Most of us swear about the efficacy of our religion. Ardent followers of religion are unanimous that it makes you emotional to the point of crying with pleasure, gives immense happiness and peace of mind and also throws light on the purpose of why you are on this earth. It guides you in your difficult times, gives solace when you are heartbroken and tells you that your journey is not really complete when you die. It teaches you to live a good and ethical life with high moral standards, asks you to love thy fellow human beings and promises that HE will not disappoint you if you pray honestly, ask for HIS forgiveness and recognize that the path of your life has already been charted by HIM. Religion also promises that you can woo the almighty if HE has turned away from you so that you can regain your place as a loyal follower in his flock. So strong is the "mind share" that religion enjoys in the minds of its followers that even those who do not agree with its principles are scared to walk away and risk losing their identity.
Alas - if only all these were TRUE!
Now let's look at the flip side!
[1] Why have most of the wars in this world been fought in the name of religion?
[2] Why does religion induce in its followers, a "trance" - terribly inhibiting their powers to use the brain?
[3] Why does it refuse to subject itself to what I would call a simple "third party audit'?
[4] Why does it profess hypotheses that it wants others to disprove?
[5] Why can't it accept that far from being divine, all religions and their supreme deities are so obviously man - made?
Have you ever wondered why the animal kingdom has no GOD? Do you see lions or crows worshiping a supreme power (of their own)? Human beings have far superior brains and are thus capable of creatively defining ideas that otherwise have no back-up evidence.
The concept of an all powerful leader (God) must have been born from the time human beings started living in communes. Every group of human beings has a leader who is powerful and who enjoys special perquisites in return of protecting the clan. Members of the group look up to the leader to provide succour and offer him goodies to seek his benevolence and shape their destiny. The concept of God is obviously inspired from this social behaviour of human beings. This innate need was channeled into what now appears to us as formal religion with its unique "life after death" idea associated with the structure of rewards and punishments. What a massive delusion?
There is an argument that says that even if God is a virtual concept, it does give solace to millions who otherwise would not know how to lessen their sufferings and dream of a happier future. According to the placebo effect you can link any effect with any cause and get a success rate of about 15% so why not allow these 15% (at least) to take advantage of this delusion in stead of educating them about the futility of expecting continuous benefits from religion? Doesn't this sound like a doctor administering anesthesia to a patient who has broken his leg so that the latter does not feel the pain?
There is however one great positive that cannot be taken away from religions - they generate un paralleled commerce benefiting so many individuals. If religions somehow vanished from face of the earth, bankruptcies would increase.
Have you ever wondered why the animal kingdom has no GOD? Do you see lions or crows worshiping a supreme power (of their own)? Human beings have far superior brains and are thus capable of creatively defining ideas that otherwise have no back-up evidence.
The concept of an all powerful leader (God) must have been born from the time human beings started living in communes. Every group of human beings has a leader who is powerful and who enjoys special perquisites in return of protecting the clan. Members of the group look up to the leader to provide succour and offer him goodies to seek his benevolence and shape their destiny. The concept of God is obviously inspired from this social behaviour of human beings. This innate need was channeled into what now appears to us as formal religion with its unique "life after death" idea associated with the structure of rewards and punishments. What a massive delusion?
There is an argument that says that even if God is a virtual concept, it does give solace to millions who otherwise would not know how to lessen their sufferings and dream of a happier future. According to the placebo effect you can link any effect with any cause and get a success rate of about 15% so why not allow these 15% (at least) to take advantage of this delusion in stead of educating them about the futility of expecting continuous benefits from religion? Doesn't this sound like a doctor administering anesthesia to a patient who has broken his leg so that the latter does not feel the pain?
There is however one great positive that cannot be taken away from religions - they generate un paralleled commerce benefiting so many individuals. If religions somehow vanished from face of the earth, bankruptcies would increase.
4 comments:
I thnk i hv just read a wonderful blog after a pretty long time sir!!
Dear Prakash
I do think you are too kind to the ignoramus creed.
Makes me think of a controversial talk during a conference for skeptics under the heading,"Don't Be A Dick". The main thrust being, you are more likely to have folks listen to your atheistic and pro-rational ideas, if you do not rub them the wrong way.
Sadly, I do not much subscribe to that school of thought and hence do think you give a kid-glove treatment to the delusional bunch.
It might be of interest to the readers of your blog to go through a hypothesis on the 'origin of religion' I posted in 2009 on the Philosophical Papers site.
I quote from my post, " If, we were to apply Occam's Razor to this question, then the underlying virtue (I am most uncomfortable using he word 'virtue' in relation to any aspect to do with religion, even when I realise it has been used to mean nothing more than 'property'), amongst all (Judeo/Christian/Islamic, Eastern, pagan) is the final subjugation, mainly through fear, of an individual and his/her independent growth through rational knowledge.
I also think that where the word 'reality' is used in context to religion by Mr. Stone, it might be much better served by the word 'perception'.
Perhaps, what I state above, may be better understood if the following hypothesis for the origin of all religions, is considered.
During the days of being hunter-gatherers, there necessarily emerged a leader in the tribe/group by virtue of his physical prowess.
In the group, there was one who could never think of competing with the leader on physical terms. Nevertheless, his thinking capacity far outweighed the relative moron giving the cry to battle, leading the pack to greener pastures, fresh material possessions, what-have-you.
The 'thinker' also observed the adulation, wealth and obedience garnered by the moron.
Would it be that unthinkable for the 'thinker' to evolve a mechanism whereby the same riches, if not more, showered upon the moron, only due to the physical fear he generated amongst the populace, would bestow the same wealth and the good life on him? Ergo, the birth of (all) religion, with the 'thinker' presenting himself as the conduit to a higher power, responsible for thunder, lightening, floods, droughts, in short all things in nature not explainable without centuries of knowledge and science.
All religions ignore such a non-god(supernatural) explanation for their reason to exist, because it would negate the fear of the unknown. Religions thrive only because they seem to offer answers to the unknown. Fear of the unknown, being a trait having well stood its need and usefulness throughout evolution."
Aarmin Banaji"
Dear Prakash
Your article should appeal everyone who posses reasoning faculty. But this is the problem. When it comes to religion and God, mankind behaves like a child. Only the intelligent child can pick up the logic and truth. Rest will have to be left. Children like fairy tells.
I am really looking forward an article from you which will appeal to the intellectuals-- Firstly to bring out as to
why we become so irrational when it comes to religion and God( which your present articles are doing) and secondly give them the strong scientific evidence which is easy to understand even by non science students/. This is the difficult part. It in volves lots of Biology and Genetics. But you can do it in the name of God.
Regards
Shyam laddha
Dear Sir,
I think the way you are relating the religion and existence of god, is totally a different subject. If you are discussing about the religion and then comparing god with it then its not correct. It would mean that you are making a judgement on existence of god based on what man says or think about god. All these holy scriptures, stories, legends are the man's ways of believing in god, which doesnt mean that there in no god. Religion is like language or dress which we learn or adopt based on the ways how one is born or brought up. Ultimately every religion is giving the message that we should be grateful for the power that created us. Even scientifically proved Big bang theory says that at a single point of intensely focused energy erupted in a cataclysmic explosion, expanding outward to form the universe. And religion says that god has created this universe. God said, “Let there be light, and everything we see appeared out of a vast emptiness. I feel both the above statements are true.
As a rational person we should only choose and follow those believes which are logical and which could make us a better human being. With a great ease one can point out the wrongs in all the relegions but of course there are lots of positive things which we can learn and adapt in our lives.
Warm regards,
Hetang Shah
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