"What would religion do without the devil?" - Alan Cohen -
"You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in the criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of the colored races, or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has ...been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world..." - Betrand Russell -
Of late, its seems my mind wanders often to questions of religion; to questions of spirituality and of our universe. It's a daily game my mind plays and I never seem to be short of things to ponder. But as with nearly all my writings, my thoughts on today's topic are truly a Rambling.......a "thinking out loud." I have many more questions than I have answers. Keep reading. You'll see.
I guess I should start by stating clearly that I abhor religion. Religion is the catalyst that has led to war upon war. It has separated families, wrought fear upon the masses and taken billions of dollars in the name of God. Every time I hear someone condemn Muslims for the deaths of thousands, I'm reminded of the Crusades where hundreds of thousands died at the hands of Christians. But we've forgotten about that, haven't we?
I'm not alone in this viewpoint. If you're a Christian, take out your bible and read the Gospels. Jesus himself hated religion in a very big way. "Wherever two or more are gathered in His name, there I will be also". But Jesus was talking about "the Church", NOT religion. Not rules and judgement. Not fear and condemnation. As someone recently pointed out, Jesus really taught three things. Love God, love yourself and love your neighbor. Simple.
Spirituality is another matter. I'm not suggesting that people who adhere to organized religion cannot be spiritual. Quite the opposite. But I do believe that "religion" clouds the vision of those who might otherwise follow the teachings of Jesus. Love, love, love. I think that was a Beatles tune, but I digress. Bible studies and tithing and building a bigger sanctuary become more important than carrying the message.....whatever that message happens to be (I'm not supporting Christianity). I get the concept of having a bigger place to bring in more people and save more souls, but again, I refer you to your bible. Jesus challenged all Christians with "The Great Commission" whereby all believers are to carry the message of salvation to others.....DAILY. Lets face it, if each and every Christian did that, a bigger church wouldn't be necessary and you could actually feed the hungry with the millions spent on solid oak pews. I think what I'm trying to say is that religion makes believers lazy. (I know I'm overgeneralizing. I'm only trying to make you think.)
Likewise, I wonder if it's possible that we leave to the church that which we should be doing ourselves; teaching our children. Are they learning all their values and beliefs from Robert Tilton, or are they learning them from their parents? Again, I think the larger institution lends itself to laziness.
That being said, (drum roll, please) I think religion has it's place. GASP!! I think everyone needs something to believe in and something or someone to look towards as greater than themselves. I think those things are largely where people find hope. And if you're unable to find your own spiritual path, then religion serves a purpose. I myself, am yoked to no particular set of beliefs as defined by Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. So I ask myself every day, "from where do my set of standards come?" Ok, so those of you that know me know I haven't always been the epitomy of intergrity, love, or even honesty. Yet I DO have a conscience. Where does that come from? Am I born with it? Did my parents teach it to me? (Not likely). Was it the church? In other words, where do I get my "code"? How do I know what standards to live by?
These are questions for which I hope to spend a lifetime searching for answers. Take some time in the near future. Take a look at history and see if maybe, just maybe, religion was really formed as a way to bring order to a disorganized world. Is it at least possible that the concept of "hell" is really a scare tactic of religious lore? Again, I don't have the answer to that. I do know this. If I'm wrong, eternity is a VERY long time to be shoveling coal in an infinite furnace. But for me, I know I'm safe.
As promised, the entry lives up to the title of the blog. Talk it over with your friends and family. Where DOES the moral code or compass you live by come from? Wherever it is, it's important we all excercise some kind of ethical compass, lest we all die a painful death at our own hands.
Happy hunting.
Tough subject to tackle. Religion is a place of constant contradiction (as are most things). On one hand we have the promise of eternal life; on the other hand you have to succumb to irrational thought. It's not hard to see that many people have, do, and will continue to use religion to abuse others. That being said (and as you have already touched on) religion has a place. For me that place plays an extremely large role. I believe the idea of a god(s) gets people through situations that they might otherwise give up in. I know religion has the potential to breed laziness and numbs our minds but think about people that truly have lost it all but forged on because they had eternal life to look foward to. Now imagine that person lends a helping hand to someone else who in turn discovers a cure for a disease, or gives life to the person that discovers how the universe truly came to be. It's all hypothetical of course, but like all things religion plays a role. It sets rules and gives people something to look foward to.
ReplyDeleteMy personal belief is that religion is born out of fear. Fear that we have nothing after this life. Fear that if we fail in this life there is no make up round, its all over. Fear that we will never see our loved ones again, espcially when they are taken too early. Eventually people learned how to exploit that fear and it became a business, just like everything else it's been marketed, packaged, and sold.