IDEAS EXPLORED IN THIS SITE
Religion is the psychological crutch upon which all men stand. For all things
unknown to us, we assign causes outside our ordinary realm of experience as an
explanation. This provides us with a safe and easy answer to questions that we
are unsure of. Man, the inquisitive creature that it is, seeks to find an answer
to all things. When something seems solutionless we are wrought with frustration
and dismay. In order to curb this, we create a being whose infinitude and perfection
could only explain the unexplainable. Now with an answer, we are able to continue
on. The order has been restored.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines religion as the “belief in and reverence
for a supernatural power or power regarded as creator or governor of the universe.”
In Part III I defined the church as, “...a collection of religiously like-minded
people who set out to explain the cosmology of the universe and our concept of a
divine power through common conceptions and beliefs.” Church is not just a word
used to define the Christian religious body, but can be used for any religion from
Buddhism to Satanism, and uses equivalent terms as monastery, sect, cult, circle,
order, temple, synagogue, and many more. But all serve the same function.
The Satanist explains the unknown for himself by way of a system of self-indulgence
and hedonism. For them, Satan is their god and gives them a sense of understanding.
They are no different than the Christian or Jew who prays for forgiveness or guidance
from God or Jehovah. What of the Wiccan? Do they not conform with the definition?
Of course they do. The Wiccan sees a greater bond with nature than any other religion
and may well mirror the beliefs of primitive man. But they fit the definition because
they share a common cosmology with each other.
But what of the Humanist or Atheist? These people are considered the greatest
doubters of religion but use religion as a crutch as much as the Christian. While
the religionists sits around in prayer and contemplation of the higher ideals of life,
the atheist attempts to find a argument against god. Maybe some tragic event occurred
in their life to cast doubt on the existence of a loving god or maybe they just find it
hard to believe something that distant and remote could love them, a mere human being.
Does mankind show so much sympathy for the ant on the street when it is stepped on?
Not likely, so why should this god in heaven, governor of the whole universe, be concerned
with the ant of His kingdom, man? This is a question asked by these skeptics of religion.
Is their life filled with some sort of anger and attacking the unknown or attempting to
remove the happiness of another their psychological dependence on religion? Someone
would not spend that much attacking something if it did not actually exist, right?
That would be a wasteful expenditure of energy.
So why do they? Enough people on the earth seem to believe in this higher power
so is all mankind afflicted by some neurosis of the mind? Is religion the tumor on
man’s brain? How could our entire species be so easily deceived into this belief?
Since the early cave man we have looked to the sky for a force to explain the vast
world we live in. What occurs then when we arrive at an answer to one of our questions?
Obviously some things we believed to be outside our realm of experience were not. Do
all these other questions possess some answer that we have not found yet? Probably
so. But when we will we learn these answers? Who knows?
It is probably fair to say we will learn the answers to most questions we have sometime
in our existence. So what happens to the foundation of religion as we do? Does it just
fade away as our knowledge grows or do new and more challenging questions arise for which
religion provides a solution? Again, who knows? There are certain questions we may never
find an answer to like the meaning of life, death, suffering, evil, is there really a god,
and others. For these questions, religion offers a solution.
But if we could find an answer, will religion die? Probably. Religion offers us a
temporary solution to the questions we have now. We as humans need quick answers that give
us a degree of certainty. Religion serves this function.
But there is another side to religion that would lead me to answer this question in the negative.
For all people, it provides a sense of comfort, harmony, order, hope, and happiness. Life is
riddled with ups and downs, emotional rollercoasters, and hopes extinguished. Placing a loving
deity in the picture seems to alleviate the hurt we feel. We seek this entity when we are lonely,
feel depressed, disappointed, or angry. The thought alone of gaining an audience with this deity
and having his ear to whisper our problems into, most often allays our pain. Absolution of our sin
is in essence this need. When we “confess” our sin we are lifting an enormous weight off our
conscience. It helps us to go on and to endure for one more day. Life without a friend in the sky
is lonely and spiritually debilitating.
The Skeptic will say why not seek the counsel of a friend or loved one? Simply, human emotion is
so conditional and temperamental that the one we speak to may not know just how to counsel us. In
reality, we have no proof of this deity to justify his existence, but are actually speaking to a
realm of our consciousness not readily acknowledged. It manifests itself in our dreams and subconscious
desires. Our higher power is truly in ourselves. All the answers we need to get by the day exist in
our own psyche, as Freud correctly pointed out (See Part V).
But since we see ourselves as confused and spoilers of truth and reality, we pretend this force is
outside us. Our best friend is truly ourselves. We deny this and seek this other force. For the
Doubting Thomas, the emptiness is filled with displaced anger at an imaginary force. Religion is active
in their lives as evidenced by their continual barrage of criticism and skepticism. The crutch is just
this: religion gives them purpose.
For the religionists, the confusion and desire to have an answer is filled by religion. Also, they
may have their own misgivings as to whether or not anyone could actually love them. They ascribe the role
of companion and begetter of love to their god. The crutch for the religionists is just this: religion
makes them feel wanted and gives them clarity.
We must realize the role religion and god has in all our lives and face our moral and spiritual “demons”
on our own, not by hiding our hurt, distrust, and confusion behind a spiritual ideal. All mankind is guilty
of this, present company included. The skeptics of religion recognize this element of religion and seek to
bring it to light. Consider the following discusstion:
Click here for more on ATHEISM
Click here for more on AGNOSTICISM
Click here for more on HUMANISM
Click here for more on EMPIRICISM
Click here for more on PSYCHOLOGISTS
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