In God's Name

In God's Name

Thursday, May 28, 2009 at 11:53am
I have heard a lot of people denouncing religion because of the violence done "in God's name." Millions have been tortured and killed over doctrinal disagreements and "heretical" ideas. These represent some of the darkest and most depressing patterns of human behavior, and they must be condemned. But there is nothing particular to religion that makes people act this way. It is human nature to identify with a system and defend that system to the death. People have been killed over every kind of belief - religious, political, cultural, even scientific. The fact that most of this has been done in the name of religion is a reflection of the centrality of religious systems in our history. The solution for this problem is not to scapegoat religion and pretend that by doing so, we have erased the dark streak in human nature which causes us to objectify those who are different than us. The solution is to acknowledge the problem, name it, and work to overcome it without abandoning those things which give us our identities. It is the easiest thing in the world to claim exclusive rights to the truth. But it is just as easy to sit on the sidelines, claim that there is no truth, and pretend that you have no commitments to the things which ultimately make us human. Easy religion, the systems that affirm our prejudices while dehumanizing the other, is evil. But apathy is not the only solution. If we are being honest, it is not even an option. We are all committed to this life (the unique narratives in which we participate, not the scientific phenomenon of life) in ways which require us to engage the questions of faith critically, flexibly, and honestly.