New York Times Interview: Ian McEwan
This week’s Sunday interview by The New York Times Magazine was with British author Ian McEwan. Every time I read an interview with an author, I always cringe about the incessant focus on the author’s greatest work. I think Deborah Solomon does a great job delving past McEwan’s work Atonement to speak about atheism and converting books into movies.
The discussion of McEwan’s pronounced atheism and the problem of writing characters with a strong sense of spirituality was particularly interesting. As someone who is a skeptic about religious fervor, I agreed with McEwan’s assertion that the conscience of the average atheist is as strong if not stronger than the believer. Some individuals use a deity as a crutch while others accept the inspired word of their God without any analysis. It takes hard work and effort to maintain agnosticism and atheism in a world where religion is seen as a prerequisite for any sort of authority.
Solomon digs further into the issue of religion later in the interview when talking about attacks on author Martin Amis regarding his criticisms of the Muslim faith. I agree in part with McEwan’s assertion that Amis and other authors need to be free to criticize religion in the same way that religious leaders can criticize secular humanists. The key for any critic of religion, politics or society is not to paint too broad a brush stroke about an entire group of people. I can guarantee that there are plenty of Muslims who disagree with the reactionary response in the Sudan to a teacher allowing students to name a teddy bear Mohammed.
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