There
are all manner of things people believe about religion that at root
are confusions of one kind or another. Here are ten typical examples:
1. Science has
superseded religion
Modern science is an
empirical research programme. Religions are traditional beliefs and
stories concerning metaphysics and ethics. So to say science has
superseded religion is rather like saying the space shuttle has
superseded sausages.
2. Religions are founded upon immutable dogmas
Anyone trying to make this
claim has to explain how it can be that the beliefs and practices of Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and so forth have changed so radically over the past few millennia. The relationship between static dogmas and the religions they have accreted from are like fossil creatures compared to their living animal relatives. No tradition begins set in stone (the Ten Commandments not withstanding!).
3. Either one or zero
religions are true
While there is clearly an
orthodox belief that implies this proposition, it is by no means the
only perspective – both Sufi Islam and Hinduism have touted
religious plurality for millennia, for instance. Also, consider that
in science the incompatibility between relativity and quantum
mechanics is not taken to mean that either one or neither model is
true, rather it is assumed future theory will reconcile them –
similarly, no-one can rule out the possibility that multiple
religions might contain key elements of the truth.
4. Religions dictate
hatred for other religions
The distrust or contempt
of outgroups is a part of human psychology independent of religion.
Hatred between nations, ethnicities and even rival sporting allegiances show that this
runs far deeper than traditional belief systems. And of course, the
contempt certain non-religious individuals feel for religious people
underlines this point.
5. The First Amendment
mandates the exclusion of religion
The point of the
establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment to the
constitution of the United States was to prevent government from
interfering with individual liberty in the practice of religion. It
was intended to protect religious rights, not to quash religious
expression.
6. Karma is good
In the oldest Dharmic traditions,
there was no conception of 'good karma' – karma was understood as a
negative consequence of human action. In the image of the Wheel of
Karma, evil deeds caused a giant stone wheel to turn thus crushing humanity
beneath it, and the only way to stop its destruction was for everyone
to avoid causing evil, thus preventing the wheel from turning. This can be interpreted metaphorically rather than metaphysically –
the idea that evil deeds in turn cause further evil to occur can be
grasped intuitively as part of the nature of human interaction, and
is a common theme in global religion (see Galatians 6:7 for the
Christian version).
7. Jihad means holy war
This is only one meaning
of the word, and not even the most relevant to the Muslim faiths. In
fact, 'jihad' literally means “struggle”, and in the Arabic language peacefully-conducted campaigns such as Gandhi's fight for Indian
independence and the women's liberation movement are considered
'jihad'. Even when jihad is taken to mean physical warfare, it's
objective according to the Qu'ran must be to uproot persecution, and the murder of innocents is expressly excluded (see the Qur'an, 5:32).
8. Hinduism is
polytheistic
'Polytheistic' is a term
that Christian scholars used to describe traditional Indian
beliefs that, frankly, they did not fully comprehend. In fact, Hindu
beliefs are predominantly monotheistic or panentheistic (i.e. the divine interpenetrates all of nature, and extends timelessly beyond it), but there
are also pantheistic, polytheistic and indeed atheistic
interpretations. It is a truly diverse collection of beliefs.
9. The Pope cannot make
mistakes
Papal infallibility does
not mean the Pope of the Catholic Church is incapable of mistakes. It
simply means that there is no possibility of error when the Pope
declares new dogma for Catholics. In fact, this tenet is rather
trivial and many Catholic scholars doubt it was necessary to declare
it at all. A gainful comparison can be made with the situation facing
the referee of a sporting match, who is the ultimate authority in
interpreting the rules and could be said to enjoy “umpire
infallibility” (although the umpire, unlike the Pope, cannot declare new rules).
10. The time of
religion has passed
Some post-modernists
proclaim that the age of grand narratives is over, saying that once
we believed in such stories, but now we have moved beyond these
primitive practices. Yet clearly this is also a grand narrative –
once upon a time there was religion, then we lived happily ever
after. Human culture and identity is inextricably intertwined with
its stories, making it highly likely that religion will be part of
human life for as long as our species is around – although what forms our future religions might take is anyone's guess.
