Dear
Readers,
These columns began on my area of America Online, called: Judaism
Today: Where Do I Fit? People anonymously
sent me E-Mail, and I began to choose one for a public response
in my Jewish E-Mail of the Week column. The column has become
quite popular and is now syndicated internationally in many
Jewish papers and websites. I hope you find they help you
as you think about the Ethics, Spirituality and Peoplehood
components of the Jewish way of Life. I welcome your
comments... see the end of the column.
Gil
PS
Teachers and others, feel free to copy my columns and forward
them or use them as you see fit. Please see the friendly
copyright notice at the end. |
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RELIGIONS:
THE CAUSE OF THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS
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Dear
Gil:
I
have read your columns with interest.
Your replies seem compassionate and
sensible. But I suspect your goal is
to perpetuate "active "
Judaism. My feeling is that most of
the world's ills are due to religions
of every stripe, and that people make
their own rules, and call it what God
said. I would rather be a Jew than any
other religion, but I wish all humans
were of the same religion, or no
religion.
R
Dear
R:
Your
last suggestion sounds like a decent
plan to me...but implementation is a
bit of a challenge. As a species we
humans seem too emotionally vulnerable
and fearful of death to give up
religion. And history has shown that
trying to implement plans for everyone
to adopt the same religion has been
less than a spectacular success. It
has also resulted in some horrible
things in the name of God...examples
of this abound from the past to the
present.
Still
I would not maintain that "most
of the world's ills" are because
of religion. Eliminating religion
would not fix our world. I mentioned
your argument to a friend of mine who
replied "if you want to eliminate
the world's problems, eliminate
people."
I
don't mean to offend anyone but I
think he is right. Which has led me to
ask why did God make humans the
creatures that we are? For I think
that the human being is basically a
selfish and insecure animal. We tend
to be fearful of people or even ideas
that differ from our own. By instinct,
we also look out only or mostly for
ourselves -- often violently. To look
out for the welfare of non-family and
to be loving, accepting or just
tolerant of others is learned
behavior...behavior taught by the
great religions of the world.
Now
before you critique me for that bold
statement about religions, I will
quickly agree with some counter
arguments. Yes, I believe much evil
behavior has resulted because of
intolerance taught by religions. Yes,
I believe that there are many who
profess religious piety who treat
others poorly. And yes, I believe (as
I have written in the past) that
teaching of "The Truth" is
dangerous and often leads to
hypocritical behavior and worse.
Yet
in spite of all these counter
arguments, I would not be in favor of
abandoning organized religions. Author
Hanoch McCarty (A 4rth Course of
Chicken Soup for the Soul, amongst
other books), once told me he would
not be in favor of "unorganized
religion." As he put it, the
aberrations and illness of organized
religions are not reasons to eliminate
religions. Religions have also brought
good things to the world like great
saints and tzadikim whose teachings
and behavior are inspirations to all
of us. If all of us acted like Mother
Teresa, we wouldn't criticize
organized religion.
But,
religion is not perfect because people
are not perfect, he says. The rules
serve a purpose in trying to guide us
toward better behavior. Without these
rules, he asserts, we would have
chaos. And even with rules we don't
exactly have a kindler gentler world
because the rules are far from
perfect, religions don't all agree
with each other and as individuals we
pick and choose the religious
teachings we want to follow.
Further
some people do things that are wrong,
bad or evil motivated by religion. I
still would not throw out religion. To
look at this differently, how would
you react if a scientist, were to
proclaim that the we should all jump
off cliffs because science proves that
we can fly. I trust you wouldn't jump!
But just because this scientist is
wrong, that does not mean that science
is bad or should be eliminated from
the world. The same is true of
religion even if some practitioners
are wrong or bad or disagree with each
other.
I
wish we would all just be nice to each
other and share our earth justly
without the need for discipline or
thoughts of a force above. Practically
speaking however, we need a source of
right and wrong to guide us in our
lives and this is a main and noble
purpose of religion. And even though I
often shudder at the guidance
religions have given people in the
past and the present, I still forge
ahead with my Judaism.
I
certainly have my doubts at times, but
I have come to the conclusion, that
the world is a better place because of
Judaism for many reasons, not the
least of which is the fundamental
teaching that all humans are children
of the same God. So you are right, one
of my goals is most definitely to
perpetuate "active" Judaism.
I regularly question what Judaism
calls right and wrong (a latitude
encouraged by our religion) and I also
learn from other religions. But when
all is said and done, I still find
myself embracing the wisdom of Judaism
for the betterment of myself and this
confusing, varied and difficult world
of ours.
Thanks
for writing!
Gil
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© Copyright Gil Mann
These columns can be found at www.beingjewish.org. Not
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