Religion the Humanity’s Divide

Who created religion and why humankind needs religion.  Those are the fundamental questions you will ask yourself if you want to study the core concepts and the good intent of religion towards the human race.  Most of the academic and Philosophy journals directs the history of religion and its concept in the medieval market in Samarkand. Samarkand is in Central Asia oasis that the business of the “Silk Road” is situated. In the year 1300 Central Asia is the center of trade and business melting several cultures such as Chinese , Turkish, African Kingdoms of Mali and other European dominant countries.

 Likewise, religion in that business area is also diverse.  From the concept of Agricultural Revolution the need of religion emerge to allow beliefs to a certain deity will control the minds of the people in the village.  During the time of Christopher Columbus they used gun powder and religion to invade the territory of the American Indians and the modern America.  Protestants used religion to outweigh the cultural belief of the American Indians.  As of today religious groups in the United States owned vast lands trying to control the Agricultural produce using the belief of religion.  Religion on the other hand creates beliefs to a certain deity that every human being loves to believe in without any hesitation and logic. 

Harari give a simple analogy that when human beings are told of concepts, theories, and logic using science and mathematics people will feel bored and anxious.  But if the human minds are told of fairy tales and gods people love to accept and internalize the values being told as a parable or analogy.  In a way religion in the olden times is an advantage to organize the human population believing in the moral values written in various ways. But as what Harari is pointing out in his concept

“Religion today is often considered a source of discrimination, disagreement and disunion. Yet, in fact, religion has been the third great unifier of humankind, alongside money and empires.”

“Religion asserts that our laws are not the result of human caprice, but are ordained by an absolute and supreme authority.”

“Religion can thus be defined as a system of human norms and values that is founded on a belief in a superhuman order.”

All the concepts that Harari is trying to analyze is to know the relevance of Religion from then and now towards the significance of religion in the world society as a whole.  The philosophical analysis further deepens to the topic of monotheist and polytheist that religious group concept of today will always create a great conflict that will uncover the historical martyrdom of the various religious groups.  The conflict between the Catholics and the Protestants for example swept the Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth century preaching god, compassion and love while discrimination and killings towards each religious group are being felt by the people of Europe during that time.

“The theological disputes between the Catholics and the Protestants turned so violent that during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Catholics and Protestants killed each other by the hundreds of thousands. On 24 August 1572, French Catholics who stressed the importance of good deeds attacked communities of French Protestants who highlighted God’s love for human kind. Likewise Protestants attack the Christian Catholics in Europe during that time.” On the contrary other religions like Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and others are also in a struggle of telling the world that their religious belief is the rightful and supreme moral guideline for the human race to follow.  Thus we can simply think that religion is like a business product that everyone (all religion) claims to be “no. 1 product” or the rightful religious guideline in terms of moral law and religious belief. Until today religious groups are the core reason why the world is divided in terms of values. Do you think we still need religion to make the world a better place to live for all human race?  

REFERENCE:

Yuval Noah Harari. 2011. Sapiens A brief History of Humankind. Vintage Publishing

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