FAITH WITHOUT REASON IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK AND KURT VONNEGUT
FAITH WITHOUT REASON IN CHUCK PALAHNIUK AND KURT VONNEGUT

The Divine ‘Father’

Summary/Abstract: Bokononism ("Cat's Cradle" by Vonnegut) admits to being built on fabricated lies in order to comfort and soothe the individuals. The Creedish Church (Palahniuk's "Survivor") teaches about the irregularities of a world where self-awareness is dangerous, and where there is no self-sufficiency, encapsulating the idea that life is meaningless. Tender Branson's 'religion' sees the body as an object of consumption whose flaws can be rebooted through prayer. Victor Mancini ("Choke" by Palahniuk) used lying as an egoistic, callous way of earning money. Can these fictional religions deconstruct Christianity? In his book "The Visible and the Revealed" Jean-Luc Marion argues that faith and reason come from two different logics of understanding the reality – both objective and subjective, but with fluidity and coherence in their interweavement. Based on his argument, we analyze the lack of reason in the mentioned 'fabricated religions': it is impossible for them to stand the test of time due to their foundation on delusions and lies. It is exactly the lack of reason in fabricated divine fathers, in manmade father-figures, in manmade 'religions' that render them so ephemeral and superficial. 'Fabricated religions' are sold and are used as mechanisms of consumerism, their beliefs and ideologies are objects of consumption for the numerous delusional aliens of the Postmodern era. Destabilizing the core of Christian belief and restructuring and 'reorganizing' Christianity in the process of denying one’s reality and identity can only lead to the destruction of the self. Moreover, recreating God speaks for the frightening limits of human imagination and its savagery and violence.

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