A few days ago I had a really involving conversion about Islam and religion in general. The genesis of this conversation started with observing a FOX News interview with a Muslim singer. During the conversation the topics discussed were how most people don't follow their religion close enough and that every mainstream religion has its degrees of radicalism. This got me to think: do we really need religion anymore? I don't think we necessarily need the institution of religion anymore. I'll explain why but I want to list the beneficial aspects of it first.
I suppose I should start with how religion builds communities, yet that's a bit of a broad statement because what churches, synagogues, mosques and other establishments do is build relations with whomever attends. This is the primary positive attribute because that is the root, the beginning point to everything. The reason why it's the root of everything is because our psyche requires that we firm bonds and seek common interests. These bonds, in turn, allow us to feel safe. Since we feel safe with these bonds and relationships, we don't have to conform to the laws of nature depicted in Leviathan.
The second biggest thing religion does is create morals for society to live by. I firmly believe that if some type of moral religion did not exist, we would in a perpetual natural state that is nature. It would be survival of the fittest; murder, rape, pillaging and suffering would be the norm. Let's take a look at morals for a second because it should be clear what I mean by morals. I equate morals with concepts like Karna, honor, civility and Aristotelian ethics. These are pretty ambiguous concepts and can be the subject of another post but I feel they describe what I think are at the core of what morals are. There are other positive aspects about religion; however, most of them can be easily deduced to either psychological bonds or morals.
And now I arrive to the point of this post and that is why I think we don't need the institution of religion anymore. I will mention the typical tropes this kind of discussion always seem to devolve to because there is a mediocrum of truth related to them. One of them is that all the major religions are accountable for many deaths in all of history. But I'm not going to travel down that rocky road.
What I think is really detrimental to society is ignorance and intolerance that is bred from radicalism and, lack of a better term, faith. The reason why I think this is because I think everyone has the capacity to reason and use logic yet some of the faithful choose not to believe in something that cannot be proven by either of those two criteria. Thi maybe the reason why there's an increase in atheism and self proclaimed agnosticism. What I mean is that I think people are starting to realize that certain traditions are purely arbitrary but that's besides that point.
The next couple of topics share a common thread but are distinct to warrant a separate discussion. They are intolerance and ignorance. Intolerance, I feel is a bit of a stereotype but like many things there is some truth to it. The biggest example is a lot more prevalent than others and that is gay rights movement. I will admit that I do have a bias in that LGBT people have every right to intermarry as they please. The issue of legality should only be raised in the secular world and not the religious realm. If the religions of the world want to prevent them from spiritually getting married, that is their prerogative too; however, that isn't the main topic. What I wanted to convey is that intolerance breeds hate. Hate can evolve into atrocious acts (read every religious major conflict).
The biggest thing that I think is bringing down society, which is helped by religion, is ignorance. What I mean by ignorance is not just the lack of knowledge but also the conviction to belief. An example of this is a bit anedoctal but it illustrates the core of the problem with ignorance. I have had many discussions about evolution and how it's pretty much proven, yet even with overwhelming evidence that suggests evolution is happening; they still hold on to their convictions and believe that it doesn't exist and that God created everything.
Hopefully you can see the basis of my points and opinions and please comment if you feel I maybe wrong (I will delete any and all inflammatory comments that do not add to the discussion).
