One of my college professors defined religion as “a system of beliefs that bind a group of people together.” He’s right. Religion like any philosophy or political belief gives a group of people something to tether themselves together with. I recognize the value of this in life. We clearly face adversity and tragedy in life, and we are obviously creatures who need community. Our shared ideals carve out a comfortable space to make meaning, and the relationships nurtured around these ideals help us to weather the painful moments in our lives. Religion does this better than other groups.
Religion is wonderfully prepackaged and easy to pick up on--especially if you are indoctrinated as a child. Each world religion has spent a significant amount of time exploring their respective systems. Each is rich in myth, drama, pageantry, and epic storytelling. They all touch on the universal themes of humanity : love and death, suffering and bliss, and transgression and reconciliation to name a few. They provide a philosophical stronghold to build a life within. Not a bad deal when the cost is minimal and the weekly time commitment is less than that of a movie. I understand why people would flock to these places of worship.
The appeal of religion is similar to the appeal of a good mechanic. I don’t want to have to learn how a car works (especially these days with the advent of on-board computer systems) in order to keep it running. I would gladly pay someone else to master this machine and fix it when it breaks down. Religion is a spiritual mechanic who has done the thinking, answered the questions, and even provides a routine maintenance schedule for healthy living. This is an ideal situation considering the amount of time we must spend toiling for food, clothing, shelter, and heat these days.
If religion binds, then it also looses. Each religion has its exiles and excommunicated followers. These people are often the most accepting in society--motivated by their own experiences interacting with the faithful. This irony is not lost on me. Religion is a comfortable place where one is allowed to block out certain elements of society and the uncertainty those elements bring.
As creatures who have evolved to a point where we have self-awareness and the capacity to contemplate more than the source of our next meal, we are burdened with a pining for meaning in life. This desire fuels exploration and has led to the prolonging of life and a better understanding of our place within the natural world. Regardless of a particular belief system, we all recognize the influence humans have on the environments we ground ourselves in. Only a fool would attempt to refute the correlation between human waste and ecological hardship or would refuse to recognize the toll poverty has had on the psyche of humanity.
The prize in most religions is sitting somewhere outside of the cosmos. Most followers are afforded a paradigm shift in their view of the world by storing up their treasure in some uncharitable place. This revisioning of the world gives followers of religion license to abuse people and the environment around them, because their end is not based in this world, but another world. I see this as the most tragic consequence of religion.
Religion provides answers to the big questions, and it justifies burying our guilt for certain injustices in our world. It is uncomfortably easy to point a finger at the nonbelievers when the sick and poor knock at the temple door. What is worse than the blame game is the blatant indifference followers have for these folks in need, but the true crime is the way these institutions stand mute with the authority of their sacred texts crying out for justice.
Again, I sincerely understand the appeal of religion. It has its merits Unfortunately, behind every religion tends to be a representation of god that at one point begins to claim superiority. Yes, all gods become egotistic (or too big for their britches) at some point in their evolution. I blame this on the humans who follow that god. It is humanity that changed the words of our holy predecessors. Humanity that politicized the wisdom sayings of the visionaries of our past by wrapping them in dogma or blatantly altering the words themselves. It saddens me to see Jesus and Buddha being reduced to caricatures of their glorious selves. There are followers who conveniently ignore Jesus’ mandate to love selflessly or Buddha’s command to trade in the self for the universe.
Humans will always be the missing scale on the mythical dragon of religion. This is why I have severed my ties to religion. No matter how clear a holy text is about love, injustice, and forgiveness, people always grossly misinterpret these texts for their own benefit. I must note that even the texts are not authoritative, since they were often written down generations after the words were spoken. These stories and claims cannot be accepted as definitive because the source of these words is actually an agglomeration of storytellers and politically-minded individuals.
I feel compelled at this point to state that I am not atheist, agnostic, or “spiritual.” I simply am. I try to find the moments in each day that point to the extraordinary dance shuffling beneath the ordinary we walk through. I am uncomfortable claiming allegiance to any one religion because I have seen the subjectivity of religion--both academically and practically. I strive each day to live each moment in a state of eternity. Eternity for me is the complex dance of the cosmos that never seems to begin or end--it simply perpetually reorganizes. I often fail miserably when I try to live in such an undefined state, but there are slices of time when the unlimited potential in a child I teach is revealed, when boundless love appears on the face of the woman I share my life with, or the ever moving cycle of matter jolts me through the decrepit tree that struggles to survive in the front yard of my rental. I cherish these moments, wrap them up in tissue paper, and place them in my breast pocket for safe keeping until I can get to my journal and properly record them. The life I live is surprisingly satisfying, and I am grateful to have found one after walking away from the church.
