Religion

 

I was reading a blog by Mark Morford of the San Francisco Gate.  I love reading his column and always enjoy his perspective. The premise is that religion is the root of all evil in humanity and will ultimate be our undoing


Of course, this got me to thinking. 

It's not the religion.  It's the people. The natural instincts of humans toward “us vs. them”.   At one time in the savannas of Africa that instinct served us well for survival. In fact, our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, chimpanzees have been known to murder in anger (not just kill for food) and go to war with other groups over territory.  If every church were eliminated from the planet tomorrow.  We will still war over natural resources, find ways to alienate each other.   The highly enlightened progressives vs. the ignorant rednecks.  The patriotic Americans vs. the Socialists.  Civilized society vs. barbarism.  Us vs. them in many forms would still be with us.  It is ingrained in our animal brains, our DNA.

More specifically, Orthodoxy poisons the well of religion. Devout Buddhists are slaughtering ethnic Muslims in Myanmar, Orthodox Jews throw rocks at people driving on the Sabbath.  We all know what A-holes orthodox Christians can be.  Animal rights people throw blood at people that don’t agree with them.  If you even hint that you support vaccines or circumcision, “Crunchy Moms” are all over you like white on organic rice.  Ultra-right wingers – D*cks!  Ultra-left wing...wear you down with debate till you cry "Uncle".  Orthodoxy in any dogma (religious or no) is bad news.  Our minds tend toward dogma but we are evolving

From the dawn of human civilization, we have had the mystics and prophet pointing us in another direction and using organized modes of worship to attempt to show us how to rise above our lizard brains.  We corrupt them that is what we do.  It hasn't been that long in our evolution that we branched off from our monkey cousins.   But I will be willing to bet that the great Apes don't have a concept of human (for want of a better term) rights, of the sanctity of life or spirituality.  So, we are evolving into mindful beings.

Mindfulness, ceremony, gathering together in prayer, community, being called to higher form of consciousness, seeing the divine in all human beings and all living things will help us combat our "natural" tendency to split into different clubs…can help call us to the better angels of our nature.  Organized religions aren't necessary for that but they can help.