Re-examining the role of religion and God in the twenty-first century and beyond
Re-examining the role of religion and God in the twenty-first
century and beyond
Sujay Rao Mandavilli
Religion and “God” in the twenty-first century and beyond
The objective of this exercise is to discuss the urgent and pressing need for reviewing and re-examining the role of religion and God in the twenty-first century and beyond; this assumes added urgency and importance given the scale of religious violence in the modern world, and the pre-scientific thought process that still presently and currently exist; this work essentially draws on our previous papers and books on religion, and religious studies for the twenty-first century and beyond, and it is pointless and futile to reproduce the contents of all these papers and publications here; readers may refer to them for their own merit. We will also naturally emphasize and stress a transdiciplinary and cross-cultural approach here, and also a human centric one; one that encompasses diverse human and cultural perspectives, and is not a reductionist one. This will of course, requires changes in attitude, and changes in approach from many sides. This will by no means be an easy process, because it will encounter roadblocks in every step of the process; but at the end of the day, it will be an illuminating and enriching one because it will bring about change. Science has made giant strides in recent centuries and decades, but science communication remains pathetically poor; we must work to change all this in the years and decades to come, not just with Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, but through a more cohesive and integrated approach. People remain in the same state of ignorance as before. Let us therefore work to make this happen before it is too late.
History of religion
Let us begin this section
by tracing the history of religions in brief. Religion has been known in almost
all pre-historic cultures. The Neanderthals who flourished between 100,000 and
25,000 years ago, practised various rituals such as the ‘rituals of the bear’
and also practised hunting and death rituals besides other magical rites. These
practices seem to have continued and become more complex and diversified in the
Upper Palaeolithic age. For example, a deer ceremony in a cave in Lebanon which
was a ritualistic or a magical ceremony was brought to light by Raleph Solecki
in 1970. In the ‘lair of the dragons” in the Swiss Alps, and in Regourdon in
Southern France, a total of thirteen bear skulls were found. Among early Homo
Sapiens beginning some fifty thousand years ago, aspects such as animism,
belief in an afterlife, shamanism, ancestor worship, high gods, and worship of
ancestors or high gods were common.
The Cro-Magnon man of
Europe which is considered to be archaic Homo sapiens appears to have a magical
use of the painted and curved figures they created. They also appear to have
had sacred spots and distinguished them from the profane. Some of their
drawings can be found on the ceilings and the walls of caves in France and
Spain. Figurines carved out of ivory, stone and bone depicted various gods
venerated by Cro-Magnons. Examples of Venus figurines were the Venus of
Willendorf, Venus of Hohlefels, etc which date from between 40,000 years ago to
10,000 years ago. In the Neolithic age, nature worship flourished, symbols of
the sun and moon were found and veneration of stones and pillars were
common. According to Jacques Cauvin, the
“Revolution of the symbols” took place in this period, and evolution of human
thought took a quantum leap forward during this period, leading among other
things, to the birth of religion. Religious use has also been ascribed to
Megalithic structures. Examples of this include the Skorba temples of Malta and
the temples of Hagar Qim and Tarxien.
While the patterns of
evolution of religions are not yet known due to the paucity and dearth of
evidence, the history of early religion is also being understood by studying
religion in primitive and isolated communities today. Primitive religions can
be distinguished from modern religions based on a belief in sacred places,
belief in occult forces, belief in magic, practice of rites and ceremonies,
animism, ancestor worship, nature worship, myths, ceremonies, shamanism and totemism.
In the Rhone Valley’s Middle Neolithic gathering site of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux
in France, there is an evidence of ritual murder, and religion appeared to have
taken on not so pleasant forms even then.
