Religion is a necessary ingredient in a stable and mature adult mind, isn’t it? We need to be deeply reverent of the creator of this magnificent universe, deeply grateful that our creator has given us our lives, and strive to fit as best we can into the plan our creator has for us. We sense that our creator has given us morals and ethics to live by so that we can achieve a peaceful society, something we all want. These are exactly the values that are stressed by all religions, aren’t they? The more religious we are, the more we will become a part of God’s world, as well as better people and better citizens. If we are not religious people, then we will not be moral, ethical, dependable and reverent. If we are not religious, evil will become rampant, the Devil will prevail, and human society will tumble into chaos. We must have religion to have a successful society.
Although the sentiments expressed above may fairly accurately reflect the feeling of most of the citizens of our country, the opposite of those suppositions may be more accurate. The actuality of human expression is that the more religious religions are, the more they appear to lead us away from establishing a just society. The more those religions develop obtuse mythology systems, and the more they demand literal belief in those mythological constructions, the more we are led astray from our primary obligation as members of our societies. That primary obligation is to show compassion and create justice. Father figures in a sky-Heaven, Devils in a Hell-below, divinities on earth, trinity gods, miracles that defy all logic, virgin births, resurrection after death, life everlasting, all deny reality. By leading us astray from our primary obligation and goals, they do more harm than good. Those religions which have the least mythology appear to have been the most productive in guiding us to a moral life. The history of human societies tells us that the more we emphasize moral and ethical systems, and the less we depend on religious mythology for morality, the better off we are.
We are indebted to each religion for increasing our understanding of our universe and the place of each of us in that universe. Each of them has made significant contributions to our human society. None of our understanding has come to us totally out of the blue. Even our most spectacular revelations do not occur unless there has been a rich background of knowledge and study preceding those revelations. Our religious concepts and god concepts have been evolving over the last several millennia. Each of those gradually evolving concepts has been a step forward in our understanding.
Egyptian culture heavily influenced the later religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. They had a well formed Trinity, consisting of Osiris, Isis and Horus. They recognized that the sun was the source of all their life and sustenance, leading to the conceptualization of a single power who was over everything in their world and over all other gods, controlling everything that happened in their lives. They did not fully define this monotheism, preferring to keep also a panoply of animal-human gods, each serving a separate tribe or community. But Ra, the sun god, was more important than any other God of any form. The Pharaoh, in deference, was called “the son of Ra,” and rode a magnificent barge across the Nile every day to mimic the travel of Ra across the sky every day.
During the ensuing period of time from 800 –300 BCE, human civilization changed from agrarian based to city based cultures, each of them developing their own concepts of their place in the world. There was a rich trade of commerce and ideas, leading to an explosion of philosophic and religious thought. Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism were all born during this seminal period of human history. Each of these religions slowly grew in their understanding of their world and the definition of their God or gods.
Buddhism began more a social system than a religion. There is not belief in a divine superpower, not belief in a tangible afterlife, and not belief in any divinity on earth. Buddhism teaches us that enlightenment is not obtained by excesses of behavior. Hedonism and asceticism will both fail. Enlightenment is obtained by prolonged effort; pain is eliminated by no longer craving those things we do not have. Once obtained, it is the responsibility of the enlightened to re-enter the marketplace and bring that enlightenment to others. Compassion and ethical conduct are the major emphases of this social movement/religion. Only the later arrival of Buddhist priests converted this social system to a religion with a worshipped deity.
The teachings of Confucius were based entirely on sincerity and ethics. It was the duty of every individual to cultivate his or her character as much as possible, and to make his or her own decisions. Although not directly intending to do so, this emphasis on individual responsibility and self-development set the stage for a challenge to authoritarian government and established the concepts of democracy. Government exists as a servant of the people. Government officials must be humane and compassionate, as well as skilled. Confucius emphasized that the family was the basic social structure of any society. He made it clear that each of us obtains our fulfillment in life by meeting our social responsibilities.
Hinduism Is a completely diverse conglomerate of cults, fetishes, deities and worships. Anything you want can be found in Hinduism. Animal worship, polytheism and monotheism all exist comfortably together. There is a reality both outside and beyond us (Brahman) and inside us (Atman). Overlaying this diverse stew of beliefs and myths, however, there is a deep reverence for life in all of Hinduism. For this reverence, Hinduism is to be admired, as well as its emphasis on tolerance for all aspects of religions.
The tolerance of these Eastern quasi-religious social systems stands in stark contrast to the personal God religions of Abraham. Each of these later religions has a highly valid social system, but each is also heavily imbued with mythology which teaches intolerance and pain for all those who do not accept their mythology. It appears that the more these religions are mythologized or “religious,” the less constructive they are for human society.
The Israelites conceive of their relationship with their God as being a contract, in which they must live his ways or be punished. The practical result of this concept is a continuing emphasis on morals and ethics in all the tribes of Israel. The continued intolerance of Judaism for all other religions and all other people, all of whom, according to them, are going to Hell forever, has been a continuing blight on human society.
All Christian sects emphasize the teachings of Jesus, and in those teachings emphasize most, those teachings of compassion for other humans. Its moral emphasis on treating everyone as your brother or sister, and on doing to others what you would have them do to you, is the basis for a just society. Unfortunately, Christianity is also heavily invested in mythology. It teaches that anyone who does not believe in this mythology is going to Hell forever. The manifestations of this intolerance have brought reigns of terror and suppression on human society for almost two millennia.
The bipoarity of Judaism and Christianity is heightened even further in Islam. Compassion, mercy and justice are one of the five pillars of this vibrant religion. Anyone who does not tithe and who does not provide for the poor the ill, the orphan, the widow, the beggar and the slave will not be going to Heaven. Unfortunately, this moral system applies only to Muslims. All other persons who do not share this mythology are going to burn in Hell forever.
The more each religion emphasizes compassion and justice, the more it has value for human society. The more it deals with divinities, miracles, asexual births, trinities, gods on earth, heavens, hells, afterlifes, devils, dogma, and the more it demands blind commitment from its followers, the more destructive it is in our society. In this sense, all religions fail. The more they are religions, rather than moral and ethical systems, they more they not only fail, but cause turmoil, destruction and horror in our lives.