Friday, December 23, 2005 at 1:01am
Religion: Don't blame it on God
Most people would perceive me as religious. I'm a follower of Jesus. I take regular visits to a monastery for sweet silence. I know how to preach a good sermon. I even savor an occasional wild little get-together bursting with raving prayers and intense discussions of the power and presence of God.
Yet I believe religion is one of the worst things ever to happen to the human race.
Why would I say such a thing?! For a number of reasons, the primary one being that religion requires regular gatherings; regular gatherings require order; order requires rules; and rules are used to stigmatize outsiders who don't follow rules.
Interjectory comment of interest: Jesus was an outsider who didn't follow rules. Selah.
By their very nature, religions create us-and-thems. And us-and-thems never do good—not when us is best and them is worst; us is right and them is wrong; us is on top and them must be shoved to the bottom.
What is it about God-speak that causes us to create strict definitions? What is it about religious organizations that causes us to try to control those unlike us? What is it about religion that often guides us far afield from the ways, wisdom, and virtues of God?
I don't know. But it all begins with the plain reality that the human soul needs God. We have a vague sense that there is a God out there somewhere, so we search. But in our searching, we often run right over the joyous, graceful fact that God—the one who created and loves us—is trying to get through to us. So we work very, very, very hard trying to get through to God. Our usual avenue, unfortunately, is religious systems that define God in our image.
God seeks us. We seek religious systems. Backward. Backward. Backward.
I know people who reject God altogether, blaming religion. They say God does not exist, but is merely a figment of human imagination, a construct of religious thought. It is apparent there is no God, they say, because bad things happen—tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, wars—and no religion has given us an explanation for how a loving God could allow such things. I can't argue with that. And they rightly point out that, throughout history, the religious ideologies of powerful leaders and other terrorists have given people excuses to do horrendous things to each another. So, they conclude, there is no God.
I understand this; I don't like simplistic answers and violence in the name of God either. But the natural course of events and the wretched results of twisted ideologies are no reason to discount God altogether. To discount religion, yes, but not God.
Interjectory comment of interest: Jesus raked religious folks over the coals.
Let's make sure there is some clarity here: Religion has given us shallow, unsatisfying responses to our questions. God hasn't. Religion has given us reasons to mistreat outsiders, to hate, and to destroy. God hasn't. Religion has distanced us from God. And guess what ...
God hasn't.
Final comment of interest: Jesus came to us, a child.
———
Adela McKay is a follower of Jesus in the Anabaptist and Cistercian traditions. A contented wife and freelance book editor, she lives in rural Iowa with her husband and two teens. © copyright 2005 by Write United
— — —
UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum is a big tent for all expressions
of faith and spirituality, neither excluding nor favoring any.
All opinions expressed belong to the writer alone, and are
not necessarily shared by UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum.
Yet I believe religion is one of the worst things ever to happen to the human race.
Why would I say such a thing?! For a number of reasons, the primary one being that religion requires regular gatherings; regular gatherings require order; order requires rules; and rules are used to stigmatize outsiders who don't follow rules.
Interjectory comment of interest: Jesus was an outsider who didn't follow rules. Selah.
By their very nature, religions create us-and-thems. And us-and-thems never do good—not when us is best and them is worst; us is right and them is wrong; us is on top and them must be shoved to the bottom.
What is it about God-speak that causes us to create strict definitions? What is it about religious organizations that causes us to try to control those unlike us? What is it about religion that often guides us far afield from the ways, wisdom, and virtues of God?
I don't know. But it all begins with the plain reality that the human soul needs God. We have a vague sense that there is a God out there somewhere, so we search. But in our searching, we often run right over the joyous, graceful fact that God—the one who created and loves us—is trying to get through to us. So we work very, very, very hard trying to get through to God. Our usual avenue, unfortunately, is religious systems that define God in our image.
God seeks us. We seek religious systems. Backward. Backward. Backward.
I know people who reject God altogether, blaming religion. They say God does not exist, but is merely a figment of human imagination, a construct of religious thought. It is apparent there is no God, they say, because bad things happen—tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, wars—and no religion has given us an explanation for how a loving God could allow such things. I can't argue with that. And they rightly point out that, throughout history, the religious ideologies of powerful leaders and other terrorists have given people excuses to do horrendous things to each another. So, they conclude, there is no God.
I understand this; I don't like simplistic answers and violence in the name of God either. But the natural course of events and the wretched results of twisted ideologies are no reason to discount God altogether. To discount religion, yes, but not God.
Interjectory comment of interest: Jesus raked religious folks over the coals.
Let's make sure there is some clarity here: Religion has given us shallow, unsatisfying responses to our questions. God hasn't. Religion has given us reasons to mistreat outsiders, to hate, and to destroy. God hasn't. Religion has distanced us from God. And guess what ...
God hasn't.
Final comment of interest: Jesus came to us, a child.
———
Adela McKay is a follower of Jesus in the Anabaptist and Cistercian traditions. A contented wife and freelance book editor, she lives in rural Iowa with her husband and two teens. © copyright 2005 by Write United
UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum is a big tent for all expressions
of faith and spirituality, neither excluding nor favoring any.
All opinions expressed belong to the writer alone, and are
not necessarily shared by UPI Religion & Spirituality Forum.