Ancient Egypt provides us
an interesting case of how early religion evolved into systematized
polytheisms. Ancient Egyptian religion comprised complex and elaborate rituals
which were an integral part of Egyptian life and evolved over time. Components
of Ancient Egyptian religion were animal worship and animal-headed gods, divine
amalgamation, Amun, the creator God, the Isis Osiris Horus complex, sun worship
and Ra the Sun God, the funerary God Anubis, and other minor gods. It was
believed that the Pharaohs had divine powers and acted as intermediaries
between the Gods and the people. Pharaohs were also often worshipped in their
lifetime, and after. Mesopotamia was open to outside influences much more than
Egypt, and Mesopotamian religion is loosely taken to mean the religion of
Sumer, Akkad, Assyria and Babylon between 3500 BC and 400 BC. The Sumerian
Pantheon comprised thousands of Gods out of which seven were prominent. These
were Anu, the God of Heaven, Enki, the God of Wisdom and intellect, Enlil, the
War God, Nanna or Sin, the Moon God, Utu the Sun God, Ea the Water God, and
Nintud, the Mother God. Babylonian gods were Marduk the supreme diety, Nergal,
the God of the underworld, Tiamat, the Goddess of the sea, Shamash, the Sun
God, and Ea, the God of wisdom and intellect while Assyrian gods were Ashur, the primary God, Ishtar, the Goddess of
love and war, Shamash, the God of the sun, Enlil the War God and Ea.
The Greek religion began
to be formed in the 20th Century BC in the Minoan civilization,
though other influences from the near east also contributed. Right from the
early days, there was a mixture of various elements such as Zeus, Demeter and
Hestia, and this may have set the stage for later Greek religion. The Mycenian
civilization was another advanced Bronze Age civilization, with impressive
achievements in trade, engineering and technology. The Mycenians treated
Poseidon as their main deity, even though large centres of worship are absent
in the archaeological record. Some Bronze Age figures have been found, and
there is written evidence for other deities. In the Pre-Homeric epoch, the
people of Greece worshipped nature spirits. The Greek pantheon was vast and
diverse. Greek gods were believed to have lived in the acropolis of high
Olympus. Prominent Gods were Zeus, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite,
Hephaestatus, Ceres, Cronus, Dionysis, Hermes and Maia. The Homeric epics such
as the Iliad and the Odyssey had a major role to play in guiding the lives of
the Greeks.
The religion of early
Rome had humble beginnings, and early forms of the Roman religion were
animistic in nature, though Romans had also incorporated several Greek gods
into their Pantheon, and was also impacted by other minor religions due to
trade and military conquests. Early Roman Gods were Ceres, Consus, and Diva Angerona
while later Roman Gods were Janus, Jupiter, Mars, Vesta, Vulcan, Venus, Apollo,
Minerva, Juno, Quirinus, Cupid and Mercury. There was a diversity in religious
practices throughout the Roman empire with many local patron deities and
varying rituals. Roman mythology had important social, cultural and political
ramifications on the Roman Empire, and greatly influenced later western
civilization as well. Other early European religions were that of the Celts,
and the Slavs, and these were chiefly polytheistic in nature.
The religion of the
Bronze age Indus Valley Civilization appears to have involved ritual bathing,
the worship of Proto-Siva and Mother Goddess. These later appear to have been
mixed with Aryan Gods such as Vayu (wind God), Agni (fire God) Varuna (water
God). and incorporated in the Hindu pantheon. Many other cultures such as Stone
Age cultures and Dravidian cultures also contributed to Hinduism. Buddhism and
Jainism arose in the 6th century BC in India, probably as a reaction
to orthodox Brahminical Hinduism. Zorathastranism took root in Iran in the 7th
century BC though the date of birth of their founder is not certain. These
traditions are a part of the Axial period of the development of religion which
began in 800 BC, according to AC Bouquet, and others.
Early Chinese religion is
associated with animistic, shamanic and totemistic worldviews, and Chinese
religion developed largely devoid of outside influences. Modern Chinese
religion is however largely derived from the Shang and Zhou dynasty. A period
of decadence emerged during the warring states period resulting in
discontinuity. Confucianism and Taoism emerged just before the birth of Christ,
and played a major role in shaping Chinese philosophical thought. Today,
traditional Chinese religions including the Han folk religion as well as
Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are followed in China. Many Chinese also are
irreligious with no religious affiliation whatsoever. Some unique Chinese
practices include ancestor worship, worship of the forces of nature, exorcism
of evil etc
Today, there are an
estimated ten thousand distinct religions worldwide most of which are variants
of major religions. However, most people follow Christianity, Islam, Hinduism,
Buddhism or various forms of folk religions. Some others (a small but
increasing number of people) are irreligious, atheists, agnostics or deists
with no religious affiliation. Religion had withstood the onslaught of modern
science admirably, and even though there was an explosion in scientific
knowledge after the seventeenth century, religion and belief in God have simply
refused to die despite repeated prophecies and prognoses about the imminent and
impending death of religion. For example, even in the United States of America,
eighty five percent declared themselves to be religious in 2008.
