A Material World

What do thinkers as different as Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Madonna have in common? The intuitive answer: absolutely nothing.

In his now-famous essay "The End of History," Francis Fukuyama pointed out that the followers of Karl Marx and the disciples of Adam Smith may actually share something in common, in spite of their very different beliefs. Both groups (along with the Material Girl herself) harbor a deep belief in the importance of material things in our lives. Both groups believe that societal progress can be measured in terms of how many material goods the citizens enjoy.

This devotion to material possessions, accompanied by a relative neglect of any higher values, is now a part of American culture. In looking at the state of contemporary America, many commentators rightly bemoan our society's crass materialism, expressing shock at this sorry state of affairs. We should all be disturbed by the moral decay of our nation.

But in a certain sense, it is entirely understandable that our culture should be such a materialistic one. When it comes to spiritual matters, we encounter bitter disagreement. Some of us believe in God, and some of us don't. Among those of us who do believe in God's existence, there are even more arguments about the proper way in which to worship him. For better or worse (perhaps worse), agreement on such deeply personal questions cannot be dictated by government in the United States.

Our society of many faiths is thus marked by a lack of consensus when it comes to the higher values and absolute truths that can only be found in religion. And so material possessions enter the picture as a kind of lowest common denominator in our political culture. We may disagree about the existence of God or about the proper way to pray. But all of us, regardless of our religious beliefs, require food, clothing and shelter.

Because our need for certain basic commodities is so basic and so universal, we see these commodities (and glorified versions of them) as the most important things in life. All of us require oxygen. But the fact that all of us need it shouldn't make it the most crucial part of our lives on this earth.

Our governmental framework recognizes the importance of material goods. Indeed, it has established an elaborate system for providing those goods to individuals who don't have them. What our government and laws fail to acknowledge, however, is that there are so many things that are more important than these goods--such as service to God and one's fellow man.

The problem with a government that gives great respect to the material and virtually no respect to the spiritual (not even a perfunctory nod in the direction of a higher being) is that it leaves out spiritual concerns that form a huge part of so many people's lives.

The lack of something higher than material goods in our political system can send a dangerous message to observers of our society. People may mistakenly interpret our lack of agreement on religion as indicative of religion's lack of importance in our everyday lives. But religion is still of great importance for many Americans. The message encoded into our laws is a misleading one.

This emphasis on the strict separation of church and state, while perhaps justifiable given our nation's religious pluralism and respect for minority rights, nevertheless has some unfortunate consequences. It denies us all of the benefits that come from having some overlap between religion and the state. Religion has long been a source of social stability and unity. School prayer has been shown to make students more focused and better behaved. The benefits of having a less aggressively strict construction of church-state separation would be enjoyed not just be religious individuals, but by society as a whole.

The secular, materialist orientation of our society may be an understandable phenomenon in light of our society's "diversity." But that doesn't mean it's not regrettable as well.

David B. Lat's column appears on alternate Tuesdays.