👋 Hey phi-lazy-phers
This is the topic I’m most excited—and nervous—to write about. Today’s issue will focus on religion as a general concept and won’t dive into God or specific religions. We’ll likely cover those topics in the future.
I have a complicated relationship with religion. I grew up in a Christian household that was quite active in our church; I became even more religious in college, joining a group that went around trying to save (read “convert”) fellow students; I married a Christian girl right out of college as that’s what everyone in my circle was doing. Eventually, I left Christianity as I continually unearthed more and more questions without finding many answers. I then swung to the other side of the pendulum and became an Atheist, always wanting to debate with friends and family. These days, I’d say I’ve landed more in the middle and now consider myself to be Agnostic.
After years of reflecting on that religious time of my life, I have a lot of thoughts about it. I’ll touch on some below, but I’d go way over the five-minute threshold I’ve given these posts if I attempted to cover everything. Maybe I’ll write a follow-up piece in the future, but in the meantime, I welcome any messages (or debate invitations) as it may just be my favorite topic to talk about.
Let’s pause there though. As one might expect, I’m not alone as many philosophers have also had a lot to say about religion. Mostly negative things tbh, but I’ll try to keep it as balanced as possible.
Arthur Schopenhauer
All religions promise a reward for excellences of the will or heart, but none of the head or understanding.
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Erich Fromm
When people can’t handle God anymore, they turn to religion.
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton
I have been into many of the ancient cathedrals -- grand, wonderful, mysterious. But I always leave them with a feeling of indignation because of the generations of human beings who have struggled in poverty to build these altars to the unknown god.
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Christopher Hitchens
The religion which treats its flock as a credulous plaything offers one of the cruelest spectacles that can be imagined: a human being in fear and doubt who is openly exploited to believe in the impossible.
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Søren Kierkegaard
The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.
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John Shelby Spong
God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu, or a Buddhist. All of those are systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God.
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Frank Herbert (via Dune)
When law and duty are one, united by religion, you never become fully conscious, fully aware of yourself. You are always a little less than an individual.
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bell hooks
Fundamentalist thinkers use religion to justify supporting imperialism, militarism, sexism, racism, homophobia. They deny the unifying message of love that is at the heart of every major religious tradition.
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Karl Marx
Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
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Sam Harris
The central tenet of every religious tradition is that all others are mere repositories of error or, at best, dangerously incomplete. Intolerance is thus intrinsic to every creed.
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Christopher Hitchens
To terrify children with the image of hell, to consider women an inferior creation—is that good for the world?
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Corita King
One of the things Jesus did was to step aside from the organized religion of his time because it had become corrupt and bogged down with rules. Rules became more important than feeding the hungry.
It’d be unfair not to mention some of the benefits of religion. It proposes an answer to an answerless world; a distraction from—and meaning for—our pain and suffering; a hope that this cold world is not all there is. It somehow fits the infinite into the finite. And according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, "Religion gives people something to believe in, provides a sense of structure and typically offers a group of people to connect with over similar beliefs. These facets can have a large positive impact on mental health—research suggests that religiosity reduces suicide rates, alcoholism, and drug use."
But religion can also have a large negative impact on mental health. It becomes a problem when it oppresses, controls, and hurts those who do not accept it (or worse, those who just happen to be in the way). Most religions have done this at some point (or multiple points) throughout history. Even as an Agnostic, I still wrestle with the guilt and mental trauma from things I’ve done in my life that religion, and its interpreters, have told me were wrong and shameful. The reality is no one has the knowledge or understanding to say with certainty this or that religion is right, this or that god (or no god) exists.
We’re all just spectators at a race track, placing bets on the horse we think will win. The interesting thing is people tend to bet on one of the more popular horses in their region of the world, usually the horse their family bets on since they were taught about that horse (and only that horse) from the day they were born. But the fact is their horse has a very low probability of winning, considering there is an infinite number of horses in the race—not just the 20 or so we’re most familiar with.
I find it helpful to admit on a regular basis that my views may not be correct—in fact, it’s statistically probable they are incorrect. At the very least, they can’t possibly be a reflection of the entire story. It’s my hope we all might keep this in mind next time we feel the need to convert, condemn, or judge someone who doesn’t align with our worldview. As the American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr jokingly said, “what a contradiction—to be the judge of all things and yet to be a worm of the earth.”
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✌️ Until next week, happy philosophizing.
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