Dear the curious,
Humans, when deprived of answers, will concoct their own explanations to the unknown. Some questions remain for pondering. Why are we here? Were we the creation of God, or rather just a random scientific anomaly? What happens when we die? For some, these answers lie with religion; fate, belief, a creator. Religion gives some people purpose. Others, however, look to science for answers. These people crave proof.
The “Religion” page on Wikipedia is the longest I’ve ever seen. It’s longer than the list of reasons I make for myself to procrastinate. There’s an estimated 4.2 thousand different religions in the world, each with the same general purpose: to guide people, to give them answers. People derive their lifestyles from these religions; even for those who don’t necessarily believe, religion still has influence in their life.
The influence of religion in society is unavoidable. Think of the most prominent religions in the world today: Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism; the list is neverending. But, the principles and values remain generally the same among the sea that is belief. Don’t hurt other people, be honest, etc. The values of religion tend to parallel what we consider “good”.
Let’s take our laws for example. “Don’t murder, don’t steal”. Sure, a majority of those laws were put into place for structure --- to avoid chaos --- but the influence of what we think is right and wrong obviously still played a role in that. But, what is our basis for what we consider right or wrong? Ethics is built on a foundation of religious values. Humans are innately violent; biologically, we’re just another species strives to reproduce and survive.
This isn’t to say that our motivation in life hasn’t evolved alongside the growth of culture and civilization, obviously we’ve grown to look for meaning and stray away from our innate animalism. It also isn’t to say that society would be doomed without religion; that chaos is inevitable if we stray away from our belief system. It’s just to point out that religion has high influence in our society, and maybe the foundation that we’ve built ethics on is a little shaky; whether something is ethical is completely subjective.
Side note: this is not an excuse to murder people. We have such limited time to ponder the universe and take in the beauty that is existence, don’t shorten it for others. Don’t murder people. Murder not good. Murder sad.
Religion comes in all shapes and sizes, and we distinguish between these belief systems through the number of deities worshipped. In America, we’re surrounded by monotheistic religion; Christianity, Judaism, Islam. They all believe in one singular God. But, who’s to say that there’s only one “creator”? Inversely, who’s to say that there’s even a creator at all?
God is a peculiar character. There are 7 billion different versions of him. To some, he’s a white male. To others, she’s a female cow, and so on so forth. We don’t really know who or what “God” is. We don’t really know if God even exists.
The reality is that regardless of what one believes, whether you’re an atheist or a devout believer, is that we have absolutely no proof for or against the existence of a God or a divine creator. We have such a rudimentary understanding of the universe, so no one can really definitively say that someone created this world, or the beings that inhabit it. No one can definitively say that any of the values, ideas or beliefs represented by religion is factual.
The idea that humanity is God’s creation is, although possible, not factual until proven. The concept of an afterlife, although optimistic, is not factual until proven. Religion has had no proof to back up its statements in the past (other than unreliable first person accounts of faith which can be scientifically explained), so why is it that people believe their local neighborhood pastor? The Bible, and other religious texts, are like a storybook. No different from your run-of-the-mill Dr. Seuss book (although, religious text has more complex writing, while Dr. Seuss books have a more universally engaging plot. I doubt a group of kindergarteners could sit through a reading of the Bible). We know that some of the major human figures in religion were alive at some point, such as Jesus or Muhammad. But, why did/do we believe the stories that they told?
Humans have always pondered a multitude of perplexing questions about the universe and the world we live in. Why are we alive? How did we get here? What happens when we pass away? Or rather, less philosophical questions. Is the Earth flat? What are the twinkling objects in the sky? Are there other planets like ours? The mysteries to solve were endless. In the past, we didn’t have the technological means to answer any of the questions we faced. Hell, we still don’t have the means to answer a majority of those said questions. So, people turned to faith and religion for an explanation.
Religion became a beacon of hope for humanity, and for those who feared, or was frankly just perplexed, by the unknown. Suddenly, those answers that we sought for were answered. These small cults began to grow massive followings, as people took the word of religious figures as factual. Not only did religion give answers, it brought upon a lifestyle. People dedicated their entire existence to their faith, living by what their leaders dictated as good or bad.
Religion gave answers to those seeking in the past and today, however nowadays, we do have the technological and scientific means to answer some of our existential questions. For the mysteries we haven’t figured out, advancements in technology will pave the way to the solution soon. But still, religion acts as a comfort mechanism. In a world as deeply dark as ours, where we truly have no idea what will happen, whether that be the events of tomorrow or what happens when we die, it gives people comfort to think that a certain lifestyle will lead to a prosperous afterlife in some “heaven”. Or that by the means of prayer, we can deflect every bad hurdle in our life. Frankly, this idea is optimistic, yet unproven. And when prayer doesn’t work, a person is left in shambles questioning their faith. Religion may not be proven, but science is.
