Religion gone astray

The first question that we need to address is “what is religion or what the definition of religion is?” Though most of us talk of and belong to a religion, have we ever addressed our mind seriously on the word and its meaning? We simply accept a particular religion just because we have born into a family and become part of a community that believe and follow the particular faith. We also live with it because of a sense of security (very often false and made to believe) and a sense of feeling of easily meeting the needs and desires of physical existence through the particular object of worship/prayer. If ever we move away from these false senses of security and expectation and undertake self-introspection on a rational and logical basis, I am afraid that we would not accept everything that the religion teaches/stands for and blindly belong to the faith we are born into or for that matter may not accept any religion in toto at all. At best we may imbibe the best of all religions and set upon a path of universal religion.  

Trying to answer the question ‘what is religion? Or, defining religion” is indeed notoriously difficult and wrought with serious problems, given the complexities associated with all the man-made religions.  Yes, man-made and propagated by imperfect humans and hence, in all likelihood all religions would end up hurting you, given their judgemental or condemning nature.  The decisions of the custodians (either self-appointed or acquired by power, position or status in the community) are often guided or clouded by their false sense of pride and power and passing off as justified under the guise of religious rules and regulations created by them or by some such previous leaders of the community.    

There are very many different definitions and often individual choices are based on biases, prejudices or personal outlook. Apparently, there is no definition of consensus. Let us look at a few dictionary definitions or, definitions ascribed to certain sources (cited from www.religioustolerance.org).

1. Barns & Noble (Cambridge) Encyclopedia (1990): 
   “…no single definition will suffice to encompass the varied sets of traditions, practices, and ideas which constitute different religions.”
   
2. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1990):
   “Human recognition of superhuman controlling power and especially of a personal God entitled to obedience”
   This definition would not consider some Buddhist sects as religions. Many Unitarian Universalists and progressive Christians are excluded by this description. Strictly interpreted, it would also reject polytheistic religions since it refers to “a” “personal God.” 
   
3. Dictionary.com at Ask.com:
   “A set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
   A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by several persons or sects: the Christian religion; the Buddhist religion.
   Something one believes in and follows devotedly; a point or matter of ethics or conscience: to make a religion of fighting prejudice.”
   
4. Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary: 
   “a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardour and faith.”
   This is a curious definition — we would have said nonsensical, except that that would be too judgmental — because it does not require elements often associated with religion, such as deity, morality, worldview, etc. Capitalism, homophobia, transphobia, President Obama’s place of birth, and other beliefs might fit this definition. Also, it requires that a person pursue their religion with enthusiasm. Many people identify themselves with a specific religion but are not intensely engaged with their faith.
   
5.  Webster’s New World Dictionary (Third College Edition): 
   “any specific system of belief and worship, often involving a code of ethics and a philosophy.”
   This definition would exclude religions that do not engage in worship. It implies that there are two important components of religion:
   one’s belief and worship in a deity or deities
   one’s ethical behaviour towards other persons
   
   This dual nature of religion is expressed clearly in the
   Christian Scriptures (New Testament) in Matthew 22:36-39:
   “Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like, unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
   
6. Qumran Bet, “A Community Striving to Come to the Pure Essence of the Worship of YHWH,” cites definitions from an unknown dictionary: “religion (ri-lij'[uh]n) n.
   The beliefs, attitudes, emotions, behaviour, etc., constituting man’s relationship with the powers and principles of the universe, especially with a deity or deities; also, any particular system of such beliefs, attitudes, etc.
   An essential part of a practical test of spiritual life.
   An object of conscientious devotion or scrupulous care: e.g. His work is a religion to him.
   Obs. Religious practice or belief.” 
   
7. The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (CARM): 
   “An organized system of belief that generally seeks to understand purpose, meaning, goals, and methods of spiritual things. These spiritual things can be God, people in relation to God, salvation, afterlife, the purpose of life, order of the cosmos, etc.”
   
8. Wikipedia defines religion as “… a system of social coherence based on a common group of beliefs or attitudes concerning an object, person, unseen being, or system of thought considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine or highest truth, and the moral codes, practices, values, institutions, traditions, and rituals associated with such belief or system of thought.”

Truly speaking, no one definition can completely cover the varied aspects of religious spectra in the world. Any of the definitions of religion `would be incomplete amid spectral shades of beliefs and practices. Religion……so simple… yet… so complex to give an all-encompassing definition.

However, an attempted all-encompassing definition of Religion should read as “a fundamental faith with a specific set of beliefs involving rituals, practices and ethical codes of conduct (usually imposed by a set of influential people/individuals) with concern for the worldly and the unworldly”.  The ‘unworldly’ refers to a God, Goddess, a pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, a personal or impersonal Supreme Creative entity or a Supreme being who becomes or become the object/objects of worship/subjugation and, the ‘worldly’ should essentially mean philosophical enquiry of “who am I? where have I come from? what is the purpose of my existence? and where would I go after my death”?  Alas, the understanding of worldly has ended up in the mundaneness of self-appeasement, materialistic gains and meeting the needs and desires of physical existence and, the unworldly has simply become an object of fear, whose appeasement by ritualistic worship or devotion is expected to meet the above mundane objectives. ……..  So, appease and get favours from the Supreme Being. In short, Religion is all about how humans supposedly organize themselves rightly or wrongly. 

