Michael Mitchell: Archive

I think the best way to show that accepting a particular religion is a terrible idea is to simply explain clearly what religion is.

If you look up definitions and descriptions, not only will you find some very vague and poorly-worded ones, you'll also find some wrong ones, such as those that equate religion with philosophy or those that try to integrate religion and science. The reason is scholars and zealots are either trying to write an all-inclusive description of "religious experience" or they're trying to brainwash weak minds into believing in one religion over another. Really, about the most damning thing one can say about religion is that atheists, those who don't believe in God, are the only ones who can actually define it.

There are some characteristics that are usually mentioned, though.

• The belief in something supernatural that created the universe.
• Rituals to pay respects to something supernatural.
• Moral laws governing how believers should act.

Of course, when you drill down to specific religions, you'll find many more characteristics, such as the belief that humans are "sinners" at birth, the belief in an afterlife, and the belief that prayer or meditation can change reality. But it all reduces to living one's life according to a supernatural being's demands (which means the demands of whoever dreamed up the religion), as opposed to living one's life according to one's own judgment.

Personally, I don't care what anyone else thinks religion is, and this simple independence may seem harsh and inconsiderate, but it is what allows me to see religion for what it really is. You see, the reason even the most intelligent thinkers fail to define religion is it's not real, or rather it's not what its originators claim it to be. It's merely a primitive and naïve substitute for a human need that is real: a world view.

In order to live an individual needs a world view, which consists of three aspects: a fundamental understanding of reality (metaphysics), a fundamental understanding of consciousness (epistemology), and a system of principles to guide one's actions (ethics).

Now in a better world we'd all be fully conscious of this need, but unfortunately in this world we have religion. I mean, people flock to religion because they know that they need a world view. Of course, most people just accept the first one they encounter as a child and never really question or evaluate it, but whether they are fully aware of it or not, they had to know on some level that they needed it. You just can't get out of bed in the morning without knowing what reality is, how to think, and what you must do to be sure you'll wake up the following morning.

This is about the only positive thing one can say about religion: it recognizes the need for a world view. The problem is: it tries to give us a world view, merely requiring our acceptance and obedience rather than our understanding and agreement. To do this, it maliciously leaves out epistemology (how to think), and then proceeds to tell us how reality came to be and what to do with our lives. So what happens? Well, we memorize some edicts and commandments, which are mostly negative, and we follow all the rituals, and then we wake up in the morning and we're still on our own.

No particular religion can tell us what to think or do in every possible situation because that's simply not how a world view works. Even if we have fully accepted a religion, we still have to decide what values to pursue and discover the virtues required to achieve them. Some of the more important, fundamental values and virtues may be provided by religion, but most of them are not, since they are unique to the individual.

So, in your day-to-day life, you're stuck in the precarious position of struggling to attain your values with one hand behind your back, because anytime what you want (on one hand) conflicts with what God wants for you (on the other), you're helpless. It's like living two lives, which is impossible, so one always trumps the other. This is what happens when you accept a religion rather than formalizing your own, consistent world view. You have to juggle two deficient, contradictory ones.

For the record, this is where religion and philosophy differs: religion tells you what to do and philosophy tells you how to figure it out on your own.

So that's what religion is: an attempt to create a ready-made world view. And it's a terrible idea to accept a religion because there is no such thing.