Like
economics, politics, science, and technology-- religion is a tool.
A
multi-use tool. Our mind (also a tool) can use each of these
tools for saving lives, improving health, reducing suffering, or bringing life
as we know it to an end on this unique planet.
Religious
beliefs, rituals, and practices have the power to leverage the human mind to
control the body in undertaking the noblest of actions - or committing the most
horrific atrocities. It is we who decide what our minds will
believe. Choose wisely. Not just on what religion, ethnicity, or
culture you were born into. Heritage is important. But it
should not be more important than the sustainable survival and thriving of
humankind.
There are an estimated
4,300 religions in the world with new ones being invented each
year. The seven most popular religions represent about 75% of the
world’s people. Christianity alone has an estimated 40,000
variations.
Each religion has its
own variations of beliefs, rituals, and practices. But the popular
religions are each based on a single call to action. We know this
as ‘the Golden Rule” – ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto
you’.
This
maxim is found in most religions and cultures for a reason. It has a sound biological and
moral underpinning of empathy, compassion, honesty, kindness, generosity, and
trust. It is linked to justice.
Thus, justice, the
Golden Rule, and the Jesus story of the Good Samaritan all represent a
self-evident truth. A fundamental principle essential for
sustainably securing the “Blessings of Liberty for ourselves and our
posterity.”
In summary, the
primary purpose of religion is to encourage us to be more
virtuous. We don’t need religion or even mediation to do
that. But it can help! Unfortunately, in today’s world
people too often believe that their beliefs are the truth. A
truth they are easily willing to sacrifice their lives for, or the lives of
others who believe differently. It is within this shallow and
stubborn mindset that our own greatest and most immediate threat has been
created. It’s not climate change! It is what our
minds have created with science and technology in a world lacking
justice. Both nations, groups, and individuals now have an unprecedented
capacity for mass murder. Combined with economic beliefs that are driven
by selfishness that has perpetuated global poverty and continues to trash our
environmental infrastructure while ignoring our vital yet crumbling national
physical infrastructures that Americans all depend on.
Even before the
creation of the atom bomb Albert Einstein wrote “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is
blind.” Albert Einstein, 1941
Next 4th of
July read the Declaration of Independence and deeply consider the two law sets
(the Laws of Nature and Nature's God) that led to the phrase “all men are
created equal”. If you think “men” only mean ‘males’ remember who
birthed and protected, you when your survival was most dependent on a female’s
breast and loving care. And that males are all missing a fourth of the
chromosome that mostly determines one’s sexual attributes. Not
always. But mostly. We all possess fundamental God-given
rights, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – however, we define
happiness.
And don’t forget that
our founding fathers believed most in the value of virtue (mentioned 6000 times
in more than 120,000 documents they exchanged between themselves and
others). More than freedom! Back then the word virtue was understood as an “essential element of
public life”. It implied good men “putting the common good before
one’s own interests.” Historian Joyce Appleby asserted that virtue
was the ‘lynchpin’ of public life – that is, the fastener that held together
the structure.” Religion may be the greatest human path to
virtue. But it is not the only one.
I’ll assert that nothing
destroys the respect that many people have for religion…than those who do not
practice the Golden Rule. And most threats humankind faces are
exacerbated by that.
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