Religion in Modern Times

I have never been a particularly religious person.  I was raised Catholic, attended CCD on Saturdays and church on Sundays, and received my sacraments.  I even went to a Catholic high school.  I feared God as a child, but when I kept screwing up yet continued breathing, I began to have doubts.  Much as I tried it never really stuck, because of all those confounded questions my silly brain kept asking.

Let me begin by saying that I see many benefits to people believing in a higher power.  Many religious people find great comfort in times of personal strife, and feel less anxious about future perils due to their faith that it’s all in God’s hands.  Their beliefs even allow them peaceful acquiescence to their own deaths, the unavoidable conclusions to every life, since they view this life as a mere stepping stone to their eternal reward.  

Despite the existence of hypocrites, many really try to emulate positive behaviors toward their fellow humans, as they believe it’s what God would want.  There are also numerous studies which have shown that practicing families usually lead happier, more fulfilling lives.  These positives do not go unnoticed - whether you believe or not, it is apparent that as religious belief has been minimized in contemporary times, the moral fiber of our society has simultaneously eroded as well.

Problems stem, however, from the fact that different religions believe in different things, none of which can be confirmed.  For true believers, this is not the same as preferring different flavors of ice cream.  It is effectively sacrilege, and for many throughout history it has been cause for desecrating, enslaving, torturing, and even killing the perceived blasphemers.  If you really believe in an omnipotent being who will judge your actions into eternity and who demands that his word be universal, then how can you act otherwise?  What alternative exists to war in this life to protect your soul in the next one?

Historically, this has been most overt when outside invaders or converted leaders pushed disparate beliefs upon controlled masses, but it has also occurred even amongst those who share similar beliefs but disagree about their applications.  Different sects of Christianity, who all base their belief systems on Jesus as the son of the Old Testament God, have nevertheless tried to wipe each other out due to differences in how their respective churches are set up.  Shiite and Sunni Muslims all believe in Muhammed as their prophet, but are constantly at war over differing perceptions of acceptable human hierarchical lineage for their leadership.

Most of the conflict, then, comes not from the beliefs themselves, but from the human bastardization of those beliefs into organized religions.  It’s not about God, it’s about us.  This behavior converts belief in a higher power into a human power struggle, and has done so for millennia.  People interpreted religious teachings in their own ways, and then historically tried to force their interpretations onto everyone else.  Vast populations of human sheep, in their need to feel accepted, have gone along with these pogroms rather than recognizing that they are usually just serving the agendas of those at the top.

A larger issue for modern society is the earth-sized elephant in the room which is simply accepted en masse due to indoctrination.  We have world leaders, whose fingers are on the buttons of our potential destruction, openly admitting beliefs that their ghostly creator is more legitimate than their opponents’ ghostly creators.  The world seeks confirmation about all other aspects of politics, but blindly accepts leaders who institute policy based on their perceptions of what an imaginary being would want.  Even for the faithful, this is obvious - there are countless religions, and they can’t all be right, meaning at least some must be delusional.  So whether you think they’re all wrong, or just the ones who believe differently than you are wrong, it still leaves powerful people allowing unconfirmable faith to dictate the policies which shape our lives.  The fact that we still have theocratic governments in our technological world is shocking.

Religious hypocrisy is also prevalent.  Obvious examples are the stories of pedophile religious leaders and their subsequent coverups, adulterous televangelists who live in luxury rather than modesty, and mobsters who outwardly display piety while committing unconscionable acts.  But many in the greater populace do the same, perpetrating atrocious behaviors toward others while hiding behind their religious shields to evade accountability.  It is just another convenient bastardization of the “will of (their) God” used to serve their own selfish ends.

What about the 72 virgins promised to martyred Islamic men?  Does that simply annul those men’s marriages here on earth to make this acceptable in the afterlife?  And where do all these virgins come from?  Are they women who live in celibacy on earth, die as virgins, and are rewarded by God after death by being presented as gift cattle for an unknown man to take the virginity they spent their lives preserving?  Or are they newly created beings, formed as adult virgins by God for the specific purpose of being sex slaves from the minute they first open their eyes?  That’s a swell God, right there.  Sign me up.  

And what about after the man fucks his way through them all - is that it, they’re now all washed up, 72 former virgins to be discarded to the afterlife ether?  For those who actually believe in this, don’t these questions make you realize that this was obviously created by a man, since no loving God would subject his innocent followers to such horrors?  I don’t claim to be intimately familiar with the Koran, but I doubt that’s what Muhammed had in mind.  But hey, it’s not for us to ask any questions - just move along, nothing to see here, just kill the non-believers as you pass.  It’s mind boggling.

I had an uncle who was a devout Catholic.  During a discussion about religion, he asked me, “If you don’t believe in Heaven and Hell, then what’s to stop you from raping and killing, or anything else just to get what you want?”  Seriously, no bullshit, he asked me that.  All I could think to reply was, “If the threat of Hell is all that’s keeping you from being a murdering rapist, you have bigger concerns than my lack of faith”.

Perhaps it is that way for some people.  Perhaps there are those with horrible intentions, who push them down over fear of afterlife repercussions.  But that leads to some of those confounded questions I mentioned earlier.

Christianity espouses that if you repent for your sins, they will be forgiven.  That’s a convenient loophole around my uncle’s concerns.  Islam is deeply patriarchal.  That’s certainly convenient for its male adherents.  Most religions leave animals out of their equations.  Some, like Hinduism, include them.  Neither can explain their God’s intentions when those animals tear each other apart for survival.

Aside from actions derived from personal preference, many actions of pure survival (like predators hunting) inflict unimaginable trauma on other beings.  I’ve yet to hear a reasonable answer as to how a loving God can justify having arranged life in such a way.  Religious folks will credit God for intervening when good things happen, but acquiesce that it’s not our place to question him when things go badly.  They speak of free will, but often believe their entire lives are preordained.  They give pat answers, like “God works in mysterious ways”, when asked why bad things happen to good people.  They claim to want money to help the needy, while houses of worship are by far the largest holders of tax-free real estate in the world.  Their shrines are frequently opulent, while their underprivileged followers remain in need.  

I don’t pretend to know if there’s a higher power, some universal creator which involves itself in all of our existences.  None of us does - that’s the point.  To me it seems highly unlikely, though if you find comfort in such belief, more power to you, truly.  I just hope you use it for the right reasons, and fight the urge to objectify man-made organizational doctrine over whatever positive messages your religion claims to support.

And for God’s sake, everyone, stop doing what you claim to be God’s will.  Even if there is a God, presuming to know what he wants is arrogance personified.  Get over yourselves, and just be good people.  We don’t need a holy guide for that.

Zephareth Ledbetter is the author of “A White Man’s Perspectives on Race and Racism”, available as an ebook at smashwords.com/books/view/1184004, and can be reached on Facebook and Twitter

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