A couple of things immediately came to mind. Does harbouring a belief in a deity help you become a better person? Or is it merely the act of focusing your awareness on something external that is deemed "protective" in nature, the true cause of any moral evolution within an individual?
What I have always wondered about, is what if the belief in God is replaced with a belief in the self? Or a belief in an ideology? Where does the distinction manifest itself and to what end does delegating your faith serve?
The answer is obvious, a selfish need.
Regardless of whether or not you are an Islamic fundamentalist with thirty pounds of explosives strapped to your chest, or if you happen to be a stoic Atheist; the result is still an adherence to blind faith in order to satisfy the whims of an ego.
Atheists will claim evolution and science when their beliefs are questioned, citing such evidence as the fossil record for instance. Yet, science has proven itself many times over in the course of history to be evolutionary and inexact in nature to begin with. The world was once a cube, 'less we forget.
There will always certainly be advances in the field of physics, anthropology, archaeology and microbiology that can result in a surprising upheaval of an earlier theory or practise and introduce a newer and more compelling model to structure future advancements upon. Yet this only proves, that "truth" is hard to come by and reality is much more complex than what we are lead to believe.
Yet, science is a form of religion should one decide to forgo what is unknown in favour of what can only be measured. Aspects of it should never be accepted without due skepticism. There are still many questions that are essential for mankind to have answers for, yet science had failed to provide.
So, back to the original question. Would the world have been a better place without religion?
It is an acceptable reaction to simply point out the Crusades, 9-11, The Inquisition, Salem Witch Trials and what have you as "proof" of religious fantacism doing more harm than good.
Yet, it is also easy for one to point out many events that have occured out of ideology or fought for in the name of "progress". Che Guverra, The Bolshevik Revolution and the extermination of Native Americans come to mind.
The data is not compelling either way. Should religion be excised from the psyche of the masses, there would yet still exist many incentives for one to step outside of their morality and impose their will upon the innocent, justifying such actions with whatever excuse that happens to be convenient at the time.
In my opinion, we are all born with a sense of right and wrong. These are ancient and unspoken laws that are ingrained into the fabric of our very beings. There is no dispute to be had in saying that taking the life of another person, is wrong. Regardless of what crime he or she may have committed.
Yet, we are an arrogant species. We have little compunction when it comes to deciding the punishment of those that we feel have done wrong. A man who kills for his country is honoured, even revered. Yet someone who has taken revenge for the death of a family member, is still punished within the laws of our judicial system. Likely resulting in being incarcerated for life.
And on a mass scale, we appear to have little remorse in slaughtering over a hundred thousand innocent Iraqis who have not proven themselves involved with an act of terrorism and are guilty by association. They died because they were born in the wrong place at the wrong time, in the poorest of circumstances. Many people, including Catholics do not fully appreciate or can identify with such a gross overreaction to an event that had resulted in the death of only 3,000 people at the WTC on September 11th, 2001.
What does this say about religion? Absolutely nothing. For it was never about religion to begin with. Just as the Inquisition and WWII was never really about conversion. The official reason for why the United States invaded Iraq, did not depend on anything but an idea. The idea being that the Iraqi people needed to be liberated and that democracy had to be instated within the region, taking out a regime that existed for reasons which originally included economic modernization, socialism and secularism within the Iraqi government.
A regime that had in fact, been largely influenced by Marxism.
Yet, we continue to lay fault at the feet of religion for the predicament that the Middle-East has found itself in. What is truly the difference between ideology and religion? Rationality? Perhaps. Yet it largely comes down to perception and the speculation it entails.
So, would the world be a better place without religion? I would say no. Only because the words "religion" and "ideology" are simply two sides of the same coin. They both promote ideas designed to influence and affect change by. Yet, ideology is immune from making any moral distinction, and that to me, is more troubling than believing in a man in the sky who preaches love and goodwill to all.
There is however, I will concede - a kind of psychosis that can flourish within either religion or ideology. Faith is a powerful weapon of the mind and is an attribute that must be focused in a clear and positive direction. Without religion, we may not have an awareness of the tools and knowledge needed to sustain spiritual and emotional development.
Can science supply the answer to any of these?
How did we evolve the function of emotions?
What had occurred before the big bang?
To what purpose does the universe exist?
How is consciousness formed? And why?
What is the meaning of justice?
What happens after death?
Is there such a thing as free will?
Religions satisfy these questions with (theoretical) models and even apply a form of reasoning towards some of these. I am not speaking of one religion in particular, but rather all of them. They all contribute in some meaningful way towards understanding and appreciating our place in the universe.
You cannot prove the existence of love, yet as we all know. It's there. It can either be called the result of a chemical reaction, or an expression of a greater truth.
It's all about having faith and accepting something that you know to be true, in spite of how irrational it appears to be.
And I think above all else, honouring the truth within you is the most important thing an individual can ever accomplish. With or without religion getting in the way.
Don't you think?
