Religion: Is It Useful Or Useless?

Warren S. Smith has compiled and edited the speeches of George Bernard Shaw in a book titled – “Religious Speeches of Bernard Shaw”. This book contains Bernard Shaw’s views on religion. In one speech Shaw said, “If we really want to do some significant work, we should have a religion. If the civilization has to be extracted from its present deplorable condition, this work can be done only by the people who are religious.” Shaw even asserted, “Those who do not have a religion are cowards and uncivilized”.

Bernard Shaw’s views reflect the importance and all encompassing character of religion. Religion means ‘duty’ and it cannot be limited to traditional beliefs and worship rituals only. Duty has an element of high ideals and principles which are not restricted to narrow boundaries of time and space. These ideals and principles can, of course, be adapted to contemporary needs but then they cannot be of value for all times and places. The only element in religion which can be of eternal value is - deep faith in and devotion to those lofty ideals and principles which are not specific to only some people and some situations. Through worship of deities and related rituals these very ideals are meant to be projected and strengthened. Bernard Shaw too speaks of religion in this very sense. Great things are not achieved without lofty ideals, and so success in great endeavours requires help of religion.

But if we neglect this core element of religion, it gets reduced to mere observance of myriad conventions and rituals and acquires communal overtone. Blind insistence on traditional beliefs leads to neglect of real duty and opens the door for distortions to creep in and to germination of blind faith. In recent years precisely this very thing has happened. Essence of religion was neglected and consequently religion has been filled with communal distortions. These distortions have also promoted atheism. It is after seeing these distortions that a great thinker like Karl Marx was led to pronounce - “Religion is the cry of the persecuted, an instrument of the tyrants, and an opiate of the masses. Belief in it is a reflection of the lack of civilization. To discard such a religion which gives only imaginary pleasure is sign of progress.”

This statement actually belittles that form of religion which misguides people and the society, makes them dependent and entangles them in useless complexities. It should however be kept in mind that distortions are not the basic features of the religion, but an exception or aberration which deserves to be condemned. But error occurred in viewing the aberration as the natural character. Any verdict should not be passed unless full knowledge of a thing has been acquired and it has been tested at the touchstone of logic, facts and evidence.

The world of religion is as wide as the universe. The thinkers formulate rules and regulations in accordance with the contemporary needs of the society. Hence this character of religion with its rules and regulations does have its importance but it cannot be universal and for all times. The people who are involved in the service of the society, the defenders of the nation standing at borders, the scientists who are day and night working towards increasing the resources and conveniences of the society - all are religious in deeper sense, even though they may not believe in gods and deities of a specific community. Full devotion to one’s duty and continuous efforts in that direction are indicative of their religiosity. Why can’t the thinkers who contribute finest thoughts to the society, the poets, musicians and artists who all stir and uplift the mind be called religious?

A renowned western thinker writes - “It is not necessary that religious principles be taken in their conventional meanings. There might be many persons who do not formally believe in these, but they possess all those essential attributes of a religion which should be within a religious person. Their thought and actions are guided by highest ideals and principles.” This statement also supports the wider meaning of religion.

In the intellect dominated world of today, the importance and utility of religion can be accepted only when its aim, its pure and beneficial nature, and its essential philosophy are put before the people. Meaningless attachment to illogical practices and principles has to be replaced by healthy and noble ones. Only when there is universality in the principles, they would be acceptable to the thinking class. For this purpose, methods of science and scientific innovation have to be adopted in the field of religion too. In the field of sciences, the laws and rules are same all over; it does not matter whether the scientists or labs are located in Asia, Africa or Europe, or are of a particular religious faith. But this is not so in the field of religion. There exist differences between Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. Mutual differences on many points repel today’s intellectual class and they begin to comment that when religion could not unite coreligionists, how it could be of benefit to others. This allegation is not entirely unfounded. If we analyse the differences, it becomes apparent that they arise from rigid attachment to rituals and outer form.

To make religion useful and beneficial in every field, its basic purpose, its underlying philosophy and its creative nature has to be projected before the common man. Its healthy, pure and refined form has to be emphasised discarding the wrong beliefs acquired over centuries. The attribute of prudence has to be added. It is this faculty of judgement and discrimination which has given science its truth seeking orientation. Wild growth of useless and false beliefs got pruned and cleared automatically. This gave space to essential and healthy elements to develop and grow like plants. The modern achievements of science are a result of this very process of reason and discrimination based thinking. Its application is needed in religion for the society to advance holistically.

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All World
Gayatri Pariwar

Sept-Oct 2017

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