As the metaphysical distance between desiring subject and model diminishes—the key component of internal mediation—the potential for rivalry and violence increases.

For over two decades, religions—especially those giving rise to fundamentalist groups—have played an increasingly important role on the global stage. The year 1979, in particular, comes to mind, when Ayatollah Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic theocratic state.

“Human beings influence each other, and when they are together, they tend to desire the same objects. This is not because these objects are scarce, but because . . . imitation . . . governs desire. Man attempts to create a being out of himself that is essentially based on the desire of his fellow”

We are not autonomous, self-sufficient individuals, but rather beings that are formed through the imitation of models, especially with regard to desire.

Girard expressly praises Sartre’s insistence on man’s “insurmountable” religious nature, in the wake of Nietzsche’s proclamation of the death of God.

The mimetic theory is first and foremost a theory of religion. It describes the “religious” dimension of interpersonal relations—the idolatry of models or sexual partners—just as it explains the origins of archaic religions and the qualitative difference between these and the Judeo-Christian tradition.

The human being wills concord; but nature knows better what is good for his species: it wills discord.

The mimetic theory describes man as a social being that is dependent on relations to others. No human being, in other words, is intrinsically complete.

While mythical religions are based on texts that are told from the perspective of persecutors, the biblical writings show solidarity with the victims of sacrificial persecution.