This is an opinion piece on the role of religion in humanity’s collective history. It is not meant to demean or diminish any religion; all of them are monumental pillars of human thought.
Religion has been part of Earth’s culture since the dawn of our species, with the earliest traces dating to Neanderthals leaving flowers and talismans in the graves of their loved ones. Since then, humanity has come a long way in the way we express our thoughts and beliefs. From the grandiose churches of Christianity, the hallowed mosques of Islam, the majestic mandirs of Hinduism, the imposing pagodas of Buddhism, to the monumental synagogues of Judaism. None of the modern-day symbols of faith feels mortal in any sense of the word. In the end, though, every belief system begins and survives within human thought itself.
But how did we get here from simple burials, and why did we get here?
The history of early religion is one often shrouded in controversy and debate. It grows increasingly difficult to analyze and understand the chronological order of these structures of thought, the farther back in time they come from. The following paragraph is what is widely believed.
Although belief in the supernatural precedes this timeline, the first evidence of organized, written religion comes from the Sumerians from 3000 to 2000 BCE. They believed in the existence of many gods, ranging from An, the God of the Skies, to Ereshkigal, the Ruler of the Underworld. The first traces of monotheism (the belief in one singular God) can be found in a small period in Egypt’s history when the pharaoh Akhenaten tried to replace Egypt’s polytheism with his own religion, Atenism, which believed in the existence of a Sun God Aten above all. Later, around 1200 to 600 BCE, the Israelites started to increasingly worship Yahweh, which later developed into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Still, before religion became architecture, written doctrine, or organized institutions, it started as an individual belief within a human mind. The temples and holy books came later; the thought came first.
History is already hard enough to compile. Figuring out the motives for creating religions is even harder. Even today, modern people have their different outlook on religion, with the extremes being those who think that religion is government control and should be banned, as well as the fanatics who are willing to burn those who don’t believe on a stake. My opinion is that early religion was either created by those who truly believed in it or a calculated attempt for power. Early civilization was brutal, even up to the Middle Ages; 50 percent of kids died before reaching 5. It’s entirely possible that someone who merely had a brutal hallucination went insane and started speaking about what they thought they saw to anyone who would hear. In a desperate time like that, many people would probably buy in, as would I. Another scenario is that someone realized what power belief held. That if they could get people to believe in their made-up stories, they could control their behavioral patterns, their culture, and their resources.
Personally, I don’t lean towards either possibility; both are equally realistic scenarios, and no credible evidence can show either scenario winning out. The first motives for religion aren’t really that important, though, in the grand scheme of things. What people really care about is whether or not religion has value and if it is disproportionately benefiting different groups of people.
Those questions are ones that hold the most controversy, and that really gets people online and in person riled up. Writing this has forced me to choose my words very carefully, as anyone should when touching on serious topics, and this is my analysis. Any organization that has the potential to affect three-quarters of the world will have some amount of corruption involved. The same idea applies to governments, universities, and even charities. You wouldn’t necessarily say the automobile industry is corrupt even if a nepo baby managed to become a CEO. Considering the scale and the profit involved with organized religion (1.2 trillion dollars annually in the USA), such a massive industry can’t have zero corruption.
There is no definitive evidence that shows organized religion is disproportionately more corrupt than other institutions. When approaching the question of corruption in religion, one needs to account for both the altruistic and the greedy, but there is truly no credible way to figure out what profits were made with money or the good of the people in mind.
I won’t address whether or not religion is corrupt because while there definitely is some, that isn’t enough to condemn anything, since the world itself, in any aspect of it, has corruption on some level and scale. Corruption is ultimately a human problem before it is a religious one, because institutions only reflect the people who shape them.
The second question that gets people heated is whether or not religion has value. Certain atheists often cite recent scientific advancements as direct proof that religion is fake and thus has zero value. As an atheist myself, I don’t really agree with that sentiment. Something can be fake and still hold value. Many of the people I talk to who believe in religion usually use it as a moral compass and as a way to monitor themselves. That is something everyone should have, no matter whether you think a divine being is looking from above or not. Religion also gives people extra purpose and motivation that they can use in their own lives. Many people who are religious around me often cite that the reason they have faith in themselves is that God believes in them. It isn’t something that I directly agree with, but it is something that I see positively affecting people. Confidence doesn’t always have to come from religion, and it definitely doesn’t always instill that same kind of confidence and drive in everyone, but I have seen its positive effects on many people.
Another argument people use to nullify religion is the changing moral standards we have. Traditional faith is, well, traditional for lack of a better word. Many LGBTQ+ communities find themselves ostracized by archaic religious dogmas, and that is something that I do believe religion needs to address. People should indeed have a moral compass beyond an old book and a system of thought created thousands or even tens of thousands of years ago. When society starts to drift away from religion, society should come first. Religion shouldn’t become an excuse to foster negative, unfounded opinions on anyone, nor should its believers be actively shunned. Religion indeed has its flaws, but the idea that it can’t change along with society is pessimistic.
It feels contradictory that the thought systems written into the walls of holy structures and holy books can be simply altered without destroying the core meaning behind them. But that’s when the title of this article comes into play: Sanctity Of A Mind. Real religion, true faith, isn’t held within a church, mosque, synagogue, mandir, or pagoda. Neither is confidence nor a moral compass. All of these things live nowhere else but each human’s individual holy mind. Although the words written in stone will stay in stone, the way it imprints itself on our collective minds is something we can control. We shouldn’t have to abide by every line of text in our holy books to be considered a believer. Nor should we.
Instead, I implore everyone to believe in what they want to believe in. No one has the right to tell you what you should believe in. Religion is a valuable expression of human thought, but it also shouldn’t be the only one. The most valuable expression of human thought is your own. Protect the Sanctity of your mind first and foremost, and don’t attack other people’s Sanctity without harsh consideration.