Religion also tries to
explain the concept of God, and there have been several etiological
explanations for the creation of the Universe in different parts of the world.
According to an ancient Chinese myth, Phan Ku, a giant creator emerged from an
egg, and shaped the world with a chisel, along with all the heavenly bodies,
dying soon after completing his work. The Taoist rights reserved view on
creation states that Tao was the principal force behind creation, giving rise
to yin, yang and everything else. According to the myth of Pangu, God resided
in a cosmic egg, and the egg broke into two halves forming the sky and the
earth. According to the Korean Cheonjiwang Bonpuri creation myth adhered to by
mudangs or shamans, the Earth and sky were born as an empty void. Then, a gap
formed in the void, and the lighter elements moved up to form the sky and the
heavier elements came down to form the Earth.
According to the Icelandic
epic myth Prose Edda, creation began with a contrast in the realms of Muspell
and Niflheim, until the heat of Muspell melted the snow and ice of Niflheim,
creating life in the form of Imir the giant. According to a legend believed in
by the Krachi people of Togo, a giant, the vast blue God Wulbari, lay just
above the earth, and a woman poked him till he awoke. Gradually, Wulbari moved
higher and higher till he was out of reach of humans. According to a legend
believed in by the Yoruba people of West Africa, Olorun owned the sky. He asked
another diving being to take a snail shell down to earth which was then a
marsh. The shell contained a pigeon, a hen, and some soil. The soil was then
sprinkled on the marshes, with the pigeon and the hen scratching on it, until
it formed solid ground.
Many people question the
necessity of religion in the scientific age, because they think that even
without religion, we can have a productive life. Nevertheless, it has been
proven time and again that human beings have shown a strong religious instinct.
Many predictions about the obsoleteness of religion were falsified. The
prediction of nineteenth century Philosophers of the Positivistic School such
as August Comte on the obsolescence of religion has been proved to be false
today on all counts. On the contrary, what we see today is a renaissance in all
the major world religions, and an increase in interest in God and religion.
This has perhaps and probably happened due to fuzzy logic, yoyo patterns of
cultural shift, and self-reinforcing cognitive dissonance. [1][2]
Major religions in the world
Let is now attempt an
overview of the world major religions in brief, though this may at best be
construed as a high-level overview, or an executive summary.
Hinduism
Hinduism has a truly
hoary past. It has often been described as a way of life. It is a truly diverse
religion, encompassing many different types of beliefs. It has no founder and
is a geographical expression. Even though the term Hinduism is of fairly recent
origin, and was probably first used in reference to the Indus river by Alberuni
in the Tenth century, the Hindu religion is in some respects the oldest on
earth. Moreover, elements of what we know as Hinduism are older and may even
date to the Stone Age. However, older names such Arya or noble in opposition to
the Dasas were or the Mlechas and Sanathana Dharma were used before the term
Hinduism came into use. Hinduism is both a hierarchical and polycentric
religion. It is hierarchical because of
the caste system and polycentric because there can be no centralized authority.
It is also diverse along geographical and ethnic lines with institutionalized
and inbuilt discrimination mechanisms and with a bewildering array of belief
systems. However, most historical models to study Hinduism are badly outdated.
Hinduism is not centered around the caste system alone as imagined by many
scholars. In many period of Hindu history, and among many communities, the
caste system was either non-existent or extremely feeble. Hinduism is so
complex and diverse, that there are many philosophical systems such as the
Charvaka school which do not believe in the idea of God, a soul, or an
afterlife.
The roots of Hinduism lie
in the Indus Valley Civilization which encompassed most of North-Western India.
The precursor to the Indus Valley Civilization arose in Baluchistan in Mehrgarh
in 7000 BC but we know little about its religion. The ruins of the Indus Valley
Civilization were first described by Charles Masson in 1866. There were
discovered when a railway track was being built. The first Indus seal was
described by Alexander Cunningham in 1873 and further excavations were carried
out by Fleet in 1907. The civilization came to light after major excavations in
the 1920’s by Daya Ram Daya Ram Sahni, Madho Sarup Vats, RD Banerji and others.
