā ir cilvēku savstarpējas nogalināšanas vēsture, jo viņi ticēja nepareizajam. Tā ir iesaistīta arī cīņās ar citām reliģijām, protams, sākot ar viduslaikiem, cīņu ar islāmu, kurā atkal neticība, fakts, ka viņi neticēja pareizajam, bija tas, kas kristiešu pasaulei šķita tik aizvainojošs. Kristietībai ir ļoti specifiska un īpatnēja vēsture, un ne viss, kas reiz ir iekļauts šajā sarakstā, ir tāds. Man šķiet ir vēl viena problēma. Notika kas ļoti īpašs, ko pieminēju jau iepriekš — kaut kas īpašs notika tās kristietības vēsturē, kāda sastopama lielākoties ASV mūsdienās, un tas notika 19. gadsimta beigās. Šī specifiskā lieta, kas notika 19. gadsimta beigās, bija tāds kā darījums, ko noslēdza starp zinātni, šo jauno intelektuālās autoritātes organizēšanas veidu, un reliģiju. Ja iedomājamies 18. gadsimtu, piemēram, ja iedomājamies intelektuālo dzīvi pirms 19. gadsimta beigām, viss, ko darīji, viss, par ko domāji, vienalga, vai tā bija fiziskā pasaule, cilvēka pasaule, dabas pasaule bez cilvēka pasaules, vai morāle, viss, ko darīji, visu pielāgoja reliģisku pieņēmumu kopumam, kristiešu pieņēmumiem. Tu nevarēji runāt par dabas pasauli, nepieminot tās saistību, piemēram, ar stāstu par pasaules radīšanu Ābrahāma tradīcijā, pasaules radīšanas stāstu pirmajā Tora grāmatā. Viss tika likts šādā te ietvarā.
But this changes in the late 19th century, and for the first time, it's possible for people to develop serious intellectual careers as natural historians like Darwin. Darwin worried about the relationship between what he said and the truths of religion, but he could proceed, he could write books about his subject without having to say what the relationship was to the religious claims, and similarly, geologists increasingly could talk about it. In the early 19th century, if you were a geologist and made a claim about the age of the Earth, you had to explain whether that was consistent or how it was or wasn't consistent with the age of the Earth implied by the account in Genesis. By the end of the 19th century, you can just write a geology textbook in which you make arguments about how old the Earth is. So there's a big change, and that division, that intellectual division of labor occurs as I say, I think, and it sort of solidifies so that by the end of the 19th century in Europe, there's a real intellectual division of labor, and you can do all sorts of serious things, including, increasingly, even philosophy, without being constrained by the thought, "Well, what I have to say has to be consistent with the deep truths that are given to me by our religious tradition."
Bet 19. gadsimta beigās tas mainījās, un pirmo reizi cilvēkiem bija iespējams veidot nopietnas, intelektuālas karjeras kā dabas vēsturniekiem, kā piemēram, Darvins. Darvinu satrauca attiecības starp viņa teikto un reliģijas patiesībām, bet viņš varēja turpināt rakstīt grāmatas par savu tematu, bez vajadzības norādīt, kāda bija šī saikne ar reliģiju. Līdzīgi par to arvien vairāk varēja runāt ģeologi. Ja ģeologs 19. gs. sākumā izteica apgalvojumus par Zemes vecumu, tam bija jāskaidro, vai tas atbilst un kā tas atbilst vai neatbilst 1. Mozus grāmatā norādītajam Zemes vecumam. 19. gadsimta beigās varēja vienkārši uzrakstīt ģeoloģijas grāmatu un izteikt apgalvojumus par Zemes vecumu. Tā ir pamatīga pārmaiņa, un rodas šis sadalījums šī intelektuālā darba dalīšana, kā es to saucu, un tā nostiprinās, līdz beidzot 19. gadsimta beigās Eiropā notiek īsta intelektuālā darba dalīšana, un ir iespēja pievērsties dažādām nopietnām lietām, tostarp, arvien vairāk pat filozofijai, neļaujot sevi ierobežot domai: „Manis teiktajam ir jābūt saskaņā ar dziļajām patiesībām, ko man sniedz mūsu reliģija.”
So imagine someone who's coming out of that world, that late-19th-century world, coming into the country that I grew up in, Ghana, the society that I grew up in, Asante, coming into that world at the turn of the 20th century with this question that made the list: what have they got instead of Christianity?
Iedomājieties kādu, kurš nokļūst no tās pasaules, 19. gadsimta beigu pasaules, valstī, kurā uzaugu es, Ganā, sabiedrībā, kurā es uzaugu, Asantē, ienākot šajā pasaulē 20. gadsmita mijā ar jautājumu, kurš radīja sarakstu: „Kas viņiem ir kristietības vietā?”
