Sleeping with extra-terrestrials : the rise of irrationalism and perils of piety

In Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials , social critic Wendy Kaminer illuminates the various ways in which society has come to value emotion over reason, faith over fact, and argues that declarations of intense belief have largely taken the place of rational discourse. In a world in which "How do you feel," seems to be a more frequently asked question than "What do you know," Kaminer's examination of the rise of spiritualism, the mushrooming junk science, and the habitual merging of political and evangelical speech, blazes with relevance and incisive wit. Probing the amusing and ominous implications of rampant credulity in our age, Kaminer raises important questions, and provides a thoughtful and eloquent perspective on the perils of present-day irrationalism. "Kaminer sends us a wise warning against the dangers to public freedoms in all overweening personal beliefs." USA Today "Wendy Kaminer is hard to place on the left-right political spectrum-and that is what imbues her work with originality. She relishes the clang of a good argument." The Boston Globe

America has a serious love affair with the irrational, writes social Wendy Kaminer; and in her provocative new book, she argues that an uncritical acceptance of gurus, angels, aliens, and any belief not rooted in evidence has repercussions for all of us.

Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials takes fearless aim at the seemingly insatiable public appetite for the ideas and beliefs put forth as truth by personal "testifiers": from supernaturalists, pop-spiritualists, therapists, elected officials, religious leaders, "tecnoboosters," and other charismatic authority figures whose names will be familiar to media-watchers.

Kaminer casts a wide net, intelligently tracing how uncritical, unquestioning, illogical thinking can lead to a range of faulty legal and public policy decisions. She shows how debate over classroom prayer, school vouchers, "crack babies," and the war on drugs has been shaped by both personal prejudices and junk science. She probes our eagerness to join in the hysteria of satanic ritual abuse and the mass mourning for dead celebrities, and points out the comedy when "experts" claim insider knowledge of the physics of angels or the finer details of reincarnation. And she argues that surrounded by a cacaphony of attitudes such as these—in our increasingly therapeutic culture— we're in danger of losing our skepticism, the quality required by any rational society.

Irrationalism is becoming so ingrained in our culture, she writes, that it's taboo even to question some fervent believers: "what makes fantastic declarations believable, is, in part, the vehemence with which they've proffered. In the world of spiritual, as well as pop psychology, intensity of personal belief is evidence of truth. It is very bad form, for example—it is even considered an exercise in abuse—to challenge the veracity of any personal testimony that might be offered in a 12-step group or on a talk show."

While strongly critical of "public piety," Kaminer decidedly does not attack any personal religious beliefs. As Kaminer writes, "other people's personal religious beliefs and reading habits are none of my business (and surely don't require my approval). But the possible public consequence of their inclination to believe is everyone's business and merits everyone's concern."

In addition to offering rich new insights and perspectives on our own habits and culture, in Sleeping With Extra-Terrestrials Kaminer prescribes a succinct remedy for countering gurus of all stripes: "Argue with them. No one who demands worship, however covertly, deserves respect." And throughout the book—a wide-ranging, unforgettable, witty journey"she urges a return to the rational; to a society that values argument and considers all points of view.

Boston Globe - Ellen Clegg

Maybe it's the approach of Christendom's millennium, but suddenly it seems that piety is everywhere. Presidential candidates preach about the need to inject religious values into social and political discourse. Media pundits cluck like church beadles about moral decline. Dewy-eyed utopians and New Age healers glare down reason at every turn.

What has happened, you might ask, to separation of church and state, to skepticism, to scientific inquiry and rational secularism? Now, Wendy Kaminer, journalist, lawyer, and provocateur, has weighed in with a dose of cool reason called ''Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety.''

An avowed agnostic and prolific writer - previous works include ''I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional'' - Kaminer unpacks the powerful myths that get us through the night. Mere mortals have always needed divinities, she acknowledges. But faith belongs in the private realm of emotion and impulse, not in the ''public square.'' And an electorate that believes in angels, alien abductions, and Saint Diana is more apt to crave miracles than the bracing challenges of a pluralistic society.

Kaminer is both essayist and journalist, capable of a poke in the eye (like H.L. Mencken) as well as trenchant analysis (like Walter Lippmann). She's hard to place on the conventional left-right political spectrum - and that is what imbues her work with originality. She relishes the clang of a good argument.

It seems fitting, given her choice of subject, that she begins with a confession: ''Western religious faith - or supernaturalism - is the primary subject of this book. I was graced with relatively little of it and have sometimes regretted my resistance to believing in a supreme being and various visions of immortality.''

Most critics quail in the face of belief in the supernatural, she argues, allowing a powerful social force to remain unexamined. ''I suspect that media elites offer virtually no analysis of the religious impulse or majoritarian religious beliefs mainly because they fear appearing impious or giving offense,'' she writes. ''What's striking about journalists and intellectuals today, liberal and conservative alike, is not their mythic Voltairian skepticism but their deference to belief and utter failure to criticize, much less satirize, America's romance with God.''

Although America has no official state religion, she writes, religion - specifically Christianity - is an inextricable part of this country's history, politics, law, and culture. Perhaps angered by the relativistic boomers who partied through the 1970s, the Christian right ''emerged on the national political scene, organized in opposition to momentous social changes that had been percolating since the 1950s.'' Churches provided a base, and sex education programs, changing gender roles, and the gay civil rights movement provided ready targets.

''Separation of church and state does not desire, much less mandate, the banishment of religious faith from public life, as right-wing rhetoric sometimes suggests. ... The right of religious people to organize and mount political protests is, in part, a right of private association, which the government is bound to accommodate, but not support.''

Kaminer charts some of the wackier fads that have hijacked cultural debate during the 1990s: recovered memory, 12-step programs, the co-dependency movement, angels, UFOs, out-of-body experiences. She distinguishes totalitarian cults from New Age spirituality and mainstream religion, but she skewers magical thinking wherever she finds it. She takes on purveyors of junk science like Harvard psychiatrist John Mack, who gave credence to alien abduction stories in his 1994 book, ''Abduction.''

Those who hold that it is possible to think and to believe in God (or Allah) at the same time will take issue with many of Kaminer's points. After all, God takes on many shapes in the human mind. Theologians have written of the transcendent God who is beyond discernible experience, as well as the immanent God found in everyday relationships.

But in the end, Kaminer remains suspicious of any revealed wisdom and argues that it should not color public life. Nothing would stifle religious freedom more, in her view, than the advent of an American theocracy.

Cover Back Cover Acclaim About the Author Title Contents Introduction 1. Pious Biases 2. The Sectarian Public Square 3. Pop Spirituality Books and the Gospel of Good News 4. Gurus and the Spirituality Bazaar 5. Junk Science 6. The Therapeutic Assault on Reason and Rights 7. Cyberspacy 8. The Strenuous Life Notes Acknowledgments The author of I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional examines the dramatic growth of the irrational and supernaturalism in modern society, criticizing the fascination with paranormal and supernatural phenomena, exploring its roots, and detailing the irrationalism of the new digital culture. Reprint.