...religion has been an enormous multiplier of tribal suspicion and hatred, with members of each group talking of the other in precisely the tones of the bigot.[i]
The above citation is from the prolific author and atheist, the late Christopher Hitchens. This line came after 20 pages of examples of how religious convictions have been used to harm and kill people throughout the years, all around the world. I recently wrote an article, located here, where I discussed a fictitious conversation between two men on their way to Toronto for a guy’s-only weekend. The thesis of their conversation concentrated on the question: Should someone leave their religion at home when dealing with a secular society? The answer showed to be moot as it is impossible to leave one’s religious convictions at home and live contrary to them for the sake of those who do not subscribe to them but subscribe to different beliefs.
Now let’s take this one step further and ask another question: Should people be coached away from religious beliefs? Just read the news paper and you’ll agree with Hitchens’ assessment on religious convictions; many people, every day, both on the global and local scales attempt to justify a wide variety of evil behaviors by saying that they believe it to be God’s will; and this is the problem, who do you appeal to if you don’t agree with God? In sum, can you go above God’s head to his superior? No. So obey God, or feel his wrath will all the sinners; or love God via obedience or you’ll suffer the results of his hatred for your disobedience. This is merely one color that religion has been painted in; and religious people are painted as mindless and fearful worker drones for a god who is: “...jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, blood thirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent [bully]”[ii] - but who is under the delusion that this God is all omnibenevolent.
Another colour that religion is painted in, is the belief that it is developed on superstitions that were held by ancient people and run in accordance with views of reality that we know today are simply not true. So many people feel justified to question the intelligence of those modern people who adhere to the words of ancient texts like the Bible. It is true that many religious texts are thousands of years old and are born out of societies with customs, beliefs and dead languages; but is religion a system of ancient beliefs and practices; and so to adhere to it is to submit to ancient practices and replace modern knowledge with outdated views of reality? To put it simply, no.
These perspectives play into the hands of the fad: Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship. This has resulted in many Christians leaving the church under the guise of 'organized religion' and adopting a new term: spiritual. In a sociological study regarding many theistic backgrounds, including Christianity researchers found that the term religiousness "...was associated with higher levels of interest in church attendance and commitment to orthodox beliefs. Spirituality, in contrast, was associated with higher levels of interest in mysticism, experimentation with unorthodox beliefs and practices, and negative feelings toward both clergy and churches."[iii] So for many theists the term religious has been associated with active commitment and beliefs that have been static throughout the ages; whereas spiritual is more personal and is antagonistic towards religious establishments and authorities.
So how can we combat this? For a long time I participated in pro-life outreach, where I advocated for the basic right of life that pro-abortion philosophy fights against. One question that I was taught to ask while in a conversation with a pro-choice advocate is: “What is it?” In sum if we are going to attempt to kill the unborn, we first have to figure out what the unborn is; if the unborn is a person, then we cannot kill it; if it is merely a fleshy extension of the mother’s body then stoping its growth is justified. In the same way we have to ask then, if we are going to attempt to rid this world of religion, we first have to ask: what is religion? Only then can we decide if we should kill it; and since it is not something biological and as old as human society it stands to reason to ask: can religion even be wiped out? Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines religion as:
- the belief in a god or in a group of gods
- an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods
- an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group[iv]
Webster defines religion to be a belief in a specific view of God: monotheistic or polytheistic, or for another example, unitarian monotheistic or trinitarian monotheistic, etc.; and the obedience to the system of beliefs and practices propagated by that God. However what if you don’t believe in God, that is the typical bodiless, omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient God, are you religious? Yes. Merriam-Webster defines religious as being:
“[Very] careful to do something whenever it can or should be [done.]”[v]
Everybody, is diligent in doing whatever they believe should be done. A case in point Christopher Hitchens’ felt it was necessary to advocate for his view that God does not exist and a belief in one is harmful. Hitchens’ didn’t write God Is Not Great, because he had too much time on his hands; he felt that he had a moral duty to attempt to persuade people from the belief in God and the behaving as if he exists. Hitchens is a very religious atheist; his important interests and beliefs lie in his view that people should be dissuaded from the belief and devotion to a supernatural deity.
So what would the world be like if there was no religion or religiosity? People would have no sense of commitment or honor. People would be unreliable as nobody would have invested interests in anything nor beliefs to drive themselves to do what is right? Now can religion be killed? Simply put, no; just as one cannot leave their religion at home, the endeavor to kill religiosity is a self refuting activity as such a person would be very religiously devoted to kill religion. However why don’t we just kill the ‘god’ part of religion and keep devotion to he duty part?
- The theist who converts to another theistic religion e.g. Islam to Christianity just trades gods: Allah for Yahweh.
- The theist who converts to atheism, e.g. Christianity to atheism just trades gods: Yahweh for themselves.
In sum atheism is just as much of a fairytale as Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother. The embodiment of God, that is the standard of everything cannot be destroyed, but merely change - its the 1 Law of Thermodynamics of theology.
So what can we do then? Religion is a part of reality. We should embrace it. However what are we to do with all those people who hurt and harm because of their religious beliefs? Encourage them to find the right religion, the right God to follow and do so full heartedly. Which religion is that? The religious system that fits with reality.
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[i] Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great. (Warner Books,USA, 2007-2008), 36.
[ii] Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion. (Great Britain: Bantam Press, a division of Transworld Publishers,2006), 51.
[iii] http://www.beliefnet.com/Entertainment/Books/2002/07/Spiritual-But-Not-Religious.aspx?p=1%20accessed%20September%2016,%202013. - accessed February 10, 2014
[iv] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion - accessed February 10, 2014
[v] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religious?show=0&t=1392063278 - accessed February 10, 2014
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