The Absurdity of Religion

Photo by Deepak Amembal

Whenever I see crimes committed in the name of religion, I am baffled. Ask any religious believer about religion and you will surely hear that all religions teach believers to be good, loving, compassionate, etc. But the crimes committed in the name of religions or gods outnumber all other crimes, I think. Remember the Christian crusades and Muslim jihads, for example. The numerous acts of genocide in the name of religions or gods, witch hunts, burning of heretics, the Holocaust (Hitler was not motivated by religion but his victims all belonged to a particular religion), religious terrorism, ethnic cleansing, lynching… Not all of them are things of the past.

Someone tells me that these acts are committed by a minority of people. Most people don’t take their religion to such extremes. So I look around at the very ordinary people I know. They are all religious in the sense that they go to church or temple or mosque. They pray regularly. They practise the rituals of their religion. But they have no qualms about hating certain people, being cruel towards people and animals, cheating, lying… So what does religion really mean to them?

Most religions sanctify violence. The God of the Old Testament kills innocent Egyptian children to teach pharaoh a lesson. Islam established its roots as a conquering army. Mohammed is not only a prophet but also a military leader. Even the supposedly non-violent Buddhists in Japan supported their country’s war efforts during the WWII. The Gita teaches its believers that violence in the defence of justice isn’t contrary to spiritual life.

A few years ago I wrote a short story on the occasion of Christmas about one of Herod’s soldiers who felt nauseated by the killing of innocent children on the occasion of the first Christmas. [The story can be read here: A mad man’s Christmas] “I’m thinking of god,” the soldier says. “Someone told me that God was born on the earth and that’s what set the fire to Herod’s ass. Some dream or prophecy or whatever shit, you know, the religious people.” And a little later he says, “I’m thinking of god. How will god wash away his sin of killing thousands of infants?”

Gods and their followers don’t make sense to me. I do agree that many people live morally upright lives in spite of their religions or even because of them. I have seen a lot of non-believers who are far better people than believers. Probably religion has little to do with goodness. I wonder what it really is about.