Sunday, March 05, 2006

Beware Panopticon Theology

Over two hundred year ago, Jeremy Bentham invented the Panopticon. It was a prison structure that allowed secret surveilance, in order to minimize the number of guards required. A prisoner would never know if he was being watched by a guard in the central tower, and so they would always maintain good behavior.
The ultimate goal of the Panopticon was to subject prisoners to a percieved omniscience. This 'Godlike' all-seeing-eye and corresponding punishment would keep people in line, but is God like that? I don't think so.
First of all, this kind of constant surveilance is extremely dehumanizing. It's the kind of thing that they would have done to criminals, hundreds of years ago. The idea that someone is always out there watching you and constantly waiting for you to make a mistake so they can hold you responsible makes it impossible to relax, to be fully human. Humans need privacy, and we are smart enough to give each other privacy, God is smart enough too.
Further, this model tends to discourage advancement to higher stages of moral development. Young children often conclude that wrong actions are things they get punished for, as they develop they come to understand that an action might still be wrong, even if no one sees, and even if they are not punished.
The concept that God is always watching and that you will be held acountable is a factor that enables stagnation at this low level of moral reasoning, well into adulthood. People must be inspired to find more elegant ways to discover morality.
Lastly, this completely ignores God's forgiveness and love. God is not a prison guard, and that is not an image that sould be promoted. Panopticon Theology is inherently adversarial, and God is not our adversary.

2 Comments:

Blogger Robin Edgar said...

Well God may or may not be our "adversary" but God is most certainly "watching us". . .

5:17 PM  
Blogger indrax said...

No, and No.

1:46 AM  

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