Religion: Clash of the Titans: Faith vs Reason  

By SADHU VISHWAMURTIDAS  

“All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance and ferocity,” said the French materialist phi-losopher Baron d’Holbach. Religion has been described as the root of human misery and conflict - that more people have been killed in the name of God than in any other cause.

In Europe, between the years 1300 and 1900, the Church repressed scientific discoveries like those of Copernicus and Galileo because they contradicted the Biblical view of the universe. So western intellectuals and scientists resolved to share with the world the truths revealed by their equations and experiments. As it became more verifiable, science came to be accepted; eventually, science acquired a certain authority over matters material.

The new era came to be known as the era of enlightenment. Science also gave birth to mechanisation, new instrumentation, medicines, the steam and petrol engine, and modern transport vehicles ranging from the automobile to the aeroplane, to the space shuttle. Science, it seems, has given us more to make us happier in the last 100 years than religion has in the past 2,000 years. Then why do we need religion? Why do we need rituals, services and prayers?

Prominent deistic and atheistic philosophers and thinkers of Europe like Voltaire, Rousseau, Lessing and Diderot in the 17th century set out their own Holy Grail - the complete overthrow of the then corrupt Roman Catholic Church. Benevolences, witch-hunting and the burning of innocent women at the stake and the official approval of the infamous slaughter of 25,000 Christian protestants on St Bartholomew’s Day, got too much for the thinking elite. They rallied political support of the philosopher kings of the time, and the people to “crush the infamy” through the power of rationalism. And they did it.

Within a decade and a half, the church was shown its place. To provide moral and ethical guidance to the people, the philosophers introduced catechism which taught the people the ideals of altruism, charity and kindness. Yet, that period turned out to be the most immoral in the entire history of Europe: anarchy, violence, theft and promiscuity became the norm. Without religion it was impossible to convince peasants and other less fortunate people to accept their lot and work for the rest of their lives as mere labourers for the rich and pompous landlords.

Since there was no longer a utopian afterlife to look forward to - in which all are equal or the wicked punished and the meek and humble richly rewarded, the only promise of heaven was the one they could create here on earth. Naturally, the peasants revolted against the landlords and all people in general - peasants and bourgeois alike - discarded morality in a bid to enjoy as many sensual pleasures as possible before they died.

The bottom line is, a philosophy of pure materialism can never truly uphold an ethic - any ethic. A belief in morality entails a belief in some sort of spiritualism. As the celebrated German philo- sopher Immanuel Kant clearly showed in his Moral Argument, without God’s existence or life after death, nothing matters. There can be no such thing as right or wrong. The most rational mode of living would be “survival of the fittest”. What is it to be, asks Kant - murder or morality? If you believe in morality, no purely materialistic attitude or philosophy can support it for long.

A spiritual outlook is a must. Religion has never been the root of man’s miseries. The problem with man has been man. Religion is but an instrument; man its wielder. Like any instrument or organisation, religion can be misused. But, with religion there exists an agonising and eternal irony: it is the only path to transform the materialists who abuse it.

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See also: Religion, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)