Why Religion is Bad - For Me
Many forests have been felled to supply the paper on which the pernicious effects of religion have been written. Such archaic rootedness breeds intolerance and the discord it invites form an unholy alliance that is championed by many. Some may find the summary of such indignities as a necessary reinforcement for their god-less stance; I don’t. I prefer to jot down the three top reasons why I prefer to enjoy the rest of my life without a god and certainly bereft of any organized religion.
1. Supernatural monitoring.
Life is complicated enough. We go through much of life jumping through hoops. First chronologically, we need to please our parents and our teachers. There are other expectations that we need to sustain that may continue. There are the requirements set by bosses and work environments. Finally, society imposes its own standards. I was recently at a wedding, and I first reflected that I am expected (as an uncle) to wear a tie, though I felt a T-shirt would suffice to keep me warm. I reluctantly put on a tie but felt uncomfortable the entire evening of festivities for succumbing to societal pressure.
The last thing – well almost the last thing – I need is another “person” supervising my behavior: that includes restricting my diet, my life-choices, and my conduct. No wonder that when I believed that I was constantly being monitored by a god I felt more anxious and more distressed. Enough, already. Life is to be lived as best and as happy as you can, as long as you do no harm to others. The latter is the only caveat that I currently have.
2. Sacred values.
The most critical point to me as a human being is my rationality. It what distinguishes me from the rest of the animal kingdom, of which I am part. (I no longer believe that humans were created in the image of a god, but the reverse: we fashion a god to resemble ourselves.)
Religion tends to debunk that notion of human choice based on reason and instead props up the perception of sacred values. The practical side of this change has drastic outcomes. One obvious consequence is to be found in the concept of acquired land. Suddenly, the land is sacred. It is tied to a covenant and to a divine legacy. I am no longer permitted to sell land that I own to whomever I please. What is best for me and my progeny is subsumed under some greater good that is wrapped in religious mumbo-jumbo. I should be able to dispose (or acquire) anything I wish based on a fair market value without worrying about whether my god (and co-religionists) are pleased with the sale.
3. Social bonding
Religion tends to divide us. Rather than permit us to see that we can all trace ourselves back to the same ancestors, religion has demarcation lines, with some groups being “in” while everyone else – while perhaps open to conversion and some status of inclusion – is on the “out.” We tend to not only savor this division but believe that god too -as if we were a football team- has “favorites” that he roots for, at least on a weekly basis.
This notion, first popularized within families (we are repetitively told as children that we belong to an exclusive close-knit and vibrant group) is always enlarged, but maintained, by religious groups. It’s comforting to believe that we are part of a select crew. (Some sociologists/anthropologists argue that it is one of the primary reasons for the popularity of religion.) But, in the long run, is it helpful? Does humanity benefit from such arbitrary divisions? We would be better off if we saw all of humanity as one person, needing each other and helping one another. Enough with artificial lines that divide us – be they geographical, racial, gender preference or religious.
