The problem with religion
I'm going to quote Gill Edwards' essay "Wild Love Sets Us Free" from the book, 'The Mystery of 2012":
For the past few millennia, humanity has been tamed with fear and judgment. Religion has been used as an agent of social control and conformity. Strange and downright crazy beliefs about a wrathful, judgmental God have been ingrained into the human psyche and have convinced us that being spiritual, or worthy of love, means being good. That is, doing what others want us to do. Conforming to external rules and social expectations. Putting others' needs before our own. Sacrificing ourselves. Denying ourselves. Trying to prove ourselves worthy or special.
Most of us have internalized a cold, critical, repressive inner voice - the judgmental god within - that tells us how to behave, constantly criticizes us, keeps our noses to the grindstone, and squashes or denies our true feelings. Since emotions and desires are the language of the soul, this is tantamount to soul murder. To the extent that we give our power to this inner judge, we are tamed and locked away. We feel trapped and disempowered. The shutters of our windows are closed. The inevitable result is anxiety, depression, physical illness, dysfunctional relationships, or a pervasive joylessness that we cannot explain.
Well said, indeed. The judgmental God is probably the most illogical thing in the world, in my opinion.
For the past few millennia, humanity has been tamed with fear and judgment. Religion has been used as an agent of social control and conformity. Strange and downright crazy beliefs about a wrathful, judgmental God have been ingrained into the human psyche and have convinced us that being spiritual, or worthy of love, means being good. That is, doing what others want us to do. Conforming to external rules and social expectations. Putting others' needs before our own. Sacrificing ourselves. Denying ourselves. Trying to prove ourselves worthy or special.
Most of us have internalized a cold, critical, repressive inner voice - the judgmental god within - that tells us how to behave, constantly criticizes us, keeps our noses to the grindstone, and squashes or denies our true feelings. Since emotions and desires are the language of the soul, this is tantamount to soul murder. To the extent that we give our power to this inner judge, we are tamed and locked away. We feel trapped and disempowered. The shutters of our windows are closed. The inevitable result is anxiety, depression, physical illness, dysfunctional relationships, or a pervasive joylessness that we cannot explain.
Well said, indeed. The judgmental God is probably the most illogical thing in the world, in my opinion.
posted by Yifan at 8:31 PM
3 Comments:
Organised religion - the so-called man-made beliefs and practices - I agree that these have been exploited by those with religious authority to do harm, to repress... but they're inherently a problem with humans, not God. Humans twist and contort "God" to their own ideas of God.
The idea of God as the Judge is perfectly logical. How can a loving God stand by and look on injustice in this world and not judge? Our souls find some comfort when a good judge sentence an evil murderer to prison.
Organised religion - the so-called man-made beliefs and practices - I agree that these have been exploited by those with religious authority to do harm, to repress... but they're inherently a problem with humans, not God. Humans twist and contort "God" to their own ideas of God.
The idea of God as the Judge is perfectly logical. How can a loving God stand by and look on injustice in this world and not judge? Our souls find some comfort when a good judge sentence an evil murderer to prison.
Christine, nice to have you back =). I agree with you to some extent. Yes religions have been exploited by people, and there needs to be some sort of justice in this world. But ultimately, the loving God should be able to forgive every single one of us. Don't underestimate the power of forgiveness - the emotional release that is experienced when you forgive someone whom you've bore a grudge against for a long time is incredible. In the end, we are all a part of God, after all =)
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