Well, here's one thing he would have noticed, and by the way, there was a person who actually did this. His name was Captain Rattray, he was sent as the British government anthropologist, and he wrote a book about Asante religion.
Lūk, viena lieta, ko viņš pamanītu, un, starp citu, bija cilvēks, kurš tiešām to izdarīja. Tas bija kapteinis Retrijs, britu valdības sūtīts antropologs, kurš uzrakstīja grāmatu par Asantes reliģiju.
This is a soul disc. There are many of them in the British Museum. I could give you an interesting, different history of how it comes about that many of the things from my society ended up in the British Museum, but we don't have time for that. So this object is a soul disc. What is a soul disc? It was worn around the necks of the soul-washers of the Asante king. What was their job? To wash the king's soul. It would take a long while to explain how a soul could be the kind of thing that could be washed, but Rattray knew that this was religion because souls were in play.
Šis ir dvēseles disks. Britu muzejā tādu ir daudz. Es varētu pastāstīt interesantu, citādāku stāstu, kā tas gadījās, ka tik daudz lietu no manas sabiedrības nonāca Britu muzejā, bet tam mums nav laika. Tātad šis objekts ir dvēseles disks. Kas ir dvēseles disks? To nēsāja ap kaklu Asantes karaļa dvēseļu mazgātāji. Kāds bija viņu darbs? Mazgāt karaļa dvēseli. Tas prasītu daudz laika — paskaidrot, kā dvēsele varēja būt mazgājama. Bet Retrijs zināja, ka tā ir reliģija, jo bija iesaistītas dvēseles.
And similarly, there were many other things, many other practices. For example, every time anybody had a drink, more or less, they poured a little bit on the ground in what's called the libation, and they gave some to the ancestors. My father did this. Every time he opened a bottle of whiskey, which I'm glad to say was very often, he would take the top off and pour off just a little on the ground, and he would talk to, he would say to Akroma-Ampim, the founder of our line, or Yao Antony, my great uncle, he would talk to them, offer them a little bit of this.
Līdzīgā kārtā bija daudz citu lietu un paradumu. Piemēram, iedzerot, gandrīz ik reizi viņi mazliet izlēja uz zemes, ziedojot dieviem un iedodot mazliet senčiem. Mans tēvs tā darīja. Ikreiz, atverot viskija pudeli, — ar prieku varu teikt, tas bija ļoti bieži — viņš to atkorķēja un mazliet izlēja uz zemes, un viņš runāja ar Akroma-Ampimu, mūsu ciltstēvu, vai Jao Antoniju, mana vectēva brāli. Viņš ar tiem sarunājās, piedāvāja viņiem mazliet no tā.
And finally, there were these huge public ceremonials. This is an early-19th-century drawing by another British military officer of such a ceremonial, where the king was involved, and the king's job, one of the large parts of his job, apart from organizing warfare and things like that, was to look after the tombs of his ancestors, and when a king died, the stool that he sat on was blackened and put in the royal ancestral temple, and every 40 days, the King of Asante has to go and do cult for his ancestors. That's a large part of his job, and people think that if he doesn't do it, things will fall apart. So he's a religious figure, as Rattray would have said, as well as a political figure.
Visbeidzot bija milzīgas publiskās ceremonijas. Šis ir 19. gadsimta sākuma zīmējums, ko zīmējis cits britu militārā virsnieks — no ceremonijas, kurā bija iesaistīts karalis. Karaļa darbs, liela daļa no viņa darba, neskaitot karagājienus u. tml. lietas, bija rūpēties par savu priekšteču kapenēm. Kad karalis nomira, krēslu, uz kura viņš sēdēja, nokrāsoja melnu un novietoja karaļa senču templī, un ik pēc 40 dienām Asantes karalim bija jāiet un jāveic rituāls saviem senčiem par godu. Tā ir liela daļa viņa darba, un cilvēki domā, ja viņš to nedarīs, viss saies grīstē. Tātad viņš ir reliģiska figūra, kā teiktu Retrijs, un politiska figūra.
So all this would count as religion for Rattray, but my point is that when you look into the lives of those people, you also find that every time they do anything, they're conscious of the ancestors. Every morning at breakfast, you can go outside the front of the house and make an offering to the god tree, the nyame dua outside your house, and again, you'll talk to the gods and the high gods and the low gods and the ancestors and so on. This is not a world in which the separation between religion and science has occurred. Religion has not being separated from any other areas of life, and in particular, what's crucial to understand about this world is that it's a world in which the job that science does for us is done by what Rattray is going to call religion, because if they want an explanation of something, if they want to know why the crop just failed, if they want to know why it's raining or not raining, if they need rain, if they want to know why their grandfather has died, they are going to appeal to the very same entities, the very same language, talk to the very same gods about that. This great separation, in other words, between religion and science hasn't happened.
