Friday, 10 July 2009

Do we need religion?

By the Rev. Gary Hilfiger

This is a hot question at the moment. We are shocked by radical Islam and a bit annoyed by activities of other religious groups (read that as conservative Christians or progressive Christians). Hypocrisy is a word that is thrown around frequently.

As we enter the debate we may be wise to begin with Paul Tillich, a famous twentieth century theologian, who observed that religion is the expression of our “ultimate concern.” Ultimate concern deals with the ideas we value most, these are the lenses through which we see the world.

We are often struck by the fact that other people do not see the world in the same way we do, because we differ in our ultimate concern. So to follow this line of thought, we may eliminate Islam or Christianity from the world, but people being people will continue to have ultimate concern.

Human beings will always be religious even if they do not identify themselves with one of the world religions. A man can be an atheistic Communist religiously, that is to live the ideals of Communism with passion and zeal even to the point of killing those who disagree with him.

So, although in a nutshell, I have begun a line of thought that seeks to change the question. Religion, as explained above, is inevitable. People will act with passion according to their ultimate concern.

We need to see the good in this, animal lovers support humane animal shelters, others give to hospitals, social service agencies, orchestras, museums, etc. We all benefit.

The other side of the coin is that passionate people can turn their ultimate concern into hatred for people not like themselves. Racism cannot be identified with any religion, although much religious language has been used to justify racial feelings.

But if Christianity had never come into existence, would there still be racism? Certainly so. The killing fields of Cambodia had nothing to do with Christianity.

Because religion has been considered good, people have used its language and customs to cover their evil. But religions do not create evil, all religions are a response to evil, an attempt to understand and assist us through the upheavals in life.

This brings us back to the idea of ultimate concern. Organized religion or traditional religion handed down from generation to generation intends to help the individual form and shape his/her ultimate concern.

I fear that left to ourselves we will fall back on selfishness. This would be to make ourselves—our wants, needs—ultimate. Doing this would destroy society.

We need not look very far to see the social cost of selfishness, to items like the Madoff scandal. Indeed, how much of our present economic problems can be traced back to selfishness?

Adam Smith, the great Scottish thinker on Capitalism, knew that markets would only work if gentlemen (men of Christian character) ran them. So ultimate concern must be shaped and nurtured, historically this has been done through a very general religiosity held by a society.

We push back religion at our peril.

(Hilfiger is the pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church , Shippenville.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The ultimate concern or death or the "basic fear" is the cause of all religions. The fear of dying and after-life are strong motivators to a life of fantasy and superstition. I will live forever if I follow this greedy person trying to relieve me of my money. Oh the Preacher is a chosen one, by whom, bullshit. Religion is the greedy manifestation of mankind's fear off dying, nothing more than a way to capitalize on superstition.