Comparing the Views of Hans Kung and the Movie Jesus Camp

Since the end of World War II, many sociologists and historians have considered the United States to be in a new era, called the post-modern. This epoch should be marked by a progressive stance on ending violence and should actively engage the world in peace and interstate cooperation.

Unfortunately, we have not yet fulfilled the potential of this modern society and have found ourselves stuck in the unresolved issues of the modern world. Hans Kung is extremely critical about this modern struggle we are stuck in, and is a huge proponent of fixing our nation with a post-modern movement. This paradigm shift that Kung suggests we need involves several dramatic changes in both social and economic, and ever perhaps political structure.

One of Kung's major dilemmas with the modern world is the individual autonomy that has taken place as a result of capitalism. He describes how individuals have become a tool or resource (hence the class example of a human resources department and the implications this presents) of other human beings who are controlling wealth. This autonomy is born of the dog-eat-dog mentality of capitalistic gains. We are no longer concerned with the well being of our neighbors and friends, but only with ourselves. This self-serving climate in our country is exactly one of the issues that Kung suggests we must change in order to enter this new post-modern era.

The specific ethics of this new paradigm that our world so desperately needs seem rather simple, but for some reason our "progressed" world cannot seem to overcome our past issues. There are four major ethical resolutions that Kung feels must be accomplished.
1. Peace among religions must come before peace among the nations.

2. In order to accomplish peace among the religions we must have dialogue between the religions. This dialogue starts at the heads or religions but must trickle down to its practitioners.

3. Dialogue between the religions cannot be accomplished until there is a global ethical standard.

4. Without these standards and revelations we cannot accomplish a new society and our global structure will ultimately collapse.

Kung's development of the global ethics is his desperate plea to mankind to end its "commodity fetished". In addition to those fundamental convictions he addresses that we need non-violence and respect for life, a more just economic structure, tolerance and truthfulness, and equal rights for all. The biggest proponent to this is capitalism. In our current capitalistic world, we thrive on profit, which promotes a class divide, inequality, and even war. Kung seeks to change all of this in order to promote a healthier world.

The "humanum" which Kung refers to in his book is of the utmost importance because it describes the needs of humanity, and these needs are exactly what is post-modern society seeks to meet. The humanum, as we discussed in class, is the basic need that we as humans all share. These are common needs that unite humanity. Included in these needs are nourishment, shelter, education, access to healthcare, and many more. Kung suggests that the purpose of the post-modern world is to overcome the lack of meeting of these needs in our current society. Kung critically examines our modern society. It reflects complete irony that in such a scientifically advanced world we still cannot meet these basic human needs for the whole of our society. Tragically, we not only cannot meet the need of all humans, but we cannot meet the needs of a very large, significant proportion of the population.

Kung believes that not only does religion have a place in the post-modern world, but also he believes that through religion we can solve many of the ethical issues in our world. He calls religion to fulfill the monumental task of promoting and piloting the change from modern to post-modern in the third millennium. Kung believes that through the coming together of the religious and the secular, we can achieve these means that are long overdue. Kung believes that only through open discourse between religions, and between religion and science, can the post-modern world reach its full potential. Inter-religious discourse can take place because most world religions share a binding theme: the Golden Rule. Though the Golden Rule takes different forms in each religion, it remains the same in principle and allows for an understanding to be reached. Once this important step has been taken, the religions of the world can then come together and have discourse with the secular world. Once this has been accomplished, through the communicative method of discourse and a religious and secular understanding has been reached, the post-modern world can finally arrive at its potential and solve the issues of the modern world, thus finally satisfying the needs of the humanum that Kung describes.

I agree with Kung's assessment of religion's role in the third millennium. Religion has too important a place in society and in our lives to be eliminated. Even with the scientific advances of the technological world, people still rely on religion in a major way. I completely agree that in order for a successful post-modern world the world religions must reach a peaceful understanding. After that, it again becomes necessary that these religions have open discussion with the scientific and secular. This is necessary because both of these realms affect a large proportion of society. I further agree with Kung that we need to see an end to using fellow man as a source for our own personal advancement. This leads us to conclude that the secular also play a key role in the development of our new post-modern world.

There are many distinct differences between the visions that Hans Kung and Becky Fisher (who I cannot bring myself to refer to as 'reverend' because reverends are to be respected and revered) respectively hold for the role of religion in the post-modern world. Both hold a very specific idea for how they believe religion should help facilitate this transformation. The film Jesus Camp offers a haunting, firsthand look at the Christian right's solution to the divide between the secular and religious and proposes a disturbing role for religion in proceeding. It is quite apparent that Becky Fisher and the Christian Right desire a very centralized role for Christianity in the post-modern world. They seek to dominate the shift into post-modernism. Unfortunately, their solution would isolate and dehumanize millions of people, just as capitalism did before it. Furthermore, the ethics they seek to establish are very centralized around the Christian faith and its teachings, rather than the basic human ethics that can be applied to all humans as described earlier. Additionally, Becky Fisher does not promote the discourse that is so vital to a resolved post-modern world. Thinkers like Fisher establish a close-minded, ethnocentric society that forces the strict beliefs of some on an entire population.

In contrast, Hans Kung sees religion as acting as one of the contributing tools to reaching the ultimate goal of a humane world, but does not perceive Christianity holding a star role in the journey. Another major contrast is that Hans Kung finds dialogue between religions to be extremely important to the success of the post-modern world. As stated before, those associated with the likes of Becky Fisher do not value or allow for openness and discourse between theirs and opposing views. I believe that a society operating on norms and beliefs that are so specifically focused and that do not address the needs of the entire population cannot function as a legitimate answer to the humanum issue that we find our world faced with. Preconceived naïve realism does not and cannot support a healthy and functional society that allows all individuals to thrive. Relevant voices, like Hans Kung's, must be sought out, received, and mobilized in order to re-establish the values and ethics by which we attempt to finally create a society that thrives off of the true progression of mankind. We can no longer accept the digressive and muddled rhetoric of crooked politicians or outspoken extremists. Our charge must be focused on the potential that we seek, and we must hold true to the belief that we can someday reach a reconciled world.

Information from:
Global Responsibility: In Search of a New World Ethic by Hans Kung. Published 1990, Crossroads.
Jesus Camp, 2006