DOES RELIGION ADAPT TO MODERN TIMES
The human race’s origin seems to be in Africa, spread to Asia and then to the rest of the world. Some of the early ideas seem to be common to all peoples of the world. They probably started long before written history and were passed on to many generations through story telling, song, dance and poems. They were subject to the usual distortions exaggerations, and embellishments that are common in this method of passing on knowledge.
Religion seems to be the result of Mankind wanting to explain the nature of the world around them. The random nature of events happening in the world, made for a very frightening and insecure life. Religion, trying to explain what was going on, gave people some feeling of security and probably was a powerful force of survival of the tribe. Religion is very persistent and still is a powerful force for many people to help them feel more secure in a very uncertain existence. By now, however, it has sometimes become a negative force. We do not live any more in isolated tribes who think that their beliefs are the only worthwhile ones and that any other beliefs from a different tribe are a danger to their own existence. It was my hope that education about the findings of modern science would make religion obsolete and Mankind would come together and develop methods and morals to live together in peace and harmony while become less reliant on the crutch of outdated religions to cope with living as a human being.
To the dismay of many people however, religion seem to be such a powerful force that many well-educated people still cling to it to feel secure in the world in spite of all the contradictions and myths that every religion contains. It seems that the concept of randomness in the development of the universe and the fact that life is the result of the infinite combinations of nature’s “laws” is still very disturbing to many people who want to believe that there is another purpose in life than just the chance development of the innumerable permutations of nature’s forces.
Looking at all the religions of the world we can see that religious laws were successful in developing the means of living together in a tribe, how to prevent food poisoning and venereal diseases for example {forbidden food & sex practices) and by demanding strict loyalty when defending the tribe. However, in this modern age and in the light of new knowledge, being stuck in the past and not adapting the successful “rules” while discarding the obsolete ones for the “global tribe” has resulted in intolerance of other “tribes” with very often fatal results.
The ancient “books” were written in a different time when knowledge was not as evolved as now. All the translations and the different interpretations of the old texts are also educated guesses. Languages change and many words cannot be taken literally since we don’t know what their real meaning were at the time they were first written. For example, any expressions used in today’s language are not to be taken literally either, such as “I got that from the horse’s mouth” when we mean “heard it from the best source”. We don’t know what the writers meant exactly thousands of years ago. We don’t lack interpreters however who will extract from these ancient text the meanings that suit their opinions and then claim that their interpretations are unquestionable since they emanate from a fantasized supernatural all-knowing authority.
Religion seems to be the result of Mankind wanting to explain the nature of the world around them. The random nature of events happening in the world, made for a very frightening and insecure life. Religion, trying to explain what was going on, gave people some feeling of security and probably was a powerful force of survival of the tribe. Religion is very persistent and still is a powerful force for many people to help them feel more secure in a very uncertain existence. By now, however, it has sometimes become a negative force. We do not live any more in isolated tribes who think that their beliefs are the only worthwhile ones and that any other beliefs from a different tribe are a danger to their own existence. It was my hope that education about the findings of modern science would make religion obsolete and Mankind would come together and develop methods and morals to live together in peace and harmony while become less reliant on the crutch of outdated religions to cope with living as a human being.
To the dismay of many people however, religion seem to be such a powerful force that many well-educated people still cling to it to feel secure in the world in spite of all the contradictions and myths that every religion contains. It seems that the concept of randomness in the development of the universe and the fact that life is the result of the infinite combinations of nature’s “laws” is still very disturbing to many people who want to believe that there is another purpose in life than just the chance development of the innumerable permutations of nature’s forces.
Looking at all the religions of the world we can see that religious laws were successful in developing the means of living together in a tribe, how to prevent food poisoning and venereal diseases for example {forbidden food & sex practices) and by demanding strict loyalty when defending the tribe. However, in this modern age and in the light of new knowledge, being stuck in the past and not adapting the successful “rules” while discarding the obsolete ones for the “global tribe” has resulted in intolerance of other “tribes” with very often fatal results.
The ancient “books” were written in a different time when knowledge was not as evolved as now. All the translations and the different interpretations of the old texts are also educated guesses. Languages change and many words cannot be taken literally since we don’t know what their real meaning were at the time they were first written. For example, any expressions used in today’s language are not to be taken literally either, such as “I got that from the horse’s mouth” when we mean “heard it from the best source”. We don’t know what the writers meant exactly thousands of years ago. We don’t lack interpreters however who will extract from these ancient text the meanings that suit their opinions and then claim that their interpretations are unquestionable since they emanate from a fantasized supernatural all-knowing authority.