The president of the United States has claimed, on more than one occasion, to be in dialogue with God. If he said that he was talking to God through his hairdryer, this would precipitate a national emergency. I fail to see how the addition of a hairdryer makes the claim more ridiculous or offensive.
- Sam Harris
I write a lot about religion and spirituality, especially as it pertains to those who take what’s nominally a good and positive concept and pervert it into something brutal and unrecognizable. In and of itself, religion is not a bad or evil thing. How mankind chooses to practice whatever religion they claim as The One, True, and ONLY Faith © can be and, sadly, very often is both bad AND evil. I suspect it’s not an exaggeration to say that more people have died in the name of religion over the course of human history than from any other means save natural causes.
I have friends and family who are committed Christians- a minority of whom are of the Rabid Religious Right persuasion- and most respect my right to a lack of faith (in their eyes) as I respect their right to believe whatever gives their life meaning and purpose. Despite the Sturm und Drang created by so many so-called “Christians” who wish for nothing more than to trash the Constitution and impose a Christian theocracy- based on their own interpretations of Biblical law, naturally- I believe most Christians to be good and decent people. I can’t believe what they hold to be true, they can’t my belief that there’s no God and that we’re the captains of our own ships…and I’m pretty OK with that state of affairs. Live and let live seems a pretty good way to approach theological differences. It’s when those difference devolve into conflict, oppression, and worse that the problems begin.
If there’s anything Mankind excels at, it’s believing in things that can’t be demonstrated or proven…and being willing to destroy those who don’t think, believe, or live as demanded by those seeking to enforce conformity of belief. There’s a term used to describe this too-frequent and terrible behavior: genocide.
Tell a devout Christian that his wife is cheating on him, or that frozen yogurt can make a man invisible, and he is likely to require as much evidence as anyone else, and to be persuaded only to the extent that you give it. Tell him that the book he keeps by his bed was written by an invisible deity who will punish him with fire for eternity if he fails to accept its every incredible claim about the universe, and he seems to require no evidence what so ever.
- Sam Harris
I’ve always felt religion and spirituality to be a deeply personal issue, one which can only be evaluated and resolved by an individual in light of their own needs, opinions, and beliefs. The problem, as has been true throughout human history, is that there are those willing to impose their beliefs and narrow moral framework- sometimes forcibly- upon those not “enlightened” enough to believe “correctly.” This has historically been my problem with organized religion- the idea that without someone or something to judge, evaluate, and/or guide their spiritual journey, human beings can stray from the path of true righteousness…as decided by those desirous of exercising that sort of control and influence.
There are people like myself who operate in the realm of what we like to call the reality-based world. We don’t accept things on faith simply because someone who claims authority over such things pronounces them to be so. We believe what we can see, feel, measure, and evaluate with our own senses, experience, and moral framework. We believe that government can and should be run without being subjected to a theological test. We believe government functions best when Church and State are kept strictly separate. We don’t accept that belief in a Supreme Being is necessary for a human being to lead a moral life. In fact, if you’re convinced you need to be monitored 24/7/365 by a Supreme Being to ensure that you’re living a moral life, I’d submit that you may well be a sociopath.
I can’t presume to speak for anyone else, but from my narrow perspective, religion is a tool used by those seeking power, wealth, and/or dominion over others. Religion CAN be a force for good if left up to individual believers to determine how best to apply the teachings of their chosen faith. The problems begin when people believe that they have the right- nay, the duty- to dictate to others how they must live and believe. If you depend on Franklin Graham or Pat Robertson to tell you whether or not you’re a “good” Christian, you have bigger problems than you know.
If that isn’t a recipe for tyranny, I don’t know what would be.
