Reflection on the Study of Religion

Major religions continue to have a significant impact on world affairs and studying them helps us to understand the motivations and goals behind these movements. Religious campaigns have shaped societies, including influencing cultures and population zone shifts and provided moral justification for war, colonialism and even genocide via ethnic cleansing.

I believe that studying religion is important for my personal growth and exposure to concepts not previously contemplated allows the consideration of adopting those ideas deemed beneficial. It is important for me to discover different outlooks and apply them to life where practical, following a “keep the best and discard the rest” philosophy.

I am also curious about the various reasons people choose to place blind faith in a specific dogma and how the multiple conflicts between scientific and religious teachings are explained.

I think one of the most important questions is trying to understand why man needs religion at all. Is it because it provides answers to concepts otherwise not explainable, like why are we here, where did we come from and what is the purposes of our existence? Or is it simply so we can live more peacefully among ourselves and find some feeling of contentment with life? Or both?

It is challenging for me to not let science, logic and life experience influence my objectivity and to try to view things from a historical perspective by putting myself in the shoes of someone who lived hundreds or thousands of year ago to better understand the formation of their world views.

My current perspective is derived from outside of organized religious establishments which hopefully allows me to view the various concepts without a pre-conceived bias other than my need to have my beliefs confirmed by logic and rhetorical argument.

I believe that literal interpretations of religious writings are virtually impossible. Religious books have been transcribed and translated between multiple languages by many people and methods over hundreds of years, some with vested interest in overtly or covertly influencing the message they want to portray. Thus, passages have been unintentionally or intentionally altered and altogether deleted in some cases. Furthermore, language, as we ordinarily use it, is imprecise and ambiguous, so the intended meaning cannot always be unequivocally determined.

A quality that I may need to develop more is the acceptance that there are metaphysical concepts that simply cannot be adequately explained by our limited minds as well as the restricted capacity of language itself.

My strengths as a budding scholar of religion include having an open mind, hopefully without pre-conceived judgements already established. Another advantage is that I have had the opportunity to travel and live throughout the world allowing me to observe different cultures and belief systems first hand.

I also have always had a great interest in history and have studied it extensively. As religion is an inseparable component of history, I have already had exposure to many concepts of various religions.

Religion can be defined by faith and belief that there is a reason for human existence other than just to survive and procreate as a species. Religions are human created mythology that purportedly governs human destiny and attempts to explain questions that cannot be answered through proof, observation and logic. Religion is a way to define and justify morality via dogma, ritual, ceremonies, writings and teachings.

Religious texts are created based on oral stories passed down through generations over hundreds of years and then transcribed and translated similar to the fabrication of fables and fairy tales. I am interested, if even possible, in determining for myself the lines between religious parable and complete fiction and the differences between religion and philosophy.

I believe that religion is good and even mandatory for many people, providing them a moral compass as well as hope for “something better” in the afterlife. Paraphrasing Voltaire, if god did not exist it would be necessary to invent him (or her).

Some individuals and societies benefit from a disciplined religious practice and true belief/faith in a cause.  If one truly believes in something then it is not only realistic but an absolute truth for them. The susceptibility of the human brain explains genuine biological reactions to religious experience and why concepts such faith healing can have physical manifestations.

I personally find that if I replace the word ‘god’ with ‘life/cosmic force’ or ‘universal energy’ and replace ‘prayer’ with ‘meditation’ in religious writings and teachings then the concepts become easier to swallow.

It may be human nature to believe deeply in something, to have faith that our lives are not meaningless and have no purpose. People need love. People need acceptance. People need to believe. People need community. Religion offers this. At very high layer religions are not that different from each other. Most, including many “new age” religions, provide a sense of purpose and faith that death is not the end and all is not for naught.