September 1, 2007

• The Nature of Evil

  Socrates Cafe

  1. Many modern Religions attempt to control all or most of the aspects of member’s lives and often attempt to impinge on the lives of non-members using obscure parts of their Dogma as justification. Is this phenomena growing? Why? What is the moral justification for this?

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  I believe what is meant here by “modern religions” is actually organized religion. Organization equates to control because organization creates rules for governing itself. The less control an organization perceives itself to have over its members, the more it will try to assert control through rules. This is true of any organization or bureaucracy, the only difference being to what extent an organization authorizes its own members to police its numbers and spread its words.

  Because most organized religions extol their own virtues and denigrate other religions….

  Because many organized religions encourage their members to convert others as part of their everyday practice….

  Because many members of organized religion are afraid to voice their doubts for fear of being censured by their peers….

  Because many people in organized religions have the sinking feeling that IF there are other religions, the mere fact that others exist casts unconscious doubts upon their own religious beliefs, because If there are other religions, how can they be sure that theirs is the right one….

  Because certain age-old organized religions seem to see their earthly power over their constituents slipping as a process of cultural evolution….

  Yes, the phenomena is growing. Fear feeds aggression, and as the organizations begin to lose their perceived power, they transfer that fear to their members, the members begin to believe that they are being persecuted and so make a stronger push to convert or remove those elements which their organization disapproves of.

  The organization tries to moralize the issue… for instance, the War on Terror is a moralized attack on Muslims. But their religious affiliations are also an excuse for simple greed. Greed inspired the Crusades, though they were supposedly holy wars, and greed also inspires the war on terror.

  There is never a simple answer to why anyone does anything. At any moment an action is undertaken, there is always more than one reason for it. Some are admitted to others, some are admitted to oneself, and some are never admitted. That doesn’t make them less real.

  The problem of organized religions is a complex sociological issue with many divergent strands. They are difficult to untangle, especially in an issue as emotionally charged as religion. Religion represents the unknown and the unknowable and to call it into question calls up man’s most primal fears. Are we alone? Are we responsible for our own actions? Do we create the future or is it preordained? What happens when we die? When religious issues come into conflict, people are thrown off balances by their own need for security. The less sure a person is of their own understanding, the more they will fall back on dogma and the teachings of their organization. In this way, organized religion not only creates a certain “mob mentality,” it encourages it, allowing wicked men to control vast numbers of peoples and even pervert any positive message a religion may have originally had.

  Individual morality and responsibility does not exist within a mob. When the mob disperses, its members often do not feel any responsibility for what the mob has done. Consider Nazi Germany, the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials…. virtually any religious or social persecution is the result of mob mentality and very rarely will anyone take responsibility for what they have done as part of the mob. There is no morality to mob action. Any information to the contrary is a lie, and organized religions become little more than bureaucratic mobs when examined without sentiment.

  • 9:43 pm
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