The Role of Religion

And now to address a subject that was one of the founding reasons of my blog: religion. Religion (or sub-classes such as spirituality or superstition) has arguably been a part of human culture and growth since the early days of our species. It's influence and preservation can be found all over the world, from the cave paintings of ancient North Americans to the Indian caste system to the countless wars that have been waged in a god's name. The purpose of this posting is not to judge religion as good or evil (as such judgments are purely subjective and absolute good/evil surely does not exist) but to discuss its possible origins and whether or not it has a place in a world dominated by science and reason.

The word religion is really just a blanket term for a number of different items. Among these items are superstition, faith and social gathering. It is the combination of these items that form our modern idea of religion.

It can be said that the core purpose of religion is to explain phenomena at a time when an explanation is not readily available, such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Early humans attributed such events to the emotions of gods and reasoned that human sacrifice would appease them. We now understand the inner workings of our dynamic earth (albeit there is still much more to discover) and thankfully human sacrifices are no longer permitted. From this reasoning, I think it would be safe to say superstition was the "science" of ancient people. The difference between our modern science and their ancient science is simply guesswork and good storytelling. Science of today relies on reproduction of events and peer reviewing to hammer out the truth from our physical world. It also helps that we have high tech gizmos and an understanding of the microscopic world. Superstition held its place in the ancient world simply because no one knew any better. They did not have the resources to discover the truth about their world. We must also be aware of the lifestyle of ancient humans. They passed down information and stories by word of mouth and committing events to memory. In order for the new generation to learn of these stories, they would have to have incredible trust in their parents and their elders. Ignoring your elders and going against their will has extreme consequences as explained in Deuteronomy 21.18-22 "Suppose a man has a son who is stubborn and rebellious...Then the men of the city are to stone him to death..." It is this trust that has eventually brought us to where we are today with religion. The stories we are presented with in the holy books are works passed down from ancient people who knew very little about the world they lived in. Yet, for billions of people, this simple fact holds no weight and they are content with believing. To them, it all comes down to faith.

It is my humble opinion that faith can and should be taken as piece of information is. When someone receives some information, they are skeptical of its truth. It is only when they are given proof that the information they hold is true that they accept it. But with faith and religion, people take the "information" and accept it as truth without a second thought or a pause to gather evidence. I will give you an example of this, and yes it comes from the U.S. bible belt. Biology teachers are having a hard time reaching many of their christian students with the idea of evolution. Not because the students are finding holes in this theory but because it contradicts the story of creation in Genesis. Their struggle is a hard one and ends in failure for many teachers as these kids believe very strongly in their religion. Unwavering belief is a quality held in high esteem by many people, but I am not one of them. We should have the humility and the patience to critically review everything we know and to give up on beliefs that fall victim to reasoning.

Having faith in friends and family, and the hope for better days is something completely different than religious faith. Religious faith is blind, it does not rely on physical evidence. It relies instead on how much stock you put on your ancestors being right. And I'm not talking about your parents or grandparents, I'm talking about generations hundreds and thousands of years ago. Back in the days of ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece, and even further back in the days of cave men. While I have tremendous respect for my parents and grandparents, I do not know their ancestors. I do not know who they were and how they came to believe what they believed. For many people, if they could trace their family history back to the times of Rome and the time of the Prophet Mohamed, they would find that their belief in their current religion may have been forced upon them by invading armies. Fast forward to the time of Henry VIII in his conflict with the Catholic Church and his introduction of Protestantism to England and Ireland to see the same events unfolding. The evidence is staring us in the face, we just have to look up and see it.

Finally, as we are social creatures, dependent on others for love and comfort, it is easily understood how social gatherings play a role in religion. With the support of a friend, our confidence is bolstered and we can be driven to achieve great things. With the support of an entire community and in the case of Christianity, 2 Billion followers, it is easy for someone to become so confident in the truth of the matter in question that they get distracted by the numbers. Indeed, being in the majority can cloud judgment and in many cases of old and some of the present, can lead to wars. I do not have to remind you of the Nazi attack on the Jews or the Rwandan genocide. We think the minority is crazy, until we find ourselves part of the minority and quite sane. Generally speaking of course. Religion has played on the success of social gathering to expand its influence in the daily lives of its followers. Issues such as abortion and gay marriage usually flag opposition from the religious who wish to "take back their country" and preserve their god-given nation. Banding together for a common cause is nothing to be laughed at or chided. It has helped the poor and oppressed recover from their dire conditions and more recently has helped unionize workers in order to create safe working conditions and maintain proper wages. But there is a difference in being part of a crowd that makes the world a better place and being in a mob who unwittingly cause pain to those they rally against.

So now that we live in the "modern" world, equipped with science, education and a somewhat peaceful environment, should religion still be allowed to position our moral compass, influence laws and be the justification for wars. I've already made up my mind, I would urge you to do the same. Religion is a complicated subject to discuss and just one post cannot attempt to sway minds or justifiably establish a reason for belief or unbelief. I hope to continue to discuss matters like this with you in the future. To all my Christian friends and readers I leave a saying of mine for you to ponder. It would not be hard for my friends and readers of different belief systems to insert their holy book and god into it.

The bible does not prove that God exists. The bible proves that man says God exists.