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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.

Comments

  1. Yamini MacLeanMarch 20, 2022 at 12:24 AM

    Hari OM
    "Humanity" is a wide spectrum; it starts at the base and becomes more challenging the closer to the summit it gets. Maintaining a standard of humanitarianism - not matter how it is coloured, be it as a Christian, Muslim, Hindu or any other mysticism comes down to how advanced each of us is in our state of humanity. It is appaling how any faith structure is let down by its practitioners... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 20, 2022 at 7:13 AM

      I too believe in the evolution of the heart / soul. Without that advance, no one can make religion meaningful. And with it, religion may not be required at all.

      Delete
  2. Pandian RamaiahMarch 20, 2022 at 3:51 PM

    Good person is good person where ever he is. Just because I believe in religion I can not be good; Just because I am an atheist I can not be bad and vice versa. If there is no religion, some other reason - like race, geography - will fill that vacuum. Radicalization and and slaughtering will still continue! So, just by crushing the religion we can not crush the mindset, imho. Increasing the intelligence and crushing the weeds may help.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 20, 2022 at 4:39 PM

      You're right. I don't want to decimate religion. Far from it, if anyone is helped to live a good life by religion - as many are - I endorse that sort of spirituality.

      Delete
  3. nareshnkJuly 18, 2022 at 5:51 PM

    The process of conversion of religion started with a simple desire to know that there was someone out there greater than them.

    ReplyDelete

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