A few weeks ago I discussed how the religions of the earliest colonial settlers in Plymouth and Jamestown formed part of the irrational violence which descended on the indigenous populations. I did not mean to leave the impression that all religion is destructive. On the contrary, religion is no doubt the greatest humanizing, justice and peace oriented force the world knows. It has often been described as the protective veneer over the inhumanity of any civilization without it.
· Hospitals, schools and universities,
· Refuges for the least able.
· Charitable institutions of all sorts.
· Powerful advocacy for non-violence and peace, the protection of children, the struggles for the rights of women, racial minorities and workers.
All this and much more are all part of the consistent emphases of the world’s religions. None of us would really want to live in a culture without some religious motivation.
A question with which I have struggled for many years is why religion may at times be a great positive force, and why at other times a great negative force. What makes the difference?
Let’s look at what might make religion go sour and emerge as a destructive force in society. Consider these examples of the worst cultural episodes.
· The Crusades
· The Inquisition
· The Salem witch trials
· Slavery in the United States
· Segregation and the KKK-North and South
· Apartheid in South Africa
· Nazism
· ISIS and Islamic terrorism
· Israeli treatment of the Palestinians
Add your own examples to that list
Is there any obvious religious perspective common to all those historic developments? While there are undoubtedly other common factors, all of the above were or are dominated by a very conservative religious perspective. By that I mean a religion that claims to have the exclusive possession of God’s truth, and brands all those outside that boundary as “infidels” or “the lost” or some other designation that writes them off. In each of these examples, religion soured society by dividing the righteous from everyone else. This is not to say that religious fundamentalism is always destructive, but a fundamentalism that identifies all those outside the particular belief system as eternally damned has poisoned any benevolence such cultures might otherwise embody.
At other times society has been ennobled by religious passion. Consider the following:
· The abolition of slavery
· The Civil Rights movement
· Child welfare
· Witness for peace and disarmament
· Women’s suffrage
· Social Security
· GLBT rights
· Support for the least advantaged
· Medicare
· Unionization and a call for a living wage
· Support of the United Nations
· Interfaith dialogue
· Concern for the environment, with particular focus on climate change
Religion was and is substantially involved in the creation of each of these humanizing episodes. But what kind of religion? A religion that is welcoming, inclusive, focused on the rights and well-being of all of God’s children, protective of the natural order, open to affirming those of other faith convictions.
At the same time religious fundamentalism, backed up by political conservatives, has consistently fought every one of these advances. I must conclude that it makes a great deal of difference whether one’s religious perspective is fundamentalistic and exclusive, or progressive and open to a wider notion of what makes for a benevolent, just and more peaceful world—or what God wants the world to look like. In this column I take no position on the religious truth or falsity of any perspective. However in our era it is clear that much of American Christianity has aligned itself with a conservative political posture which has sought to halt the quest for a more just society and a more peaceful world. If you long for that kind of a world, be careful what sort of religion you affirm. It makes a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment