4. RELIGION

Version 1.4 November 2016                                                                      (Previous Version)

Religion is a minefield, but there is a safe path through it.

Many people, even some religious leaders, have a very simplistic view of religion.  Some sceptics are contemptuous of religion, ignoring modern, rational approaches to religion.  An increasing number of people, all around the world, don't bother much about religion at all.  We all need to understand religion better if we are to promote peace in our communities and the world.  Religion also provides ways, for at least some of us, to express our deeper feelings and so called spirituality.

We look at religion under these headings, to see what is worth learning from each area:

As we go through each of these areas, we realize there are many inconsistencies in religion, no religion is infallible, that religious stories about our origins are allegories, and rules made centuries ago must be revised to reflect our current world. 

·       Many people believe that we get our values from god, or at least from religion.  We show in Part 1 that there is no reason to believe in God (Chapter 1.3 on Theology).  Even if there were a god, we also show that we still need to obtain our values independently of God – otherwise we would never know whether God was good or bad (Chapter 1.5 on Ethics).

• Many religious stories can be inspiring, regardless of their scientific or historical validity.  Religion emphasises the value of narrative, as a means to provide meaning and direction, from the brief moments of the Muslim Hadith, the parables of Jesus, majestic Hindu tales such as the Ramayana, to the grand narrative each religion has covering the creation of the world, humanity’s fall from grace, the path to redemption, and perhaps the end of the world.
• But religion does provides a wealth of ways to explore and express our values and our connection to the world, and we can benefit from this without becoming irrational.  We need to work out which aspects of religion promote our core values of truth, diversity, reality, life, love, responsibility, equality, beauty and hope, and discard those aspects that don’t.