Meaning and purpose of religion

  The dictionary meaning of the word “religion” is:

1. A set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. 

2. A specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by many persons or sects.

3. The body of persons adhering to a particular set of beliefs and practices.

It can also mean, to acquire a deep conviction of the validity of beliefs and practices or to resolve to mend one’s errant ways. 

The word “religion” comes from the Latin word “religio” which has a meaning influenced by the verb “Religare”. Religare is the Latin word for “to reconnect or to bind” that gave rise to the English word religion.

It means to relink, reconnect or bind – with The Almighty.  However, religion has witnessed attempts for manifold definitions but suffice to say, it represents the crux of an early human yearning in the crusade for some meaning and oneness. Religions essentially evolved to represent a mechanism for developing some degree of faith, belief in a set of values and traditions and, application of principles to a way of life. There always existed some intermixing of cultural beliefs and religious beliefs. The shaping of the identity of a person or a group in this respect involved religious values, beliefs and affiliations, often passed on to future generations. Scrutinized understanding of sentience/consciousness, a clear perspective of the Supreme Creator and/or His hierarchal organization, the modus operandi and purpose of the object of His creation and the real inherent duty of the highest sentient entity in the universe (humans) would truly constitute the realm of scientific religion. In their quest for identity and realization of that One True Eternal Supreme Entity, men conjured up multiple forms to worship that led to polytheistic religions in different parts of the world. The question that needs to be addressed is, why are people lured or drawn towards religions or religious ways of life? Reasons could be many but the prime motivations are either that some find solace and comfort in the guidance and teachings of wise men (true men of wisdom and their uncorrupted teachings) or many believe that faith is something bigger than the self that provides succour and strength at times of trial or provides meaningful answers to questions of life and death. Over a period, religions and religious adherence attained a degraded connotation of a window of escape from pains and sufferings or an avenue of acquisition of materialistic gains and pleasures. 

What did it mean in the past?

Let us delve into religion a bit further from the point of view of the early followers/believers. No doubt, religion is nothing much but an organized institution with people, their beliefs, set of morals and an object or objects of reverence, may it be a God, a set of Gods, Spirit(s), Supernatural Force etc. What they used to look forward to from religion was the end of the road or the final destination to get out of this world. Many followers of religions such as Christianity, Judaism and Islam looked forward to being forever with God after death. Another related but different outlook as of Hindus and Buddhists was a means of being free of the vicissitudes of birth and death and go to heavenly salvation. So there was a better end result to look forward to.  

What now! 

Most of the populace of the world believe and belong to one or the other religion in vogue (mostly due to birth in a particular background/environment and not by logical or rational conscience or understanding) and end up worshipping/paying obeisance to one or other God, right or wrong. The world stands divided into many man-made religious confines like Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shinto and tradition-based Chinese sects like Taoism and Confucianism. There are also sects based on interpretations of ancient ethnical and magical traditions of contemporary Pagan origin like the popular Wicca. 

Apparently, religion is not for everyone and a sizable number of people identify themselves as non-religious. This pool of people consists of those who do not subscribe to the existence of God (atheists), those who are wary of religious beliefs due to the incongruities and uncertainties introduced by the so-called custodians (agnostics), those who vehemently reject everything associated with religion (seculars) and those, who accept the basic essence of religion/spiritualism without being identified with any particular religion (liberals). 

A bit of peep into history 

All the above arguments and explanations of religion come from, so to say, from this end of human existence, with a level of perception and understanding as existing today. We have to trace the origin of religion by going back to the beginning of human advent and start viewing from that end. Sprouting of religious ideas has to be essentially linked with the change from nomadic to a settled mode of life of early humans. in this context, raw religious thoughts must have got kindled in the minds of individuals and gradually got established as a community system of belief when man began relating self with the environment and tried to explain many natural phenomena. Religious thoughts and ideas probably developed during human encounters with the natural world as an attempt to appease the fear-provoking and threatening natural forces and, this could help explain the mental sowing of the first ideas of superhuman forces. The worship of many natural entities like sun, moon, fire, water etc. and the creation of mental images of animal forms of Gods must have laid the basis for the development of polytheistic religions. The origin of religions also needs to be viewed in the context of social and cultural evolutions as there is an unmistakable intermix of cultural and social outlook and religion/religious beliefs. The transition from small communities to states and empires ultimately shaped the genesis of more specialized and developed forms of religion, essentially reflections of the evolving social and political environments. In the process of transition from small restricted groups to bigger organized populations, many early superstitious beliefs either persisted or appeared in modified forms. It is also likely that organized religion served the purpose of affording social and economic stability to the larger populations. The theocratic empires of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia probably exemplify this point as religion tended to authorize the chiefs, kings and emperors to serve as dual centres of power, both political and spiritual and empowered them to collect taxes for security and services in return. The world was witness to many such state heads enjoying conjoined political and divine authority. Tribes, clans and communities consisting of related individuals coalesced to form states and nations of admixture of unrelated individuals, and probably, organized religion was the means to cement peace between the originally unrelated groups. 

