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Faith, Hope and Dogma
Mar. 27th, 2005 11:02 amre-li-gion (n) =
1. a) Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b) A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
[Middle English religioun, from Old French religion, from Latin religi, religin-, perhaps from religre, to tie fast. See rely.]
Having a think about religion, faith and belief. Take Christianity, for instance. As far as I can tell, it started as a general system of belief that involved preaching hope, faith, charity, forgiveness, love and thanksgiving to a higher power. From there it got tied in with prejudices of individuals and societies over the course of time, and turned into this dogmatic juggernaut that gives excuses to subjugate, revile and belittle one's fellow man. How many priests have used the old saw about how Eve tempted Adam with the apple as an excuse to put down women as the root of Original Sin? And what's sinful about gaining knowledge anyway? Easton's Bible Dictionary states that faith hinges on knowledge; how can that be bad? And yet, because "the first woman" brought knowledge into the world -- knowledge of good and evil, maybe, but knowledge all the same -- all women are tarred with the "SINNER" brush.
Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses. I don't think that's necessarily true. Christianity is, certainly, because it implies a certain lack of responsibility -- "obey this without question and thine will be the Kingdom of Heaven". There are other faiths that actually make you work for the things you want without handing things over to some divine entity who, by rights, has better things to do with its time anyway than fret over the financial problems you got yourself into anyway. I don't know why it all went so wrong with the Christians, bar basic human error, any more than I know what went wrong with things like Islam, who are now reviled because some freaked-out fundamentalists decided that their god of peace really meant for them to blow the living shit out of people the world over. What I do know is that I'm sick of people thinking that such things are all there is to religion, faith and belief.
The judgement calls, the power games, the people who wilfully get the wrong idea ... that's not faith. Well, it certainly has nothing to do with a higher power, anyway. I figure that's the sort of thing you have to get past if you actually want to be a better person, which is surely what you're meant to be striving for all your life on both a personal and spiritual level. Whatever deity you worship surely wants you to be the best person you can be, if he/she/it loves you (and if you don't think your god loves you, you're in a certain amount of trouble right there, faith being a principle reliant on trust and it being so hard to trust someone who doesn't love you). The best person you can be can't be some stupid narrow-minded judgemental hatemongering arsehole. Right?
Of course, I don't claim to know the right answer. Solving the world's problems might be a nice idea in theory, but it's a little much for one person to shoulder on her own. All I can do in the case where I think most organised religion is a wank-ridden power trip is take the other road. Faith isn't reliant on some high muckamuck in some church or temple telling you what to believe -- that's dogma, not faith. If you want to say thanks to the creator for the spring and the nice weather, you should be able to just sit in a park somewhere and enjoy what's been given you instead of being contractually obliged to make some big freakin' ritual deal of it. As for anything beyond thanksgiving, that takes some actual work, in my opinion. Doesn't it go, "God helps those who help themselves"?
Bah. Sounding off again. Gomen nasai.
1. a) Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
b) A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
[Middle English religioun, from Old French religion, from Latin religi, religin-, perhaps from religre, to tie fast. See rely.]
Having a think about religion, faith and belief. Take Christianity, for instance. As far as I can tell, it started as a general system of belief that involved preaching hope, faith, charity, forgiveness, love and thanksgiving to a higher power. From there it got tied in with prejudices of individuals and societies over the course of time, and turned into this dogmatic juggernaut that gives excuses to subjugate, revile and belittle one's fellow man. How many priests have used the old saw about how Eve tempted Adam with the apple as an excuse to put down women as the root of Original Sin? And what's sinful about gaining knowledge anyway? Easton's Bible Dictionary states that faith hinges on knowledge; how can that be bad? And yet, because "the first woman" brought knowledge into the world -- knowledge of good and evil, maybe, but knowledge all the same -- all women are tarred with the "SINNER" brush.
Marx said that religion is the opiate of the masses. I don't think that's necessarily true. Christianity is, certainly, because it implies a certain lack of responsibility -- "obey this without question and thine will be the Kingdom of Heaven". There are other faiths that actually make you work for the things you want without handing things over to some divine entity who, by rights, has better things to do with its time anyway than fret over the financial problems you got yourself into anyway. I don't know why it all went so wrong with the Christians, bar basic human error, any more than I know what went wrong with things like Islam, who are now reviled because some freaked-out fundamentalists decided that their god of peace really meant for them to blow the living shit out of people the world over. What I do know is that I'm sick of people thinking that such things are all there is to religion, faith and belief.
The judgement calls, the power games, the people who wilfully get the wrong idea ... that's not faith. Well, it certainly has nothing to do with a higher power, anyway. I figure that's the sort of thing you have to get past if you actually want to be a better person, which is surely what you're meant to be striving for all your life on both a personal and spiritual level. Whatever deity you worship surely wants you to be the best person you can be, if he/she/it loves you (and if you don't think your god loves you, you're in a certain amount of trouble right there, faith being a principle reliant on trust and it being so hard to trust someone who doesn't love you). The best person you can be can't be some stupid narrow-minded judgemental hatemongering arsehole. Right?
Of course, I don't claim to know the right answer. Solving the world's problems might be a nice idea in theory, but it's a little much for one person to shoulder on her own. All I can do in the case where I think most organised religion is a wank-ridden power trip is take the other road. Faith isn't reliant on some high muckamuck in some church or temple telling you what to believe -- that's dogma, not faith. If you want to say thanks to the creator for the spring and the nice weather, you should be able to just sit in a park somewhere and enjoy what's been given you instead of being contractually obliged to make some big freakin' ritual deal of it. As for anything beyond thanksgiving, that takes some actual work, in my opinion. Doesn't it go, "God helps those who help themselves"?
Bah. Sounding off again. Gomen nasai.