Animals are widely represented in the Indus seals, but it is unclear whether
they are religious symbols. Marshall in 1931 in the publication “Mohenjodaro
and the Indus Valley civilization” suggested that one of the deities was an
archaic version of the God Siva. The cult of the mother was also widely used in
the Indus valley. Another famous deity was the Lord of the Beasts. Some have
also claimed that the Great Bath of Mohenjodaro which was forty feet by twenty
three feet wide was used for ritual bathing. In the 1990’s a Swastika symbol
came to light, and this is associated with later Hinduism. Some figurines
depicting the Indian greeting ‘Namaste’ have also been claimed in addition to
Vedic fire altars from Kalibangan, though these manifest towards the end of the
Indus Valley Civilization. In all probability, the Hindu religion arose as a
result of a complex process of multi-stage acculturation between major and
minor religious groups residing in the region.
According to the old
theory, the Aryans entered India in 1500 BC, but this is disputed. We had
explained in our previous papers why this may have been unlikely. There may
have been peaceful migrations, and migration may have happened earlier than
previously assumed. Thus the transformation of the Indus valley to
Post-Harappan India may have been a complex process. Aryan culture appears to
have peaked around 1500 BC, its formation having been aided by inputs from
Ancient Iran from 1700 BC. Hinduism was thus a melange and a fusion of various
streams of beliefs, which included Aryan, Harappan beliefs in addition to other
minor beliefs of North India. Thus, Proto-Siva may have been absorbed into the
Hindu pantheon as the God of destruction, Yama, another perhaps less known
deity of the north as the God of death: much of this however, remains a conjecture. The Rig Veda, the oldest and the most archaic
among the Vedas was compiled in 1500 BC. It was largely passed down orally. The
other Vedas were Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. Early Upanishads were
the Brihadaryanaka Upanishad, Chandogya Upanishad, Kaushitaki Upanishad. The
Satapata Brahmana was compiled in 800 BC. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata were
believed to have been compiled between 200 BC and 200 AD, though sections may
have been much older.
Hinduism survived the
onslaught of Buddhism and made a major comeback in the second century and the
eight century. Emperor Asoka converted to Buddhism in the second century BC,
and this should have sounded the death knell for Hinduism, but it did not.
However, Anthropologists believe that this brought about lasting changes in
religion in India. Hinduism also withstood Islamic rule admirably. There have
been several reformist movements in Hinduism, some internally induced and some
externally induced. The British tried to abolish Sati and child marriage which
were seen to be evil in their eyes. During the nineteenth century, Hinduism
developed a large number of reformist movements, inspired by Western ideas, and
some of these addressed the plight of widows and the lower classes, among other
things. The Bramho Samaj was founded in Calcutta by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and was
only one of the several reformist movements in Hinduism. The Arya Samaj was
founded by Swami Dayananda in 1875 advocated monotheism, and tried to do away
with idol worship. Mahatma Gandhi fought against untouchably and for the rights
of Harijans. Ambedkar criticized Hinduism and embraced Buddhism, though his
criticism of Hinduism may have been based on outdated historical models. Swami
Vivekananda travelled to the USA to attend the World Congress of Religions, and
his speech was greeted with enthusiastic applause. Today, after partition, 79%
of the Indian population still follows Hinduism.
Islam
The founder of Islam was
Mohammed who was born in the year 570 AD. He was born into the Quresh tribe
which was the ruling tribe of Mecca, a city in the Hijaz region of Arabia.
Mohammed’s father died before his birth and his mother died when he was six. He
was raised by his grandfather, and later by his uncle Abu Talib after his
grandfather died. Mohammed was sent to live for a year or two with the Bedouins
and he entered the service of a elderly widow named Khadijah and began trading
camels. According to legend, around the year 610, as he was meditating in a
cave on Mount Hira, he heard voices from the Angel Gabriel. Mohammed’s son
began narrating his experiences to his wife and later to others. Even though
many rejected his teachings initially, his following slowly began to grow.
