RE: Does Religion make you nice?
August 31, 2010 at 6:55 pm
(This post was last modified: August 31, 2010 at 6:57 pm by Entropist.)
The big picture is more than just religion, but the belief in the notion of absolute truth-- that there is such a thing and that one can and does possess it. The more strongly one believes they are in possession of this (religious or otherwise), the more strongly everything is viewed in black and white terms, with no middle ground. The world isn't so simple as that-- one ends up having to fit a lot of square pegs into round holes. Ideology ends up trumping reality. At the extreme end, it results in people being killed, either for their own good or for the good of the ideology.
As far as religion goes, the rise of secularism is the only thing that has really kept it at bay in developed countries (something which the most fanatical resent I imagine). And it has even helped tone down most religious beliefs. For the most fanatical in the developed world, their bark is worse than their bite (and perhaps most (though still not all) of them don't have the courage to truly act on their convictions.
Of course, their was a belief in absolute truth that motivated Christians like MLK or Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But by and large, the notion of possessing absolute truth ends by appealing to the more cruel aspects of human nature, rather than focusing simply on empathy (metaphysics not required).
But these are the more extreme cases. Coming back down to the boring ordinary world, I think religion has a tendency to encourage hypocrisy. This is in part because of the nature of religion, but also of course, because of human nature. Human beings lie to themselves, propping up their own image, patting themselves on the back and so on (even many animals do this in their own social setting). Religion only amplifies this natural tendency. Looking back on Jesus' tirades against the Pharisees (according to the gospel accounts) should it be any surprise that Christians today inherited the same traits? This isn't because Christians have failed to live up to Jesus' standards, but rather it is part and parcel of the belief in absolute truth.
Shorter version: If someone NEEDS religion to be nice, your doing it wrong.
As far as religion goes, the rise of secularism is the only thing that has really kept it at bay in developed countries (something which the most fanatical resent I imagine). And it has even helped tone down most religious beliefs. For the most fanatical in the developed world, their bark is worse than their bite (and perhaps most (though still not all) of them don't have the courage to truly act on their convictions.
Of course, their was a belief in absolute truth that motivated Christians like MLK or Dietrich Bonhoeffer. But by and large, the notion of possessing absolute truth ends by appealing to the more cruel aspects of human nature, rather than focusing simply on empathy (metaphysics not required).
But these are the more extreme cases. Coming back down to the boring ordinary world, I think religion has a tendency to encourage hypocrisy. This is in part because of the nature of religion, but also of course, because of human nature. Human beings lie to themselves, propping up their own image, patting themselves on the back and so on (even many animals do this in their own social setting). Religion only amplifies this natural tendency. Looking back on Jesus' tirades against the Pharisees (according to the gospel accounts) should it be any surprise that Christians today inherited the same traits? This isn't because Christians have failed to live up to Jesus' standards, but rather it is part and parcel of the belief in absolute truth.
Shorter version: If someone NEEDS religion to be nice, your doing it wrong.
“Society is not a disease, it is a disaster. What a stupid miracle that one can live in it.” ~ E.M. Cioran
