Did man make religion? Was what I thought was truth made by man and not by God? Can I thrive and have my longings and spiritual needs met without a personal faith?
Years ago someone told me that religion is a social construct. Those words filled me with shock and fear. There was a deep fear that this claim was true and if it was true, what would that do to my beliefs? For a while I pushed away the thoughts, but they kept coming back to me. Religion is a social construct, it exists because humans say it exists. Does religion exist because of humans agreeing it does? Was what I thought was the truth made not by God, but by humans and likely men in particular?
What does it mean that religion is a social construct? Basically, it means that we, as a people, create a God and a religion by agreeing they exist. Why would we do that? For various reasons I will get into in a minute. First let me state that throughout history, through time and space, people have religions and a belief in a god or gods. There are the Roman gods, the Greek pantheon of gods, the Egyptian system of gods and pharaohs, Hinduism, Buddhism, the ancient spiritualities of every indigenous culture, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity in all of its derivations just to name a few. Depending where and when you are born, is what religion you are introduced to, raised to believe, or choose to believe. It seems to me that basically all times and all places have some system of belief in the supernatural and a deity or deities. Historical and archaeological study brings evidence of different faiths.
So if religion is a human made system, why are religions created and how do they support the individual, for if there were no individual benefit, surely humans would not follow these systems. Let’s look today at some reasons for religion.
Karl Marx said “religion is the opium of the masses”. The idea here is that religion controls, soothes and subjugates the majority of people for the benefit of the rulers. While there may not be a group of powerful people who start out creating religion for this intent (though perhaps there can be), religion is corrupted by powerful leaders to increase their wealth, their power and their influence as well as finding victims for their sexual desires. Finding examples of this is not hard. Google ‘cult documentaries” for a long list. This is a reason why some religions may have been created. Not nearly all are created for this, but most are corrupted or co-opted to be used as an “opium of the masses” by immoral and powerful governments or leaders.
People have a strong need to explain evil, pain and suffering. To believe it is random and meaningless is not a good enough answer for most. Religion can fill in those answers. The juxtaposition of good and evil and how they relate to one another and to individuals is contained in religious belief. When bad happens, religion helps you to explain why which is a question crying out for a comforting answer. Constructing a religious system to explain natural disasters such as droughts, floods, volcanoes, etc is shown in ancient and current religions.
People long to know what will happen after death. This is the greatest mystery of all time. It is a question that fills many with great fear. Near death experiences seem to give hints and pictures as well as seance type conversations with those that have passed. None of these experiences are provable and there are various theories as to their validity. Any attempt to use science to prove these tends to fall short. Religion and faith are the attempt to answer the questions of life after death. Reassurance of heaven, paradise, nirvana, Valhalla, reincarnation is given to the righteous while the non-believers are condemned to hell, purgatory, lower reincarnation or extinction. These beliefs can bring assurance and hope to many. Religion fills in a deep need for people.
Our minds can crave order and routine. We long for rules and procedures that help to ease our uncertainties. If we know what we are to do and not to do, we have a sense of relief. Following rules helps relieve a fear that we will somehow make life altering mistakes because we just didn’t know. If a group of people follow the same rules then morality is assured relieving more stress that life will get out of control. Religion fills in the need for rules, a moral code and order. It gives us sense of control.
Traditions, spiritual practices, ceremony and rituals can be found in religion. These help people to feel a sense of belonging and community as they share the same experiences. Purpose, meaning and connection are nurtured through church services, communion, baptism and other meaningful practices in every religion. We long for that belonging and connection to something bigger than ourselves.
Religion gives you a God that is bigger than the problems around. It is someone to request blessings from, someone to worship, someone else to be in control and make sense of the world when you have no control or answers. Again it takes away the randomness of life’s good and bad and puts God in the place of sending blessings and curses on those he wishes. If one can please this God, then one can control whether you are blessed or cursed.
People have a spiritual part, sometimes called the soul. We long for connection to something bigger than us. We have spiritual experiences of awe and wonder when we look at nature or feel deep love. Religion takes that spiritual need of the human and explains the connections and experiences.
We can see that religion helps make sense of tragedy, it gives someone to beseech for needs, to thank for blessings, curse our enemies, give rules for a healthy social life and gives personal and corporate guidance. The majority of people through time have been willing to trade their own freedom and personal responsibility as well as life’s randomness for ‘God’ or gods being in control, choosing obedience and slavery to him/them.
I can see the positives, a promise of a hopeful future, answers to so many questions, a system to live under, a large community of people who believe the same and a deep contented and righteous feeling of having found the truth. But look how many people have found these same things with different religions and different gods. All have been convinced that they have ‘the’ truth. All have been convinced others are wrong. But who is right, and who is wrong? Religions evolve and change along the way. Sacred books are written, translated, copied and changed in various ways. They are then interpreted a multitude of ways by people who are certain they have the correct understanding.
Is there one God pointing to a certain denomination and church saying “that’s it! They got it right, only them, listen to them!” or is there one God with many forms for all the different religions wondering why they can’t along? Or maybe there have been many gods. Or maybe there is a spiritual consciousness that connects us all. Perhaps humans do create religion to give us our answers and to fill our needs. Did our ancestors, over long periods of time, write and talk about their spiritual experiences, their understandings and hopes and then compare and build narratives that became religion? As understanding grew and experiences changed, did the narratives add rules, rituals and systems that strengthened people and helped fill their core longings? Could God be made in our image and not we in God’s image?
Christians will want to dismiss this as not applicable to them. Is there a difference between the personal faith of a devoted Christian and the organized religion that is so easy to find fault in? I frequently hear Christians say “I am not religious, I have a personal faith”. Personal faith is based on an organized religion. If you believe Christians need church to thrive you understand this. You may not like all of the religion, but can you separate the two completely? It doesn’t seem so. Can Christianity be deconstructed to find a God of love, a Jesus worth following, harmony, peace and joy without judgement, infighting and arrogance? For some, yes. But it still begs the question, was the source of your belief man made, did man make religion? Does it exist because humans agree on it, is it a social construct? For me, I can’t see religion or a faith in God to be more than a social construct. Will this change? Not now and as I see it, likely not ever. But there needs to be a way for my core longings and spiritual needs to be met without religion and without the God I have known.
If religion fills all these needs in us, how do exChristians manage without religion? Should we? It seems that one doesn’t need all the answers. It is okay to have mystery, to not know what will happen. We can be filled with curiosity and wonder. We can deal with confusion and questions that have no answers. We can find connections with each other and with nature and the earth. We can delve deep into our own strengths and learn to know and love ourselves. We need to pay attention to our spiritual nature, our need for connection, purpose, values and morals. We can find ways to be spiritual without religion. We can work on solving the problems in our lives and our world without waiting for answered prayers and for God/gods to step in. We don’t need religion. We can thrive without it.
Val Martens
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