CONVERSATIONS IN THE PANTHEON - The Truth about God and Religion

Religiosity and the Church

Mary: The Church is happy to fool most of the people all the time. It doesn't need to fool all the people all the time. Long time ago, it made a pact with its faithful. It knowingly promised something that was beyond its power to deliver. The lie is patently evident to some, but not to all. How can it fool so many people for so long? It's called religious indoctrination. Some would even go as far as calling it religious brainwashing. It simply keeps the followers from questioning their faith and discovering the lie. Judaism, Christianity and Islam share the same god and the same modus operandi. There's no significant difference in the way they keep their followers faithful.

Most of humanity has been raised believing in one god or another. From the moment we're born, we are nurtured with religious beliefs about the goodness of the gods and how they watch over us and protect us. We don't see them, but we believe them to be somewhere above, keeping track of our every movement and thought. The gods are so much part of our culture that we take them for granted. We rarely question their whereabouts or existence. They're like uncles or aunts that we've never seen, but whom everyone talks about. The gods are part of the family: absentee members of the extended family. They don't bother us and we don't bother them. If we talk to them, they don't answer, but we continue to believe that they're listening.

To ensure that our faith remains intact, religious institutions require that we pray and visit gods' abodes (temple, mosque, synagogue or church) regularly and observe all religious holidays. But why are they concerned about our faith? After all, if we break faith, presumably, we'll be the losers. We will be the ones severing our ties with the gods, not them. The truth is that religions need us more than we need them!

Thomas: Of course they do. We pay their bills. Churches, mosques, synagogues and temples need to be heated during the winter, air conditioned during the summer and maintained throughout the year. The clergy needs to be fed, sheltered and entertained, and without the faithful they would be out in the cold. So, long time ago a deal was made whereby the faithful would support their comfortable lifestyle. In return, being our intermediaries with the gods, they would ensure that the latter would be merciful to us, both in this life and the next.

Mary: Back in the days when this pact was made it must have seemed fair, or it wouldn't have happened. In those days, however, most people were illiterate and couldn't read the holy books even if they had been given one. Our knowledge of the world and the universe was very limited. Nature's forces were still mysteries waiting to be explained; and, as a result, myths and superstitions abounded. Fear of the gods was also palpable. Under such conditions, the faithful thought they had struck a good bargain. But as experience shows, people with knowledge always have the upper hand.

Everywhere in the world, the faithful agreed to make regular donations to pay for all the expenses associated with building and maintaining the houses of worship and the clergy. In return, they were promised everlasting life in heaven. Additionally, the christian churches also required the faithful to go to confession. This made the priests privy to information that could and would be used against the confessants, individually and collectively because it allowed priests to play on people's weaknesses and fears. Of course, the less educated and illiterate were the most vulnerable. And that vulnerability was exploited without mercy. Priests are neither saints nor devils: they have the same human frailties as us.

I'm reminded of Carlo Levi's book, Christ stopped at Eboli. A well-educated northern Italian, Levi was exiled, in 1935, to a small town in southern Italy, which seemed to him to be in a different world altogether. Health care was atrocious. The two doctors in town were invariably inept. The peasants simply did not trust them. Malaria, which was merciless and rampant, took the lives of many villagers. Education was the pits. It was available, but as Levi noted, the mayor who taught class spent more time smoking on the balcony than educating the children.