Religion

"My effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith."

—Gandhi

Where we stand on religion 

Religion is probably the most controversial of all subjects, and to say anything at all about it is to offend some, and possibly many, people. For this reason, there have always been those who feel that it's a subject better avoided. However, that's not our view here. If we're going to talk about values, it simply isn't a subject that can be avoided. We believe that reasoned, and respectful, discussion of any subject should be possible between people of good will, and we also believe that most people are, in fact, both reasonable and of good will, at least in their better moments.

Reasonable people can agree to disagree. And indeed they must, because even within religions there are inevitably disagreements, and the primary alternative to discussion is violence of one kind or another.

In general, we have little interest in either attacking or condemning points of view that are different from our own, and would prefer to draw attention to what we feel are the positive contributions of other viewpoints instead. However, we also feel that active avoidance of controversy is both dishonest and unhealthy. So in what follows, we'll try to walk a fine line between causing gratuitous offense and calling 'em like we see 'em. The task is somewhat thankless, but unavoidable.

Perspective

 The world today is occupied by some 6.2 billion individuals. The majority of these individuals hold, or at least avow, whatever religious beliefs are most common in their society. Unfortunately, to do otherwise is often to run the risk of one form of persecution or another. Moreover, no culture actively encourages equal exposure to all of the major religions of the world, so that few people encounter ideas outside of their cultural mainstream during their formative years. (Number of adherents, by religion, worldwide) Indeed, many religions, fearful of the spiritual well-being of the faithful—and perhaps also fearful of a loss of prestige and/or money—actively discourage the study of other points of view.

Obviously, one is unlikely to hold a religious belief one has never been exposed to. Thus, religious conviction is rarely a matter of careful evaluation of all of the major religious positions, and probably never a matter of careful evaluation of all religious views. It is, rather, more a matter of acculturation, or active indoctrination, rather like the acquisition of a language. Because they are usually acquired at an early age, and become progressively integrated with one's value system, religious beliefs tend to become an integral part of one's identity, and challenges to these beliefs are often experienced as painfully disorienting. This is unfortunate, as all of the world's religions have something to offer, just as all exhibit deficiencies.

Though there is a good bit of agreement concerning basic ethics among the major religious traditions, many of their theological tenets are mutually exclusive—that is, contradictory. This means that they can't all be right (though they could all be wrong). Deciding which, if any, is correct is no easy task.

In our view, the study of world religions can be very richly rewarding where issues concerning human psychology, the purpose of human existence, ethics, and even politics are concerned, but discussion of theology often has an abritrary quality to it, and usually has much less merit. [For an opposing point of view, see Huston Smith's "The World's Religions", reviewed below.] The reason for this is that divine beings don't present themselves for scientific study—they can't be seen, or heard, or felt, and since there's nothing concrete available for everyone to refer to, agreement will always be elusive.

Despite this reservation, we strongly commend the study of all the world religions to believers and secularists alike for the following reasons:

• For insight into the meaning of life, morality, human psychology and politics.
• To escape the confinement of training in a single religious tradition, and to forestall fanaticism.
• What amounts to the same thing, to encourage tolerance and understanding.
• To provide greater insight into world history and culture.
• To arrive at a religious faith, if this is one's ultimate choice, based upon a fair hearing of all points of view.

To view recommended reading, go to Religion: A Field Guide 

To view a more general discussion of religion and values, go to: Values

To better understand the relationship between Humanism and religion, see the linked diagram and explanation.