Skip to main content

What makes religions meaningful?

Illustration by Copilot Designer


Personally, I’m not much concerned about whether the gods are real simply because, for me, they aren’t. I can accept the mysterious nature of the cosmos, the realms that science hasn’t fathomed yet and may never, and the awe that some of it inspires in a lot of people including me. But I won’t ever find myself imagining a god that looks like a man or woman, as is the case with most of our divine entities. What will a god do with a gender, in the first place? Forget the cumbersome physical masses of their bodies which will have to obey Newton’s laws of motion in the ethereal spaces.

That is why I was amused when Facebook decided to enlighten me with a booklet titled Is the Bible True? You can download it free of charge from the site Life, Hope & Truth. It being a Sunday when life is a lot relaxed for me, I decided to explore the material which Facebook seemed to thrust into the core of my being after censoring two of my recent posts for “going against community standards.”

I have no issues with the arguments and documents provided in the booklet which try to prove the existence of Jesus and the authenticity of the Bible as a sacred book by providing certain historical evidence. For example, it quotes eminent personalities of the first century CE, such as Publius Cornelius Tacitus and Flavius Josephs both of whom have mentioned Jesus who claimed to be the Christ or was projected as such by later followers. I particularly enjoyed reading the chapter on the Dead Sea Scrolls.

My problem is not with evidence, historical or scientific, when it comes to religions. My problem is the impact religions make on the world. Does the religion make the world a better place? If it does, I can go with it. It doesn’t matter whether the foundations of some of the dogmas and credos are myth. After all, we all need some myths, don’t we?

I stand with Joseph Campbell when it comes to myths. Myths are essential, Campbell said. They help us make sense of life, navigate challenges, and connect to deeper truths. He argued that myths provide a framework for understanding the human experience, offer guidance on how to live meaningfully and harmoniously within oneself, society, and the universe.

I will defend with all my might any religion that performs those tasks: help its followers/believers/worshippers to make sense of life, navigate challenges, and connect to deeper truths.

What do we see instead? Strife, wars, terrorism. On a more tolerable scale are the hate speeches, blatant hypocrisy, and plain exploitation of the ignorant and the innocent.

At any time, if you come across a religious believer who claims that his religion is the only true religion, or makes any similar claims (ancient history, etc), and also considers all others as inferior or untrue or whatever, be sure that the person hasn’t understood even the elementary meaning of religion.

What use is a religion if it doesn’t teach one to be compassionate, at the very least? Just imagine a religion which claims to be the eternal law, Sanatan Dharma, and then goes on to kill fellow human beings in order to protect cows which are then left to die on the streets? I’m just taking a very common example from my own country. There are countless such examples from all over the world, which prompt me to keep a safe distance from religions.

I judge religion by what they do to make the world a better place. Not by their historical antiquity or scientific evidence or whatever.

 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. DawnanddewDecember 9, 2024 at 11:47 AM

    Well expressed, sir! Religion according to me is a culture of a people to relate with this world and life in a meaningful way with due respect for all peoples and their cultures. It should have reason behind its activities to lead a healthy life both physically and mentally. It should essentially be educative rather than being a coercion. It should essentially lead people to live a spiritually disciplined life, not a life buried in hypocrisy and blind superstitions. I agree with the non human aspect of God. It is only nature's law that is supreme and divine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 9, 2024 at 2:18 PM

      In reality, religions are doing the opposite of all that they should be doing.

      Delete
    2. DawnanddewDecember 9, 2024 at 8:08 PM

      Yes. It is because several religions started the practice of conversion through persuasion or coercion through violence.

      Delete
    3. Tomichan MatheikalDecember 9, 2024 at 8:12 PM

      Religious conversion is a complex topic. Apart from violence, a lot of other factors come into play. I can show you thousands of people in our country alone who gave up their original religion willingly for getting basic human dignity.

      Delete
    4. DawnanddewDecember 14, 2024 at 1:22 PM

      Basic human dignity - I very much go for this. My perception of religion is only bent towards it. According to me, religion is for those people who cannot educate themselves. That's where I stop. We do need religion or name it with any ism. We need some system for the traffic to be in order. The traffic rules are not applicable for people with common sense.

