It is common in our western cultures to speak of “religion” to describe an entity of people who believe in God or gods or who adhere to a particular religious group. It is fair to call such groups religions, we have to call them something. It helps in analysing the differences across humankind.
However, what then happens
is that others can use this label to make gross generalisations such as blaming
religion for ills in the world, like war. They can put people down who do
believe in God or gods as inferior because they submit themselves to the said
religion’s creeds and ideas. It can become politicised, stigmatised, and
weaponised. This has happened in western cultures.
Such putting down and labelling
is naïve as all humans are religious and submit to something or someone. For
some people, it is the government. They look to the government to solve the
ills of the world and believe in it. When there is a problem in society, they
expect governments to fix it. We see this in NZ with homelessness, global
warming, poverty, and so on. Legislation and funding will fix everything. In
extreme forms, this is socialism or even communism. The government is Lord. In
fact, this is one of NZs leading religions seen in the recent election of a
government delighted to step into that space and be the god of this nation.
However, before we get too critical, there are right-wing variants where
governments will maintain and protect the established culture, totalitarianism.
Such governments espouse freedom but oppress those who fall outside the
mainstream culture. There are plenty on the right of politics who long for such
governments. They, too, should be careful what they wish for.
There are capitalists
who worship at the altar of money and independence. They do not realise that their
gods are those enormously rich and powerful people who know how to manipulate
our deep desire to consume to become rich and control the world. Capitalism and
consumerism is one of the world’s leading religions and we all blindly continue
to spend and consume, worshiping at what Jesus described as Mammon and said, “you
cannot serve both God and money.”
Many rail against
socialism and claim to be independent, free thinkers, reliant on no one, putting
down socialists and the religious. They see the problem that comes from reliance
on the government, dependency. They see submission to religious creeds as weakness.
Yet, they too are religious. Their god becomes themselves, their view, and their
wants. They actually deify themselves, claiming to know all and to know better.
They become gods to themselves and they don’t even know it. This easily becomes
narcissism.
In the age of the
internet and social media, alongside the religion of consumerism, the religion
of narcissism is exploding. The algorithms of the capitalist gods and conglomerates
Google, Facebook, and others feed the rampant individualism of such people and
they live in an echo chamber of others who believe the same. Their views are
reinforced and get more and more deeply entrenched. They become so certain of
their view that they have little time for others, locked in loveless bitterness
and contention. They do not realise that they have joined a cult and are brainwashed.
This religion is as dangerous as them all as it warps the soul, breeds
bitterness, and things are said that should never be said. Such people can be
used by the giants of the left and right of politics in their quests for power.
That is why the world is teetering at the moment. The masses are being
polarised in their “religions” at right and left, and a “religious” war is an
ever-approaching reality.
Scientism is also a
major religion today. Some worship at the altar of mainstream science that is
endorsed by the media. They believe blindly in evolution, accept mainstream epidemiologists
on Covid, endorse vaccines, accept global warming is caused by people. Others
push back against mainstream science and find other voices rejecting evolution,
repudiate vaccines, see global warming as something natural, and so on. They find their own gurus or priest who say what they want to hear. In reality,
most of us have nowhere near the scientific knowledge to know the real truth
and are forced to decide. Others with certainty, despite their scientific ignorance,
are evangelists for their perspective. They are surprised when others avoid
them—people don’t like evangelists, they threaten their certainties. I know
this from trying to tell people about Jesus for years. It goes with the
territory.
Atheism is as religious
as any organised religion. Atheists worship themselves and the priests of atheism
like Richard Dawkins who write deeply flawed books that become bibles. Others claim
to avoid all religion other than sport or some form of entertainment. They too
are worshiping their gods to please their own souls—hedonism and self as god.
Their other gods may be celebrities, pop-idols, artists, sports stars, or
teams. Some avoid all information and conversations about religion. They think
they are keeping religion at bay. In actual fact, they are yielding to their
own religion of self and the gods of their “common sense” and don’t even know
it.
Many who reject
mainstream religions claim not to have one but in fact worship a hybrid of gods
including capitalistic ideals, socialism, hedonism, science, culturalism, and
so on. At the heart of their religion though, as in most religions, is self. We
elevate ourselves and our view of the world so highly we become enslaved to our
own perspective. We lose sight of the world.
For me, this Christmas,
I am going to continue to joyfully worship God, Father, Son, and Spirit. Jesus
came to us as God with us to show us God. He did not show us organised
religion, with all its flawed expressions of his original intent. No, he pushed
back against the religions of his day in Israel—their denominations with their flawed
hopes and beliefs. He pushes back against all forms of religion today,
including Christianity and all its demoninations (woops, I meant denominations,
LOL), and those people don’t realise they are in. He showed us that true
religion is to acknowledge God and most importantly, to love others. It is not to
worship self, governments, sports, science, people, ideas, or the religious
creeds of religions (useful though those things are, they all have their place).
It is not about pushing our religions on others. What matters is love. Denying
self and wanting the best for others. Humility, grace, mercy, compassion, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, and love. These are the things that matter. Such old
ideas he promoted as “love your neighbour as yourself.” “Love one another.” “Do
to others what you have them do to you.” And doing so across differences of
opinion and gods.
When we realise who
Jesus is and what he has shown the world and say yes to God’s offer of
salvation in him, he floods us with his presence, his Spirit. We then have a renewed
power to lay aside all other religions and love others. Doing so is true
religion. Happy Christmas.
Comments