After persecution and opposition to him increased, Mohammed migrated from Mecca
to Medina in 622 AD, and this migration marks the start of the Islamic
calendar. There were many battles between the Meccans and the Medinans in which
the Medinans mostly won. Mohammed sent invitations to Mohammed asking them to
accept Islam. In 629, Mohammed recaptured Mecca and destroyed the idols in the
Kaaba to end the pagan practices. Soon, important rulers began to accept Islam,
and Islam spread. Mohammed died on June 8, 632 AD. Mohammed’s mission was
continued by caliphs such as Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman Ibn Affan. Islam replaced
the pre-Islamic religions of Arabia which were a mixture of polytheism,
Christianity and Judaism. Over the next few centuries, Islam began to spread
across Asia and Africa, and in many cases replaced or co-existed with other
native religions of the respective regions. The Islamic
civilization gave rise to many centers of culture and science and produced notable astronomers, mathematicians, doctors and philosophers during the Golden Age of
Islam.
Christianity
Christianity is a
two thousand year old Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ whom Christians believe to be the son of God. It is the world's
largest and most widespread religion with nearly two and a half billion
followers, representingoverthirty percent of the world population.Christianity began in the first
century after Jesus Christ as a Judaic sect with some
Hellenistic
influence, in the Roman province of Judea. It was initially spread
by some followers of Christ who for some time faced persecution from people of
other faiths. The religion however began to spread more rapidly a couple of
centuries after the death of Christ after it was decriminalized, replacing
other religions including the pagan religions of Europe. Its adherents, known
as Christians, are estimated to make
up a majority of the population in over one hundred and fifty different
countries. Christianity also drew heavily from Jewish traditions, and the Old
Testament is common to both faiths. Christianity later branched into two major
forms, namely Catholicism and the Protestant faith. Christian theology is
formally studied, and this includes eschatology. Today, Christianity faces
threats from modernism, atheism, and agnosticism. Christians believe
that God sent his Son Jesus Christ to earth to save humanity from peril.
One of the most important concepts in Christianity is his crucifixion and his rising
from the dead on the third day. The latter is known as the Resurrection). Christians
claim that Jesus died for humanity, that God raised him from the dead.
Christians also eagerly await the second coming. The latter is a part of
messianic prophecies.
Other religions
Judaism is the religion
of Jewish people, and is also the world's oldest Abrahamic monotheistic
religion. It is over 3,200 years old and originated in ancient Israel. It is
centred around the Torah which is the compilation of the first five books of
the Hebrew Bible. Its most important prophet is Moses. There are about fifteen
million followers of Judaism, mostly in Israel. Buddhism is an Indian religion
and philosophical tradition based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha who gave
up his kingdom and renounced the world. It is the world's fourth-largest
religion, with over five hundred million followers, known as Buddhists, who
comprise around seven percent of the global population. Buddhism largely failed
in India, but spread its tentacles elsewhere. Jainism is another ancient Indian
religion attributed to the teachings of Mahavira who was the twenty-fourth
thirtankara of Jainism. Sikhism was founded by Guru Nanak the religion’s first
Guru, and emerged in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the Punjab region
of northern India. Confucianism is an ancient philosophical belief system that
originated in ancient China some two thousand five hundred years ago. It is
mostly described as a way of life. Taoism originated from the works of the
philosopher Lao Tzu, who wrote the main book of Taoism, the
Tao Te Ching in the sixth century before Christ. Shintoism is a
2300-year-old polytheistic and animistic religion which revolves around belief
in supernatural entities called the kami. It is widely practised in Japan today
where Buddhism is also popular, and the masses are not overly pre-occupied with
religion. [3][4][5]
Anthropology and religion
Ever since cultural
anthropology emerged as a distinct discipline, religion has been a topic of
great interest to Anthropologists. The Anthropology of religion is a vast and a
diverse field of study which includes areas such as a comparative study of religions,
and the role of relation in society and its relation to a given culture.
Cultural Anthropologists study rituals, myths, sacred texts, sacred places,
institutions, belief in shamanism, ghosts, animism, animatism etc, as well as
the history of religions. Religions are often categorized based on different
parameters and common categorizations include Monotheistic, Polytheistic,
Shamanistic etc. According to Anthony F C Wallace, religion can be classified
into individualistic, representing a basic form, Shamanstic, based on healing
and communication with spirits, communal or ecclesiastical.