      Delete
  2. sathishDecember 29, 2024 at 3:32 PM

    Agreed with you Sir... "What use is a religion if it doesn’t teach one to be compassionate"
    My belief is, sir, Religion is not an organization that control it is actually the people and the dogmas for the well being. The problem come when we forget that and make it as an Institution or as an organization!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Girl

The Little Girl is a short story by Katherine Mansfield given in the class 9 English course of NCERT. Maggie gave an assignment to her students based on the story and one of her students, Athena Baby Sabu, presented a brilliant job. She converted the story into a delightful comic strip. Mansfield tells the story of Kezia who is the eponymous little girl. Kezia is scared of her father who wields a lot of control on the entire family. She is punished severely for an unwitting mistake which makes her even more scared of her father. Her grandmother is fond of her and is her emotional succour. The grandmother is away from home one day with Kezia's mother who is hospitalised. Kezia gets her usual nightmare and is terrified. There is no one at home to console her except her father from whom she does not expect any consolation. But the father rises to the occasion and lets the little girl sleep beside him that night. She rests her head on her father's chest and can feel his heart...
16 comments
Read more

Liberated

Fiction - parable Vijay was familiar enough with soil and the stones it turns up to realise that he had struck something rare.   It was a tiny stone, a pitch black speck not larger than the tip of his little finger. It turned up from the intestine of the earth while Vijay was digging a pit for the biogas plant. Anand, the scientist from the village, got the stone analysed in his lab and assured, “It is a rare object.   A compound of carbonic acid and magnesium.” Anand and his fellow scientists believed that it must be a fragment of a meteoroid that hit the earth millions of years ago.   “Very rare indeed,” concluded the scientist. Now, it’s plain commonsense that something that’s very rare indeed must be very valuable too. All the more so if it came from the heavens. So Vijay got the village goldsmith to set it on a gold ring.   Vijay wore the ring proudly on his ring finger. Nobody, in the village, however bothered to pay any homage to Vijay’s...
47 comments
Read more

The Call of Islamic State

A year ago, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT) reported that about 4000 people from the West left their homes and countries to join the Islamic State (IS).  Many of them are women.  The reporters had made a special study of the women who joined the terrorist outfit and found that it was difficult to categorise which type of women were particularly drawn to IS. “While most of the girls are young, some as young as fifteen,” says the report,  “there are also mothers with young children who make the trip. Some of the girls have difficulties in school and are said to have an IQ below average,  but there are also women who are highly educated. It also appears that even though a relatively large portion of the girls had (or still have) a troubled childhood, there are some who come from families with no known problems with the authorities. Most of the girls come from religiously moderate Muslim families,  yet some converted to Islam a...
33 comments
Read more

The Plague

When the world today is struggling with the pandemic of Covid-19, Albert Camus’s novel The Plague can offer some stimulating lessons. When a plague breaks out in the city of Oran, initially the political authorities fail to deal with it as a serious problem. The ordinary people also don’t view it as an epidemic that requires public action rather than as individual annoyances. The people of Oran are obsessed with their personal sufferings and inconveniences. Finally the authorities are forced to put Oran in quarantine. Father Paneloux, a Jesuit priest, delivers a sermon declaring the epidemic as God’s punishment for Oran’s sins. Months of suffering make people rise above their selfish notions and obsessions and join anti-plague efforts being carried out by people like Dr Rieux. Dr Rieux is an atheist but committed to service of humanity. He questions Father Paneloux’s religious views when a small boy is killed by the epidemic. The priest delivers another sermon on the necess...
28 comments
Read more

AAP and I

Who defeated Arvind Kejriwal?  Himself or us? His party ruled for just 49 days.  They were momentous days.  He implemented his promise on setting up a number for reporting corruption; in two weeks instead of the promised two days.  He met people to discuss corruption issues, though the crowd was beyond his control.  He did what he could.  He would have done more if he could.  He put an end to the VVIP culture in politics.  The politician became aam aadmi.  Ministers started travelling in vehicles without the screaming red lights and horrifying screeches.  But the police had to go out of their way to provide protection to the chief minister.  Who defeated the chief minister’s vision that political leaders need no such protection from their own people? He revolutionised the admission procedures in schools.  Schools which charged hefty amounts from parents illegally stood to lose.  The aam aadmi would have g...
25 comments
Read more