Natural: How Faith in Nature's Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science

Illuminates the far-reaching harms of believing that natural means “good,” from misinformation about health choices to justifications for sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies. People love what’s natural: it’s the best way to eat, the best way to parent, even the best way to act—naturally, just as nature intended. Appeals to the wisdom of nature are among the most powerful arguments in the history of human thought. Yet Nature (with a capital N) and natural goodness are not objective or scientific. In this groundbreaking book, scholar of religion Alan Levinovitz demonstrates that these beliefs are actually religious and highlights the many dangers of substituting simple myths for complicated realities. It may not seem like a problem when it comes to paying a premium for organic food. But what about condemnations of “unnatural” sexual activity? The guilt that attends not having a “natural” birth? Economic deregulation justified by the inherent goodness of “natural” markets? In Natural , readers embark on an epic journey, from Peruvian rainforests to the backcountry in Yellowstone Park, from a “natural” bodybuilding competition to a “natural” cancer-curing clinic. The result is an essential new perspective that shatters faith in Nature’s goodness and points to a better alternative. We can love nature without worshipping it, and we can work toward a better world with humility and dialogue rather than taboos and zealotry. Illuminates the far-reaching consequences the myth of "natural" has over our lives, from misinformation about health choices to mistaken justifications of sexism, racism, and flawed economic policies. Modern nature worship shares key elements with most religions: mythology, rituals, and laws. At the center of it all is a god: Nature, with a capital N. Academic and journalist Alan Levinovitz's exploration of this faith takes readers deep into Peruvian jungle, on a tour of a high-tech Dutch greenhouse, wolf-watching in Yellowstone National Park, and into a controversial "natural" healing retreat. His interdisciplinary approach yields a uniquely comprehensive picture of nature worship, hidden in plain sight: in refrigerators and hospitals, in sports arenas and economic theories. Natural is the first holistic analysis of Nature's influence, along with a reckoning of the sacrifices made in its name—the lives lost, the guilt suffered, the facts distorted. Although... Why arguments based on what is 'natural', in food, medicine, and society at large, are appeals to a false idol - our oldest, most persistent superstition. In this sparking and mind-expanding essay, a scholar of religion shows where that ancient delusion came from and how we can at last break free of it.