In 1799, the Rosetta Stone was discovered by French soldiers who were rebuilding a fort in Egypt (near a small village called Rosetta). It had been carved in 196BC but no one knew of its existence. The significance of the Rosetta Stone, as you know, was it’s contribution to deciphering the difficult and complex language of hieroglyphs (accomplished by Jean-Francois Champollion in 1822). Hieroglyphs had existed for a long time—but no one knew what it meant.
Could it be that our difficulties in discovering the meaning of the complex issues racing toward us (genetic engineering, designer babies, cloning, and so on) are because we lack a “Rosetta Stone?” And where would we go looking for one? You might be surprised to learn that many recent and respected voices have urged us to “rediscover” religion.
In 1951, T.S. Eliot addressed the University of Chicago faculty in a series of lectures titled “The Aims of Education.” Eliot suggested that if education is to include considerations of right and wrong, this “implies some concealed, or rather implicit philosophy or theology.” In other words, if schooling aims to cultivate good people and citizens, Eliot said it must raise questions of right and wrong. For Eliot, all questions of right and wrong were ultimately questions of religion.
In 1989, Glen Tinder wrote a piece for the Atlantic Monthly titled Can We be Good without God? Tinder is Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. He affirms the universal inclination toward goodness, but claims it only has meaning when it is linked to religious faith. The idea that we can sustain goodness “without transcendental connections—without God—is doubtful,” judges Tinder.
In the March 2004 edition of the Atlantic Monthly, Michael Sandel wrote the cover story: The Case Against Perfection: What’s wrong with designer children, bionic athletes, and genetic engineering. Sandel, who teaches political philosophy at Harvard University and also serves on the President’s Council on Bioethics, writes: “To believe that our talents and powers are wholly our own doing is to misunderstand our place in creation, to confuse our role with God’s.” Again, Sandel argues for religion having a public role in the conversation.
This is why Justice David Souter’s comments of last week have to be weighed carefully: “Religion in this country is so diluted, it goes beneath the constitutional radar. Insofar as the way we live and think and work in schools and civic society; whatever religious direction there is, is simply lost.”
Genetic engineering, designer babies, cloning, and a host of other issues already exist—but what do they mean? What is the good and proper use of these developments? Where is the twenty-first century Rosetta Stone? Could it be religion?
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