August 19, 2007
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Modern Religious Practices
1. Many modern Religions attempt to control all or most of the aspects of member's lives and often attempt to impinge on the lives of non-members using obscure parts of their Dogma as justification.
Is this phenomena growing? Why? What is the moral justification for this?This is one of the discussion topics for Socrates_Cafe this week.
Religion is a basic human social institution and has existed in every human culture known. It is the framework for giving humans a feeling of security in a dangerous world as well as some assurance that they are not alone, that some one or some thing with more power than they have is watching over them, and that force (often called God) understands the incomprehensible. Religion takes many forms but an almost universal belief is that my culture's religion is a better more correct religion than any other.
In modern times the Mediterranean religions based on ancient Hebrew beliefs have dominated the world. The big three, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all agree on basic Dogma: that there is One God who controls the universe.
They disagree rather violently on the details of the nature of the God and the God's relationship to humans; most particularly on the revelation of the God's plan.
Since this is such a basic human cultural understanding, the religious leaders; priests, rabbis, mullahs, shamans, whatever, have often been the most important and controlling forces in the cultures; and often that power has been used for political purposes having little to do with the basic purposes of their religion.
In almost every religion at some time or other the prophetic teachings refer to other competing religions and warn members about their dangers as well as the dangers of heresy and apostasy. In modern times, religion and religious leaders have lost much of their political power, especially in Western Culture, but some of them have seized on partial or obscure interpretations of basic dogma to whip their followers into violent action or to enforce compliance with the modern leader's political ideas and whims.
As there is more evidence of strict regulation and competition in the Old Testament, some modern Christian leaders have gone there to find justification for their preachings. In Islam the urgency of struggle against the infidels is more obvious, the Ninth Surah of the Koran can be interpreted to provide ample justification for just about any action against non-believers the Radical Islamist desires.
A few years ago it seemed that the world had moved beyond the rather primitive struggles and competition of various religions. Their influence seemed to be restricted to moral behavior, but as the world grows smaller, there has been more and more culture clash and this basic human value system conflict is once again dominating the world's politics.
Comments (12)
I have to wonder if the ideas of democracy in western society are the reason for the popularity of so many "liberal" branches of the various religions. We certainly have our fundamentalists, but the majority of the population seems to be in a non-orthodox sect of some sort or other. Most of the Jews I know don't keep kosher - most of the Christians I know don't go to church - and the Muslims I know have all been pretty moderate and "westernized." I've seen plenty of fundies, but even here in the Bible Belt, they seem to be the minority.
The correlation is also interesting that it seems to be the fundamentalists who always want to hijack government. The more restrictive the denomination, the more restrictions its followers seem to want to impose on other people. Misery loves company, maybe?
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It's the "basic human social institution" part of it that interests me. Religion is where spirituality becomes institutionalized, and while that does definitely create a sense of community and security it's also particularly open to becoming incredibly restrictive, probably because the stakes are so high with the concepts behind it. It seems a lot easier to be that controlling when you can lay claim to some supposed universal good-- like Tradition, or The People, or God (which I find all get appeals from the most restrictive religions, which have as much to do with politics as spirituality, imho.) People have sought to control each other like this as far back as I've read in history; doesn't seem to be anything novel. It seems to shift faces on occasion, is all. If there's any more of it now, it might be that the relative security of a group with "answers" is a more pressing need now that we have so much connection with each other and information about potential dangers. But I'm honestly not so sure that there is any significant increase or decrease in it. People seem to like cults quite a bit, from fun ones to dangerous ones and in between, no matter what the time period. Maybe we're secretly herding animals.
Human herd instinct is no secret!
Four or five hundred years ago Western Culture underwent the "Enlightenment" - basically the idea that rational thought and the Scientific Method explained the universe more satisfactorily than the predominate religions which were locked in a vicious political struggle and literally killing each other.
This attitude led to the West dominating the world and it's only in the past hundred years or so that the non-western world has gained enough power to seriously compete with us. Our major competitor is probably China - a country which only has to overcome the dogma of communism, which it is doing very rapidly.
China has not been a religiously dominated culture for many centuries and attempts in modern times to impose religious dogmatism on them have universally failed, excepting maybe communism - which is a special case.
The Islamic world is another case. Its oil riches have given some parts of it a lot of political power, but the Radical Islamists have managed to raise the ire of the western world just at the time when oil reserves seem to be drying up and alternative energy sources becoming more important.
Religion will remain a fundamental part of our psyche, but its purpose will probably become more and more moral guidance and less and less dogmatic.
I'm not sure that I would put belief in God in the category of Dogma. There are, afterall, many who believe in the existance of God, but who do not belong to any particular religious organization. Dogma seems to me to relate to doctrines that relate to matters such as morality, faith, and beliefs that are presented in an authoritative manner and which are unique to that organization.
Belief in and definition of God/Goddess/Gods/Great Spirit? etc, is certainly basic dogma of all ( or at least most) religious groups. One of the larger non-Mediterranean Religions (Buddhism) has no definition of or belief in any all-powerful God, though some parts of it do acknowledge guardian spirits.
I think i modern America and other parts of western culture, there are many people who have a vague belief and understanding of "God" as well as many who have made a serious study of "God" but who do not subscribe to any organized religion. When asked, over 80% of Americans say they believe in God, but only about half acknowledge church membership.
I have a friend who is an outspoken militant atheist - he even objects to people saying grace at any meal he shares - and will rather impolitely announce his objections.
Is his very firm, loudly announced set of beliefs "religious" in nature? I've found this question reduces him to incoherence - for a short period
I know this was forever and a year ago but the debate on abortion is now posted on my site. Thank you for your patience. Phone companies and rural Ohio don't always mix, leaving some bloggers (ME!) stranded away from the internet for months at a time.
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Questions are posted from elabracon. Feel free to answer and offer closing statements.
Also you two are more then welcome to continue debating. I will post as much as you guys type in the post.
Hi tychecat! RYC and responded
Thanks for participating in the debate. It looks like elabracon has finished his arguments. Both of you did an excellent job and presented your cases very well. I look forward to future debates, if you would be willing to participate. Peace and thanks again.
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