Faith-Based Insanity
It’s struck me lately that a large part of religion is a form of mental illness.
Religion didn’t seem so silly when the world was a big place and life-spans were short. “History” was oral and, therefore, condensed to “essential” verbal aspects consisting of the politically/socially/culturally correct “truths” necessary for the survival of each particular group (e.g. “god is on our side).
Throughout their short lives the people were indoctrinated by the prevailing religious dogma of their relatively small and homogenous group. Whatever orthodoxy prevailed at that time and place was presented as absolute - and could not be compared with historical orthodoxies since they were unknown. As a result, it was impossible to notice the arbitrariness or the cultural relativity of different religions over time.
That is no longer the case.
Most modern people – including “religious” people – will say – without hesitation – that every defunct religion of history was “false,” an hallucination, imaginary, etc. No one believes in Thor or Zeus; they are interesting figures – to be sure – but only creations made in man’s image by ignorant and fearful (or overly imaginative?) people.
Well, that doesn’t sound neurotic, but we’re just getting started.
The problem arises when these same level-headed souls decide that - unlike all the “misguided” advocates of earlier false religions – they have discovered the one and only true religion that ever was or ever will be. And not only are defunct religions of the past to be laughed at, but also all presently existing religions (besides their own) must be disparaged (if not immediately eliminated).
Now, THAT’s crazy!!
No??
Well, many of today’s religions seem to think they alone have the answer. What sane justification can they have for that?
The only thing they can say is that they “say so” – and of course they usually have a book that says so too – and of course it’s the only true book – and they know that based on “faith.” That is, they know it because: they KNOW it; they believe it; because they BELIEVE it. And that’s enough to justify anything, even murderous war on “unbelievers.”
Now, THAT’s crazy!!
There must have been – over the centuries – thousands of religions, groups, sects, cults, and prophets proclaiming they – and they alone – knew the ONE TRUE WAY!! Well, even if there is ONE TRUE WAY, all of these folks except one HAVE to be wrong,
Buying into any one of these assertions is a risky bet – sort of like picking a number at random on a roulette wheel – except the odds are worse – more like those on a lottery ticket.
Now, I’m not against buying an occasional lottery ticket, but ordering my life or guiding my finances or planning my future or going to war based on an unshakeable faith that I am holding the one winning lottery ticket - now that’s crazy.
- Uke Man
Religion didn’t seem so silly when the world was a big place and life-spans were short. “History” was oral and, therefore, condensed to “essential” verbal aspects consisting of the politically/socially/culturally correct “truths” necessary for the survival of each particular group (e.g. “god is on our side).
Throughout their short lives the people were indoctrinated by the prevailing religious dogma of their relatively small and homogenous group. Whatever orthodoxy prevailed at that time and place was presented as absolute - and could not be compared with historical orthodoxies since they were unknown. As a result, it was impossible to notice the arbitrariness or the cultural relativity of different religions over time.
That is no longer the case.
Most modern people – including “religious” people – will say – without hesitation – that every defunct religion of history was “false,” an hallucination, imaginary, etc. No one believes in Thor or Zeus; they are interesting figures – to be sure – but only creations made in man’s image by ignorant and fearful (or overly imaginative?) people.
Well, that doesn’t sound neurotic, but we’re just getting started.
The problem arises when these same level-headed souls decide that - unlike all the “misguided” advocates of earlier false religions – they have discovered the one and only true religion that ever was or ever will be. And not only are defunct religions of the past to be laughed at, but also all presently existing religions (besides their own) must be disparaged (if not immediately eliminated).
Now, THAT’s crazy!!
No??
Well, many of today’s religions seem to think they alone have the answer. What sane justification can they have for that?
The only thing they can say is that they “say so” – and of course they usually have a book that says so too – and of course it’s the only true book – and they know that based on “faith.” That is, they know it because: they KNOW it; they believe it; because they BELIEVE it. And that’s enough to justify anything, even murderous war on “unbelievers.”
Now, THAT’s crazy!!
There must have been – over the centuries – thousands of religions, groups, sects, cults, and prophets proclaiming they – and they alone – knew the ONE TRUE WAY!! Well, even if there is ONE TRUE WAY, all of these folks except one HAVE to be wrong,
Buying into any one of these assertions is a risky bet – sort of like picking a number at random on a roulette wheel – except the odds are worse – more like those on a lottery ticket.
Now, I’m not against buying an occasional lottery ticket, but ordering my life or guiding my finances or planning my future or going to war based on an unshakeable faith that I am holding the one winning lottery ticket - now that’s crazy.
- Uke Man
1 Comments:
Hey Uke Man-
...yep, my god can beat up your god!
As always, excellent points!
Thanks for expressing 'em!
AND BTW:
WELCOME BACK ! ! !
I was almost afraid you had run off with Mo! :-) She's MINE! I want her to be my big sister and teach me the ways of the WORD!
Phyll
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