Over these past couple of years I have not made it any secret that I find a lot about religion distasteful. There are those who think that morality would be lost without God. It seems pretty darned clear to me that morality as we know it is a manmade invention. It's a survival mechanism. Frankly, the enlightenment ideal of natural rights makes a lot more sense to me. Do anything you want as long as it doesn't infringe on other people's natural rights, i.e. life, liberty, and property.
Another simple rule of morality to live by is known as the Golden Rule. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." A great many Christians attribute this concept to Jesus, and it certainly appears as something he said, according to the Bible. However, this idea also appears in a lot of other places, many pre-dating Christianity.
Admittedly, Hammurabi's Code, dating to 1780 B.C., was more of "Don't do unto others or we'll do unto you," but it more or less got the point across, "If you don't want people to do that stuff to you, then don't do it to them." There are ancient Egyptian references to a version of the Golden Rule when talking about the concept of maat sometime in the Middle Kingdom about 2000 B.C.
All of that being noted, several ancient Greek philosophers advocated versions of The Golden Rule. Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and Taoism, just to name a few of the various religious and philosophical schools from around the planet, have all advocated the Golden Rule. It would seem that this is a pretty universal concept on Planet Earth. Trying to live by this simple rule tends to keep down the conflict, murder, and mayhem. Good for the survival of the species, so to speak. One would think that we're all on the same page.
And yet there are any number of religious extremist groups, and not so extremist groups who are thoroughly convinced that if you don't believe exactly the same thing as I do, then it is quite alright to treat you as a second class citizen, ostracize you, and subject you to all manner of verbal abuse. Then there are those extremist groups who feel that if you do not believe exactly what I believe, then you deserve to die. Definitely not the Golden Rule.
Upon further examination, most major religions on the planet put women in a second class role in society. Questioning this role, puts them in danger in many cases. It is incredibly mind-boggling that the male-d0minated theocratic leaders of a nation (Iran) feel justified in condemning a woman to be stoned because after her husband died she had sex with somebody she wasn't married to. It is further mind-boggling that all across the Middle East there are conservative Islamic nations that force women to cover themselves head to foot lest they be brought before religious courts.
Jews and Muslims are at each others' throats in Israel. Hindus and Muslims blow up each others' Holy sites in India. The ongoing wars in the Middle East begin to look like a second round of Crusades between Christians and Muslims. It is easy to point a finger and note that the common thread in all of the aforementioned episodes in violence and war is Muslim. Duly noted that Jihad is an Arabic word, invented by Muslims. All of these religious groups share some of the collective guilt, however. They all believe they are the one and only true faith, and have the market cornered on sanctity.
Let us all take note of the fact that whatever religious faith one has is largely an accident of where you were born. Grow up in Europe or the Americas and you are likely a Christian of some sort. Grow up in North Africa and the Middle East and you are likely a Muslim. Grow up in India and Hinduism is the homegrown faith. Buddhists dominate the faith market in Southeast Asia Japan and Korea. All believe theirs is the one true faith.
When you examine the basic teachings of all of these religions, they all believe basically the same things regarding morality, and yet they spawn religious wars and conflict with those others who dare to differ in small ways. And God forbid (to coin a phrase) that you should have the nerve to not believe in any of them. Every last one of them will condemn you then. So who is right? So where is the morality in attacking every person on the planet who believes basically the same thing as you do? Where is the morality in condemning people whose lifestyles and beliefs do not conform to a set of rules that a few ultra-conservative individuals claim is God's will, or the gods collective wills, or the interpretation of a Pope or a Mullah or any other religious leader who claims to have a hotline to heaven?
I have news boys and girls. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you has no part in this kind of approach to life. When religions deign to be the big authority on morality and then deign to punish anyone who doesn't live up to their personal interpretations of morality, they have given up on morality. They have moved into the dictatorial. Persons as diverse as Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Kim Jong-Il all would understand how this manipulation of human life works. They understand it all too well. They're just a little more blatant than the Pope, though only a little more blatant than the Mullahs who advocate murder of all the non-believers.
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