My posts on the application of the Free Exercise Clause to people who act, but don’t believe, religiously has provoked some to wonder why a non-believer might choose to observe the laws of kashrut. A timely article at slate offers the view of one economist:
What does the pious person get in return for all of his or her time and effort? A church full of passionate members; a community of people deeply involved in one another’s lives and more willing than most to come to one another’s aid; a peer group of knowledgeable souls who speak the same language (or languages), are moved by the same texts, and cherish the same dreams. Religion is a ” ‘commodity’ that people produce collectively,” says Iannacone. “My religious satisfaction thus depends both on my ‘inputs’ and those of others.” If a rich and textured spiritual experience is what you seek, then a storefront Holy Roller church or an Orthodox shtiebl is a better fit than a suburban church made up of distracted, ambitious people who can barely manage to find a morning free for Sunday services, let alone several evenings a week for text study and volunteer work.
Of course, the economist in question, Laurence Iannacone, believes that this analysis would also apply to those who profess deep faith in God.
Posted by Hillel Levin on May 12, 2005 at 09:39 AM