You may be sitting there, staring at these words, screaming internally about how hypocritical I sound because the same logic used to question religion can be applied to science, but there’s a difference between the two. The reality remains that our science is constantly evolving, and what we consider fact today, may be proven as myth tomorrow. And even then, there’s a chance that our laws of science are completely off and only apply to Earth, or perhaps this universe, or even the human experience of the universe. But, scientific theories are constantly being tested and proven (or disproven). For the theories we hold factual, we have concrete proof that backs up the statements made by those theories. Religion lacks concrete proof.
Now, this is not to say that you should give up on faith completely. Although there may be no proof for religion, there is no proof against the factuality of religion (and vice versa). See, the fact that you cannot argue against the existence of a God doesn’t mean that God exists. But, if religion gives you hope, and your faith is what drives you to wake up in the morning, trust your beliefs. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t question at least some things, whether it be religious or scientific, as human advancement would be at a standstill without questioning, but rather you have the right to believe in whatever you want to believe. That’s sort of the beauty of being ignorant to the universe, we have the ability to concoct any explanation we deem logical and it’ll be possible we’re correct, because we have nothing to base a logical answer on other than our own imagination.
Unfortunately, religion being a vehicle for answers means that we give a population of believers false hope when it comes to more dire situations. There are people who deny treatment for life threatening diseases because of their faith, or maybe they’re a parent denying their child’s treatment. Now, these instances beg the question of when religion needs to be limited?
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| A wonderful commentary on the ignorance of teaching religion in schools, as showcased by Pastafarianism |
Of course, we’ve already placed some limitations on the influence of religion, for example, our government (though, obviously not every country has adopted the separation between church and state). But, religion has become the backbone of many people’s lives. There’s a handful of these people who rely on religion for just about everything, whether you follow something common, such as Christianity, or something more underground, such as Pastafarianism (the worship of a flying spaghetti monster. I’m not kidding, search it up. Its origin story is interesting, and we’ll get into it in a second). I won’t sit here and tell readers that you cannot use religion as a source of comfort, or a system for answers. But, there’s a line that cannot be crossed with faith. When it comes to the lives of other people, their mortality should not be decided by a prayer. If someone genuinely needs help, the reliance of prayer alone may not suffice. Take the case of Mariah Walton, for example, as retold by The Guardian writer, Jason Wilson. Walton suffers from pulmonary hypertension, and is disabled at 20 years old. Although her condition was preventable if treated in her infancy, her parents, who are devout Mormons, opting to pray rather than receive medical treatment.
The limitations of religion extend farther than medicine; they reach into the realms of education as well. Although public institutions are to remain secular and cannot teach religion in America, a multitude of countries still require religious education. Turkey, Northern Ireland, India, etc. In fact, even here in America in 2005, the Kansas State Board of Education ruled that schools are permitted to teach intelligent design (theory that states life didn’t come about in the Universe by chance, and there must be some sort of creator) in science classes rather evolution (which actually leads into the creation of Pastafarianism, which I’m sure everybody has been waiting for).
Religion is subjective. Each family holds their own beliefs, or may opt to hold no beliefs at all. Not only could the teaching of religion lead to a clustershit of children arguing about whose God is the “correct God”, but we’d be contributing to the rise of a much more devout generation. To some, that’s an incredible thing, but frankly, I’m not too sold on the idea of it. Every person is welcome to believe what they’d like, but there isn’t a doubt in my mind that religion has held back the growth of society to an extent. Nowadays, we’ve reached a balance between religion and science, where we can continue to advance as a civilization yet still believe in some sort of deity, but this wasn’t the case historically.
In the past, introducing a new idea that contradicted religion resulted in your demise, whether that be socially or literally. New scientific theories were not taken seriously. People were ridiculed for even suggesting something that differed from the Church. Could you imagine how civilization would’ve been like today if we hadn’t relied on religion for all of our answers to the unknown in the past? How we would be today if we hadn’t scoffed at the scientists of yesterday for not adhering to the Church’s statements?
By raising a new generation of devout believers, we throw off the balance that we have today. We stick ourselves back into the loop that is “I have an idea, but it doesn’t adhere to your religious text, but please, do not kill me”.
