Religion

We are in the season of western religious celebrations: Christmas (the birth of Jesus, not the joy of shopping), Hanukkah, Ashura (the martyrdom of Hossein), and others (does this have anything to do with the winter solstice?).

How can so many people believe in a religion? It is pretty clear that what religion a person believes in is usually directly linked to how he or she was raised. Why do so many people in Japan believe in Buddhism while the vast majority in the Middle East believe in Islam? And the vast majority of Americans are Christians. It seems like these beliefs are merely accidents of birth. How do they differ from the stories we were told when we were young which we eventually found out were false? And yet, most people claim that their religion is the one “true” religion.

Even if particular religions cannot logically defend the truth of their beliefs, are people even better off for having religious beliefs? After all, wars are going now and have been for a long time between different religious groups. How many people have been killed in the name of some god or other? The major conflicts of the world now are secondarily between nation-states or communism vs. capitalism. They are primarily between religions. Every major religion it seems is in conflict with every other. You can look at India/Pakistan, Palestine, wherever. Of course, it is not new. Look at the Crusades. How many people died trying to control Jerusalem?

The three major western religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all believe in prophets. How does such prophecy work? Why should a prophet’s views be given such extraordinary weight? Doesn’t this require some kind of magic? You have all sorts of people running around claiming to be prophets. Which one should you believe?

Divinity experts agree that a large number (if not most) of the utterances attributed to Jesus in the Bible were not made by him. Robert Wright has pointed out how the idea of God has even changed over time in the Bible. Even if you don’t believe in prophets, how can such a text provide guidance? Is it even consistent?

So why do most people have religious beliefs? One way to go about explaining this would be in terms of psychological needs. People have a difficult time tolerating uncertainty. They are afraid of dying. They want to know why they should be good people. They want an explanation of the apparent injustice of the cheaters and liars and other evildoers who appear to profit from their bad behavior (and hence the appeal of karma and reincarnation, as well as God’s laws and heaven). They want to have a sense that their life has a purpose. But how does religion help if you are just a tool of the Big Guy?

It seems that there must be some evolutionary advantage to having religious beliefs. One can see how such beliefs could help bond people together in a society and to enforce a morality that allows individuals to get along harmoniously. However, this may just mean that your beliefs are vestiges of ancient ways of thinking; a useful fiction at best. Why are they still relevant? Are you not just believing in something to make yourself feel good? What does that have to do with truth? Shouldn’t one be more skeptical of beliefs that make you feel good; your reason for believing is that feeling rather than evidence?

While I think that these are powerful arguments against many religious views, I also think that there are responses. I'm still working on that and am rereading the final part of Robert Wright's The Evolution of God as part of the process. But it might begin with a comparison with studying philosophy; one looks for a bigger and more fundamental picture of the world that addresses real human concerns. You may not get answers, but you may get something else.