Religions of the World

There are thousands of religions and sub-religions around the globe. Religion is as much a cultural characteristic as diet, music, and other wonderful traditions. Religion has been the impetus of many great developments in art, music, architecture, and literature-- to name a few-- throughout human history. It has commissioned for us the Sistine Chapel, the Taj Mahal, and the great Buddhas.

At its best religion offers community, morality, comfort and hope. At its worst, however, religion contributes to war, conflict, violence, intolerance, hate, and suffering. We must ask ourselves: do the benefits truly outweigh the limitations? More importantly, are the benefits of religion a uniquely religious offering? Can we not find community, morality, comfort and hope elsewhere, such as from family, friends, science, and introspection? As it has been so eloquently expressed before, 'religion does not have a monopoly on morality."

Organized religions are often exclusive-- from the perspective of a Christian the Muslim is indeed wrong and vice-versa. There is a logical fallacy at play here. If I happen to be born into a Christian culture odds are I will 'accept Jesus Christ as my savior'. If I am born into an Islamic culture chances are I will grow up to follow the prophet Muhammad. And thus it is more or less a game of chance: if Islam is 'right', Christians lose; conversely, if Christianity is 'the one true religion', the life of a Muslim has been spent in vain. (I am using only the two most popular religions in this example for the sake of simplicity, but the principals are universal)

Perhaps the principle of 'freedom of religion' should be augmented to include 'freedom from religion'. Furthermore, it is absolutely inexcusable and morally reprehensible any time religion or its progeny interfere in the lives of others to their disservice or detriment.