It seems that some people would agree with my sentiments, including Bobby Henderson, who in response to the Kansas State Board of Education ruling of 2005 wrote a strongly worded letter. If you can teach intelligent design, why can’t you teach about the Flying Spaghetti Monster that I worship? Now, the letter is completely satirical. It was made solely for protest and to prove a point, but frankly, it is the funniest thing I have ever read. Please, take the time to read it.
Pastafarianism is not considered a religion in America, rather it is considered a parody of religion. But, in a handful of other countries, Pastafarianism has been welcomed with open arms. In New Zealand, Pastafarians can officiate weddings. If I may dive deeper into this religion, according to Pastafarians, the afterlife consists of a beer volcano and a stripper factory. Pirates are also divine, and the lack of pirates nowadays is the cause of global warming.
If we’re to teach religion, why is it that we cannot teach Pastafarianism? Is it not biased if we do not worship Pastafarianism, as well as the other beliefs 4,200 religions in this world in schools? If a child does not believe in the religion that you’re worshipping in school, will they fail their religious classes? Are you not simply forcing them to partake in your religious ceremonies? What about the families, who may have conflicting beliefs and not want their child to partake in such ceremonies?
See, a religious academic system is impossible to be unbiased, especially if the curriculum revolves around prayer and other methods of worship as it is almost impossible to worship every single religion in one day. It’s different when a child would like to pray in school; there’s no harm in that. The difference is made when an academic environment forces their kids to partake in religious rituals. It is better that the family of the child or the child themselves worship whatever they please out of school hours, including worshipping nothing at all. Schools are educational institutes, they are not churches.
I assume that you all are familiar with the saying, the pen is mightier than the sword. Now, although this pacifism-preaching quote is wonderful as is, I would like to make a small addition. Yes, the pen may be mightier than the sword, but I believe that the preacher wielding a Bible and a microphone outside of a subway station yelling The 10 Commandments is far mightier than the pen. Because you see, although religion is a great comfort mechanism, it is also one of the most dangerous weapons known to mankind.
Religion was historically used to control populations. Romans 13:2 states that you are not to fight the government, but submit to their laws. If there wasn’t some sort of consequence to our actions, there would be utter chaos. This realization birthed the legal system, and religion (in its own way). All of a sudden, there were these people sharing their experiences with “God”, and how God had shared with them that if we do not follow his rules, we will end up in a fiery pit of hell to sit and burn for eternity when we pass away. Now, call this a coincidence, but God’s rules and regulations seem pretty damn close to the laws put in place. Don’t steal, don’t murder human beings. It’s almost as if God’s rules were simply to keep the population controlled.
Now, I won’t deny that religion is great for some. It gives believers a sense of meaning, and the fact remains that it provided a multitude of people a lifestyle that they’re likely happy with. The issue is that extremely devout believers will absentmindedly agree with notions if they’re attached to their worshiped deity. If you had a small group of religious folk, and you told them all that God wanted them to go kill a bunch of people, if they were extremely faithful, they may actually do it. And the thought seems pretty farfetched, that a group of people would just go kill because of religion, but the thing is: this happens all the time.
Think of religious terrorist groups. The KKK, ISIS, etc. These groups took religion preachings, and twisted them to fit their own agenda. And those who are extremely devout tend to follow in their footsteps, joining them and mimicking their attacks.
There’s an argument that violence caused in the name of religion is counterintuitive. That those who fight in the name of Christianity are not Christians. Those who fight in the name of Islam are not Muslims. Those who fight in the name of Judaism are not Jewish. And yes, I can understand this to an extent, reformed religion tends to be less extremist. But, violence is engraved in the history of religion, we shouldn’t act ignorant to the crusades and wars that occurred over religious beliefs. And although these are historical, there are some portions of religious text that encourages violence among believers, if it benefits the religion.
We can visually see the chaos that these religious terrorist groups have created. We can see how many lives they’ve taken, and it isn’t like nobody is condemning the insane actions of the extremely devout, but it goes to show the extent of which religion can be taken. Religion is supposed to be a vehicle for good, but can still be used like a nuclear bomb. People take advantage of other’s faith. Some try to profit off of it, such as Benny Hinn. Others manipulate those who believe into committing horrendous acts of terror.
Religion is a wild doohickey. It is simultaneously a vehicle for spiritualism, giving a general layout for what some define as a prosperous lifestyle, and also a literal ticking time bomb that could destroy the lives of millions, in terms of limiting societal growth AND literally killing people.
Wild.
Sincerely,
The thoughts of Nicole Ahad during her 3 and a half hour shower.
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