In my previous blog
post, I talked about how Vonnegut addresses the human and moral aspects of
scientific research. Another thing that Vonnegut discusses is the role of
religion. In the first couple of chapters, John presents a religion called
Bokononism, of which he is a believer and member. One of the basic concepts of
Bokononism is the karass, which is a group or team of people that
is organized by God to do his will, although they never actually discover what
it is that they’re doing. In this passage, John explains a couple of things in
terms of Bokononism:
About my karass, then. It surely includes the three children of Dr. Felix Hoenikker, one of the so-called “Fathers” of the first atomic bomb. Dr. Hoenikker himself was no doubt a member of my karass, though he was dead before my sinookas, the tendrils of my life, began to tangle with those of his children. (p.6)
Vonnegut isn’t merely
mocking religion, but rather making a point about its purpose – to explain life
and give it meaning, though not necessarily truthfully. Consider the following
passage:
The first sentence in The Books of Bokonon is this: “All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.” My Bokononist warning is this: Anyone unable to understand how a useful religion can be founded on lies will not understand this book either. So be it. (p.5)
With this point, I
believe Vonnegut presents religion as a direct contrast to science in that
religion serves the purpose of human prosperity and content at the expense of
truth, while science serves the purpose of truth and knowledge, though
sometimes at the expense of humanity. Vonnegut also points out that while
religion often focuses heavily on morality, morals are often cast aside in the
quest for scientific knowledge:
“After the thing went off, after it was a sure thing that America could wipe out a city with just one bomb, a scientist turned to Father and said, ‘Science has now known sin.’ And do you know what Father said? He said, ‘What is sin?’” (p.17)