What do you feel about religion? Do you feel that religion is mind controlling, a chain that is placed on humanity made by other humans, or do you feel it is the true way of “life” maybe a “sacred” path, a path that will lead you to eternity in a place of non “suffering.”
This article will present MY (keyword my) ideas on religion, as an atheist.
First, I want to point out that you must read this article with the reminder that I myself have a bias, so nothing I say is considered “factual;” it’s all just my interpretation with my own background knowledge. Religion can be seen as humanity’s most basic moral compass, a structure created not to worship gods but to prevent chaos and madness.
Let us use an analogy. Imagine there are two murderers. One a Christian and the other one which is an atheist. Which do you think would be easier to change?
The Christian already stands before a system that condemns their action with fear. Their mind carries the fear of judgment, and guilt before God. Including centuries of teaching that declare murder a sin, but even if they stray from the path there exist a road back toward “redemption.”
The atheist, however, may possess “morality” but morality based on what? Without a higher structure like religion one often becomes self defined. If a person alone decides what is right and wrong, then under enough pressure, desire or even hatred they may reshape that self defined morality to justify themself. In such a world the individual becomes his own god and sacred text.
Fredrich Nietzsche, and his ideas about religion, resonate with me. The philosopher once declared, “God is dead.” Many misunderstood this statement. Nietzsche was not celebrating the “death” of god like a victor of a war, but he was warning us, warning humanity.
For centuries religion acted as the paradise above civilization. It gave meaning to the suffering. laws to the tyrant of the times, and a purpose to the peasant, hope to the dying. Whether god truly exist mattered less than the fact that society believed he did. To make this inspiration simpler, I am saying God doesn’t need to exist, as long as the society follows the “good” moral compass that is given and made from this God.
But as science advanced, modernity, and ideas spread, humans began severing itself from faith. The old religious God faded. Temples became museums and prayer became superstition. Man ascended the throne once reserved for heaven. Mankind started making their own laws. This isn’t even what Nietzsche feared the most, he feared what was gonna happen next.
Whats gonna happen when humanity finally “killed” God. People do not become free from the law of heaven. The world’s morals would become like a void.
Without higher meaning people begin drifting like athletes who lost their talent. The money people gain replaces the pride they hold. The discipline that came with their responsibility gets replaced by pleasure. Pride they hold gets replaced with humility. Society gains “power” but loses spirit.
Lets look at the modern world. People possess more comfort than ancient kings, yet they suffer from anxiety and loneliness. The idea of “nihilism” would spread like a virus, as there would be nothing that matters to people. Man may have conquered the external aspect of life, but they become a stranger to what would be right or wrong.
Arrogance of modern man.
Modern society often mocks believers as STUPID, WEAK, and MIND CONTROLLED. Yet this arrogance to the believer itself reveals a deeper weakness. Many atheists, including the old me, believed destroying religion automatically creates a more rational world. History says otherwise. When faith disappears, ideology often takes it places. Political movements (the Democrat versus the Republican), nationalism (the Nazis), celebrity worship (Michael Jackson, Kpop), and consumerism becomes the new religion wearing different robes.
Human being which are social creature crave meaning as naturally as king seeks immortality
If they abandon the heavens they worship something else.
That is why the death of God did not create a world free from worship, it merely created a world where people worship something else money, status, pleasure, looks, and themself.
And unlike the gods we had, these new “gods” demand endless consumption while offering no salvation. These new gods need you to eat, eat, eat, horde, horde, horde, don’t think just consume. The new god is a never ending banquet just eat yourself to death.
Why religion still matters
I do not believe society needs religion because every religious claim is true, what I believe is that society needs religion because human are imperfect.
Most religion, or the most popular ones, teach restraint in an age where everyone is addicted to self indulgence. It teaches sacrifice in a world obsessed with self interested. It teaches humility in a civilization drowning in ego.
Even if one reject the existence of God, you can’t easily dismiss the civilizational power religion created.
A society without any higher ideal or moral eventually begins worshiping the man, and when millions worship themself, society fractures into tribes of desire, each proclaiming its own truth (meaning you worship different stuff, like how most atheistic teenagers think money or looks are everything).
No tower can stand forever upon such an unstable foundation.
Final thought
As a non believer, or as people call it, an atheist, I do not kneel before “heaven.” But I cannot deny the role of religion in building morality, community, and meaning- throughout our human history.
Perhaps Fredrich was correct. God is dead.
But humanity has not yet learned how to live without him.
So, maybe until we find something with a stronger foundation than faith or God, don’t disrespect the Muslim, don’t disrespect the Christian, and don’t disrespect the Jewish person. The old temple must continue standing not because “heaven” demands it. Because in a civilization, we still need the shadow of the temples.