Religion and Philosophy

As a High School student facing the trials and tribulations of everyday life, and, for the first time, opening my eyes to the world around me, I feel that it’s appropriate to question not just my place in my school, family, and government, but also question my existence and question the metaphysical world outside the grasp of my human intellect. I’m certainly not arrogant enough to assume that I can conceptualize the existence of God; however, I feel that God as an organization, God as a political justification and coercive force, is a dangerous solution to (and perhaps perpetuating force for) human ignorance and confusion. Organized religion emanates, in my most humble opinion, impulses of fear, impulses of conceit, and impulses of intolerance. I am at a crossroads in my life, so I put out the question to anyone willing to answer: why should I submit myself to organized religion?

I’m certainly no religious scholar, nor do I attempt to be one. However, it seems that religion as an institution is an establishment built on the pillars of fear: fear of the unknown and fear of damnation. How can any religious ideology preach superlative humanity when they sponsor the notion of eternal damnation? I believe that punishment for sin, fundamentally, is dignified sadism, and a very detrimental moral conception. It's clear that sin begets ignorance of all types, especially a particularly dangerous sexual ignorance. Do those who sin through sex deserve to die from AIDS? Finally, how can a society based around fear also be a society based around happiness and morality?

Additionally, conceit is an emotional impulse inherent with religion. With all the matter in this world, all the worlds within our galaxy, and all the galaxies within our universe, why, by any means, would a God so expansive care about an infinitely small collection of organic matter such as the human race? Bertrand Russell asks this question well: Does man make himself the arbiter of the morality of each ant within an anthill? The answer, of course, is no; the ant within an anthill would be misguided assume that man cares about his virtues. Why then is mankind’s existence any different in the eyes of God?

Finally, I feel that organized religion emanates intolerance by preaching the ideals of universal righteousness. A group bound by righteousness intrinsically assumes that those who do not submit themselves to those "righteous" guidelines are wrong. Morality, as defined by organizers of great religious movements, is not based around human happiness, but based around parameters defined by righteous behavior. Does the suppression of knowledge (often deemed righteous by organized religion) lead to happiness or does it lead to suffering? I feel it leads the the latter. Ignorance, in my opinion, is never moral or righteous; however, many organizers of religion strongly disagree.

Religious institutions, now particularly, play a role in our government and dictate the morality or our national policy. Secularism, if not through personal ideology, is a mandatory facet of this nation’s political ideology, lest we submit ourselves, on a national scale, to intolerance justified by religious “righteousness”.

As a secular Progressive writing a political blog, do I puff up my chest and bravely (even proudly) renounce the existence of god? Certainly not. Instead, I question my life and I question my connection with God, existent or not. I am proud to be in the United States, and I am proud to be Jewish. Some of the most moral and kind people I know fear God and love their religion, and that’s honorable. They aren’t wrong, because they are tolerant to others and tolerant of themselves, and becuase I don't believe that I'm necessarily right. Life, it seems, is too abstruse an idea to standardize, and God, it seems, is too important of a concept to accept without question. Comments are welcome!