University of Barcelona

The University of Barcelona serves as the setting for one of Edmond Kirsch's most incendiary public lectures, a recording of which is played during the novel and which encapsulates the futurist's uncompromising critique of religious belief. The lecture, delivered to a student audience, is rebroadcast on Radio María España while Bishop Antonio Valdespino, Prince Julián, and a young acolyte are driving away from Madrid, and it deepens the bishop's conviction that Kirsch is a dangerous enemy of the Church.

Kirsch's Lecture and Its Content

In the lecture, Kirsch tells the assembled students that "atheism is not a philosophy, nor is atheism a view of the world. Atheism is simply an admission of the obvious." He argues that the term "atheist" should not even exist, comparing it to the nonexistent labels "nonastrologer" or "nonalchemist." He defines atheism as "nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs," attributing the definition to neuroscientist Sam Harris and urging students to read Harris's book Letter to a Christian Nation. Kirsch then asks for a show of hands of those who believe in Apollo, Zeus, or Vulcan; when no hands are raised, he declares, "it appears we are all atheists with respect to those gods. I simply choose to go one god further." He tells the crowd he is not claiming to know for certain that there is no God, but that if a divine force exists, "it is laughing hysterically at the religions we've created in an attempt to define it."

Kirsch's Critique of American Religious Ignorance

Kirsch, identifying himself as an American, expresses his disturbance at a poll showing that half of his countrymen believe literally in Adam and Eve. He cites a Kentucky pastor who declared he would believe "two plus two is five" if it were in the Bible, and U.S. congressman Paul Broun, who called evolution and the Big Bang "lies straight from the pit of hell" and claimed the earth is about nine thousand years old. Kirsch warns that "to permit ignorance is to empower it" and that allowing schools and churches to teach "outright untruths to our children" is a "crime of complacency." He concludes by declaring his love for humankind and his belief that humanity is "on the brink of an enlightened new era, a world where religion finally departs … and science reigns." The crowd erupts in wild applause.

Narrative Significance

The rebroadcast of this lecture within the novel serves multiple functions. It provides a concentrated example of Kirsch's rhetorical style and ideological positions, reinforcing the stakes of his murder and the threat his ideas pose to conservative religious figures like Valdespino. It also deepens the characterization of Valdespino, who listens with disgust and finally orders the radio turned off, saying "For heaven's sake" and shaking his head. The lecture thus becomes a microcosm of the novel's central conflict between scientific rationalism and religious faith, and it underscores the bishop's motivation to suppress Kirsch's message.