Religion is wonderfully prepackaged and easy to pick up on--especially if you are indoctrinated as a child. Each world religion has spent a significant amount of time exploring their respective systems. Each is rich in myth, drama, pageantry, and epic storytelling. They all touch on the universal themes of humanity : love and death, suffering and bliss, and transgression and reconciliation to name a few. They provide a philosophical stronghold to build a life within. Not a bad deal when the cost is minimal and the weekly time commitment is less than that of a movie. I understand why people would flock to these places of worship.
The appeal of religion is similar to the appeal of a good mechanic. I don’t want to have to learn how a car works (especially these days with the advent of on-board computer systems) in order to keep it running. I would gladly pay someone else to master this machine and fix it when it breaks down. Religion is a spiritual mechanic who has done the thinking, answered the questions, and even provides a routine maintenance schedule for healthy living. This is an ideal situation considering the amount of time we must spend toiling for food, clothing, shelter, and heat these days.
If religion binds, then it also looses. Each religion has its exiles and excommunicated followers. These people are often the most accepting in society--motivated by their own experiences interacting with the faithful. This irony is not lost on me. Religion is a comfortable place where one is allowed to block out certain elements of society and the uncertainty those elements bring.
As creatures who have evolved to a point where we have self-awareness and the capacity to contemplate more than the source of our next meal, we are burdened with a pining for meaning in life. This desire fuels exploration and has led to the prolonging of life and a better understanding of our place within the natural world. Regardless of a particular belief system, we all recognize the influence humans have on the environments we ground ourselves in. Only a fool would attempt to refute the correlation between human waste and ecological hardship or would refuse to recognize the toll poverty has had on the psyche of humanity.
The prize in most religions is sitting somewhere outside of the cosmos. Most followers are afforded a paradigm shift in their view of the world by storing up their treasure in some uncharitable place. This revisioning of the world gives followers of religion license to abuse people and the environment around them, because their end is not based in this world, but another world. I see this as the most tragic consequence of religion.
Religion provides answers to the big questions, and it justifies burying our guilt for certain injustices in our world. It is uncomfortably easy to point a finger at the nonbelievers when the sick and poor knock at the temple door. What is worse than the blame game is the blatant indifference followers have for these folks in need, but the true crime is the way these institutions stand mute with the authority of their sacred texts crying out for justice.
Again, I sincerely understand the appeal of religion. It has its merits Unfortunately, behind every religion tends to be a representation of god that at one point begins to claim superiority. Yes, all gods become egotistic (or too big for their britches) at some point in their evolution. I blame this on the humans who follow that god. It is humanity that changed the words of our holy predecessors. Humanity that politicized the wisdom sayings of the visionaries of our past by wrapping them in dogma or blatantly altering the words themselves. It saddens me to see Jesus and Buddha being reduced to caricatures of their glorious selves. There are followers who conveniently ignore Jesus’ mandate to love selflessly or Buddha’s command to trade in the self for the universe.
Humans will always be the missing scale on the mythical dragon of religion. This is why I have severed my ties to religion. No matter how clear a holy text is about love, injustice, and forgiveness, people always grossly misinterpret these texts for their own benefit. I must note that even the texts are not authoritative, since they were often written down generations after the words were spoken. These stories and claims cannot be accepted as definitive because the source of these words is actually an agglomeration of storytellers and politically-minded individuals.
I feel compelled at this point to state that I am not atheist, agnostic, or “spiritual.” I simply am. I try to find the moments in each day that point to the extraordinary dance shuffling beneath the ordinary we walk through. I am uncomfortable claiming allegiance to any one religion because I have seen the subjectivity of religion--both academically and practically. I strive each day to live each moment in a state of eternity. Eternity for me is the complex dance of the cosmos that never seems to begin or end--it simply perpetually reorganizes. I often fail miserably when I try to live in such an undefined state, but there are slices of time when the unlimited potential in a child I teach is revealed, when boundless love appears on the face of the woman I share my life with, or the ever moving cycle of matter jolts me through the decrepit tree that struggles to survive in the front yard of my rental. I cherish these moments, wrap them up in tissue paper, and place them in my breast pocket for safe keeping until I can get to my journal and properly record them. The life I live is surprisingly satisfying, and I am grateful to have found one after walking away from the church.
1 Comments:
I have several thoughts but will wait to discuss them until we get together to play chess. Tomorrow? 4pm?
By Chris, at 10:04 AM
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