Tātad šis viss Retrija izpratnē būtu reliģija, taču mana galvenā doma ir, ka, ieskatoties šo cilvēku dzīvēs, mēs arī saprotam, ka ikreiz, kaut ko darot, viņi apzinās savus priekštečus. Katru rītu brokastu laikā tu vari iziet ārā, mājas priekšā, un ziedot dieva kokam, niamdjuā, savas mājas ārpusē, un atkal runāt ar dieviem, gan augstajiem, gan zemajiem, ar senčiem un citiem. Šī nav tā pasaule, kurā reliģija un zinātne būtu nodalītas. Reliģiju nenodala no pārējām dzīves jomām. Lai izprastu šo pasauli, ir ļoti svarīgi saprast, ka tā ir pasaule, kurā to, ko mūsu labā dara zinātne, tur dara, kā Retrijs to sauktu, reliģija, jo, ja viņi grib kaut ko izskaidrot, ja viņi grib zināt, kāpēc iznīka raža, ja viņi grib zināt, kāpēc līst, vai nelīst, ja viņiem vajadzīgs lietus, ja viņi grib zināt, kāpēc nomira viņu vectēvs, viņi vērsīsies pie tām pašām struktūrām, tās pašas valodas, runās ar tiem pašiem dieviem. Citiem vārdiem, šī lielā zinātnes un reliģijas nodalīšana nav notikusi.
Now, this would be a mere historical curiosity, except that in large parts of the world, this is still the truth. I had the privilege of going to a wedding the other day in northern Namibia, 20 miles or so south of the Angolan border in a village of 200 people. These were modern people. We had with us Oona Chaplin, who some of you may have heard of, and one of the people from this village came up to her, and said, "I've seen you in 'Game of Thrones.'" So these were not people who were isolated from our world, but nevertheless, for them, the gods and the spirits are still very much there, and when we were on the bus going back and forth to the various parts of the [ceremony], they prayed not just in a generic way but for the safety of the journey, and they meant it, and when they said to me that my mother, the bridegroom's [grandmother], was with us, they didn't mean it figuratively. They meant, even though she was a dead person, they meant that she was still around. So in large parts of the world today, that separation between science and religion hasn't occurred in large parts of the world today, and as I say, these are not -- This guy used to work for Chase and at the World Bank. These are fellow citizens of the world with you, but they come from a place in which religion is occupying a very different role.
Tā būtu tik vien kā vēstures dīvainība, ja neņemam vērā, ka lielā daļā pasaules tā joprojām ir patiesība. Nesen man bija tas gods būt kāzās ziemeļu Namībijā, 30 km uz dienvidiem no Angolas robežas, 200 iedzīvotāju ciematā. Tie bija mūsdienīgi cilvēki. Tur bija Ūna Čaplina, par kuru varbūt esat dzirdējuši. Kāds ciema iedzīvotājs piegāja pie viņas un teica: „Esmu tevi redzējis „Troņu spēlē”.” Tie nebija no mūsu pasaules izolēti cilvēki, bet, lai vai kā, viņiem dievi un gari vēl joprojām pastāv. Kad mēs autobusā braukājām no vienas ceremonijas uz otru, viņi lūdza ne tikai vispārīgi, bet arī par drošību ceļojuma laikā, un viņi to darīja no sirds. Kad viņi man teica, ka mana māte, līgavaiņa vecmamma, ir ar mums, viņi nedomāja to pārnestā nozīmē. Viņi domāja, lai gan viņa ir mirusi, viņuprāt, viņa joprojām ir kopā ar mums. Lielā daļā pasaules mūsdienās — šī zinātnes un reliģijas nodalīšana lielā daļā mūsdienu pasaules nav notikusi, un, kā jau teicu, tie nav... Šis puisis reiz strādāja „Chase” un Pasaules Bankā. Viņi tāpat kā mēs ir pasaules līdzpilsoņi, taču viņi nāk no vietas, kur reliģija ieņem pavisam citādu lomu.
So what I want you to think about next time somebody wants to make some vast generalization about religion is that maybe there isn't such a thing as a religion, such a thing as religion, and that therefore what they say cannot possibly be true.
Tāpēc es gribētu, lai nākamreiz, kad kāds grib izdarīt plašus vispārinājumus par reliģiju, jūs apdomātu, ka varbūt nemaz nepastāv tāda lieta kā reliģija, un tādēļ viņu teiktais nemaz nevar būt taisnība.
(Applause)
(Aplausi)