Religion: Where it stands as of today and the problems it faces!

We live in a world very different from the ancient past. We are now exposed to an input of varieties of ideas and beliefs and ultimately very often end up with our own output of modified ideas and beliefs. If we go out and ask the people about their religious belief, we are likely to get a bewildering array/assortment of answers like Brahmoism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, Krishnaism, Ramaism, Vedism, Vedantism, Thantrism, Yogism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Gayatri Pariwarsm, Radhe Swamism, Hanumanjism, Ganeshism, Swami Narayanism etc from amongst the broad category of Hindus; Restorationism, Anabaptism, Evangelism, Protestantism, Presbyterianism, Pentecostalism, Methodism, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, Western Roman Catholicism, Eastern Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxism, Oriental Orthodoxism, Assyrian Churchism, The Non-denominational Churchism etc amongst the broad category of Christians; Sunnism, Shiaitism, Wahhabism, Sufism, Bahaiism, Ahmadiyasm, Druzeism etc from the broad category of Muslims; Conservativism, Unaffiliated and Secularism, Reformism, Orthodoxism, Reconstructionistism etc from amongst the broad category of Jews. Well, how refreshing and inspiring, is it not? Or do you feel lost? We are also likely to find people who would say that they do not believe in anything including a God – the nonchalant Atheists. There would also be uncertain people, who though not belonging to any religion neither accept nor reject a Superior Being – Agnostics – and also Deists, who typically reject supernatural events such as prophecy and miracles, tending to assert that a god (or “the Supreme Architect”) does not alter the universe by (regularly or ever) intervening in the affairs of human life. This idea is also known as the Clockwork universe theory, in which a God designs and builds the universe, but steps aside to let it run on its own. There would also be Theists to whom some God exists, nothing more or nothing less. 

Now if we look at the religious practices of current times it would become clear that the practices are far from what they used to be. In the present day, belief in God and religion is something good to have but not be too worried about. To be put succinctly, people of yonder times had their lives committed to God and religion and did everything as per the faith and, God was always of prime importance. Though there may be a few in the same mould even nowadays, the vast majority practice their faith just to hold on to tradition. To many- oh ya– it is a good thing to practice but then, can be relegated for later times if more important and interesting life activities come in the way. Don’t many of us postpone or even put off for another day religious practices like worship/prayers when it comes to meeting relatives and friends, attending TV shows and movies or even for partying and gossiping? In fact, God comes not even second but maybe fourth, fifth or even sixth in our life in the order of priority, meaning, when we have nothing else to do or are in dire straits we think of God or practice our faith. Actually, it should be the other way round and we shouldn’t be that much concerned or involved with things that form part of this world, which are not eternal. In modern times, we are so involved with the mortal world and all the happenings within it and our minds are so corrupt by its illusory pleasures that we never find time to reflect seriously on death and afterlife. Scientific and technological advancements have befuddled us and got us more attached to the materialistic world and the transient comforts and pleasures that it offers, effectively erecting a cloud of veil that thwarts us from any serious enquiry  on ‘what after death?’ Our ancestors used to look at life as very short and thought of it as an opportunity to be used for something greater. With greater affluence and increased life expectancy, religion has become of secondary or of no importance, with our youthful days being irresponsibly spent on the false joys and pleasures that abound in this world and, as old age advances, the thought of death per se and the judgement of afterlife start haunting us making many of us feel weary and stressed to the point of repentance for the earlier misdeeds or wrongdoings of youth. Still, others continue remorselessly in the same vein blissfully unmindful of death and afterlife or the purpose. Alas! This is the world we live in and how things are.   

Problems/Ills

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven Weinberg

Religion, though had its roots on well-founded purpose/objective has, however, over a period lost its moors and drifted into puddles of narrow-minded parochialism and petty mindedness with neo-pseudo-realism and divisive dictums or beliefs. The so-called custodians of religion have misguided the gullible humankind down the line by opportunistic corruption of the teachings of wise men, messages of prophets and scriptures for establishing their supremacy and heaped the greatest of disservice on this world. Though the expected inspirational role of religions should have been to instil a spirit of universal oneness and foster kindness and service, most of them, unfortunately, have charted a history of oppression and offences to impose upon humankind their misconceived pseudo-religious notions, ideas, dictums, beliefs and self-proclaimed supremacy. Shrouded in mysticism and dogmatic faith and given to frenetic sentimentalism, ‘Religion’ per se has promoted a sense of apathy especially amongst the intelligentsia and those with a scientific bent of mind. This is the state of religion when viewed from the angle of its Masters or controllers.