Expert: J.M.J. West - 9/22/2008

Question
Hey, this is a quote by Serj Tankian who is the lead singer of the metal band System of a Down,
"About religion- My religion is the same as the trees out there. It's the same inspiration. Whatever moves them, moves me. I believe that we're animals. I know we are because we die and we eat and we ****. And all modern religions to me are false. All modern religions come from a time of what we call civilization. Civilization has only existed ten thousand years among millions of years of man being on this planet. Everything before civilization is called prehistory. The reason that I don't give credence to modern religions is because they are only partially true. Because they were started from after civilization. Therefore they all start from a place that's not already to me natural. So if you want to know what my religion is, it's the same religion as the native American, same religion as the Aborigine, as the Maori in New-Zealand, as the Kahunas in Hawaii. I believe in beginnings."

Anyway my question is, how would the catholic church prove this quote wrong?
Thanks Matteo Orsi


Answer
Matteo,

Thanks for the question!  I'm somewhat familiar with System of a Down's music (it's not my cup of proverbial tea).

I don't know that you could "prove this quote wrong", but you could cast doubt on certain lines of reasoning used within it.  

>>My religion is the same as the trees out there. It's the same inspiration. Whatever moves them, moves me. I believe that we're animals.<<

Honestly, I don't know what this means.  It seems to be trying to sound new-agey, but most modern belief is ironically shaped by the civilization of the last 150 years of Modernism and post-Modernism, including the beliefs of Serj.

>>All modern religions come from a time of what we call civilization. Civilization has only existed ten thousand years among millions of years of man being on this planet.<<

I don't necessarily have a qualm with this claim.  But the implications of the underlying assumptions run deep.  Is it in fact the case that human civilization as we know it is only 10000 years old or less?  Sure.  Is it the case that all religion started after this nebulous point of the birth of civilization?  Less sure on that point.

Man is a social animal (Aristotle would say a "political" animal, which means he is built for community, i.e. civilization).  Man, so long as we have recorded history, has lived in community (which makes sense, because as a solitary entity, man would have little use for writing or even language beyond basic communication, so recording history wouldn't make sense).  One would expect customs and traditions, even explanations of the world in a systemized and religious fashion, to arise from this.

It is, however, an in-credible leap of logic to then write off all religions because some - even possibly most - began in this fashion.

>>Everything before civilization is called prehistory. The reason that I don't give credence to modern religions is because they are only partially true.<<

One could only make this claim if one had access to the "fullness of the truth" with which to compare other faiths.  I doubt that Serj has this; it is, however, a qualified belief of the Catholic Faith, and only a faith that made that claim (i.e. the fullness of the truth) could make the claim Serj has made.

Rather, I suspect he - like so many post moderns, affected as they are by their environment - values "feeling spiritual" but not doing anything about it or with it...it is ironically he who treats religions as the crutch he thinks others do (not to say that others don't, but he at least is)...it makes him comfortable.

I'm particularly curious how you prove: "they are only partially true. Because they were started from after civilization."

>>therefore they all start from a place that's not already to me natural.<<

Like it or not, he has NEVER lived "before civilization", so he is not qualified to make such a statement.

>>So if you want to know what my religion is, it's the same religion as the native American, same religion as the Aborigine, as the Maori in New-Zealand, as the Kahunas in Hawaii. I believe in beginnings."<<

These Faith Traditions don't Jibe exactly well with each other.  They teach contradicting things.  I suppose he's not actually studied them more than browsing a book at Barnes & Nobles and a few History Channel documentaries, like most 'spiritual people'.

I do not, in all of this, mean to sound uncharitable, but I am trying to be blunt and direct.  I think that this quote is a jumble of less than meaningful tripe, from a post-modern whose entire world-view I am entitled to discredit precisely because of the very basis of the argument he tries to use to buttress his arguments.

It's good that he's searching and open to the notion of God, but I don't thing he's searched far enough.

Hope that helps.

Pax Christi,

-J.M.J. West