The great social and
cultural Anthropologist EB Tylor and Max Muller of Indological fame are
considered to be among the founding fathers of the Anthropological study of
religion. However, many other Anthropologists and scholars have made seminal
contributions. As early as the eleventh century, Abu Rahyan Biruni wrote
detailed comparative accounts of religions in Europe, the Middle East and
India. Most Anthropologists try to understand the content of religion and the
meaning it has for man and society while also interfacing it with a society’s
culture. In early Anthropology, studies tended to focus on religion in
traditional societies, particularly primitive ones. To some extent, this view
still prevails. There is also an unabiding interest in comparing and
contrasting what are seen to be primitive and modern religions. However, most
modern Anthropologists tend to study contemporary religion as well in their own
right.
As a result of colonial
baggage, study of major religions, and their role in society, communal and
international relationships were largely neglected until recently. Studies of
relationships between practitioners of different religions and identity studies
have however become more commonplace after the turn of the Twenty-first
century. However, not much has been done to assess the merits or demerits of
each religion or bring about reform, as Anthropologists have largely adopted
non-proactive approaches. There is no single approach towards the study of
religion and a plethora of overlapping or mutually exclusive approaches
dominate the field. Many early approaches were equated with intellectualism,
armchair anthropology, a Eurocentric worldview and condescension towards other
faiths, and to a large extent these biases and prejudices still continue to
this day.
Religion may be defined
as a cultural system of designated behaviours and practices, texts and
sanctified places. The term religion originates from Latin religionem, which
means “respect for what is sacred, reverence of the Gods, sense of right, moral
obligation, sanctity”. The term religion may also have originated from the term
religare, which means to reconnect. The Greek equivalent of the term religion
was threskeia. The following are the most common Anthropological definitions of
religion, and some of them overlap. These definitions also bring out the
diversity of approaches towards religion, though there are two definition
systems, the sociological/functional and the phenomenological/philosophical.
Many of these revolve around a faith in a divine power, although underlying
themes include social cohesion, the sacred and the profane, communication with
spirits, veneration of the dead, magic and symbolism besides rituals, sermons,
commemoration,, sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, funerary
services, matrimonial services, meditation, prayer, music, art, dance, public
services etc.
The first theory on the
origin of religion appeared in EB Tylor’s “Primitive Culture”. According to
Tylor, religion originated when people attempted to understand conditions and
events that could not be explained by daily experiences, and that ancestors
were intrigued with death, dancing and trance. This is known as animism. There
is another theory regarding the origin of religion. The primitives saw the
supernatural as a domain of impersonal power of force. It influenced them, and
they could control it. This view of the supernatural is called animatism.
According to Emile Durkheim, religion originated in the gathering of the
Totemic clan, and whenever members of the clan gathered, a feeling of energy
and power was created.
Many Anthropologists have
also focused on the social functions of religion. In 1912, Emile Durkheim, in continuation of the
work of Feuerbach, considered religion to be a projection of the social values
of society, and a reflection of its internal social order. Some of the more
common anthropological definitions of religion are as follows.
1. "Religion may be defined as the belief
in Spiritual Beings" (Edward B Tylor, Primitive Culture)
2. "Religion is a
propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to
direct and control the course of nature and of human life" (James George
Frazer, The Golden Bough).
3. "Religion is a
system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, persuasive, and
long-lasting moods and motivations by formulating conceptions of a general
order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of
factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic." (Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural
System")
4. "Religion
comprises feelings, acts, and experiences of individual men in their solitude,
so far as they apprehend themselves to stand in relation to whatever they may
consider the divine." (William
James, The Varieties of Religious Experience)
5. "A religion is a
unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, or beliefs and practices which unite into one
single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them. It is the
self-validation of a society by means of myth and ritual." (Émile Durkeim,
The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life)
6. “We should see
religious beliefs and observances as a part of a complex system by which human
beings live together in an orderly fashion. We should look, he maintains, at
the social functions of religion, that is, the contribution that it makes to
the formation and maintenance of a social order” (Morris 1987: 127)
7. “A religion is a
comprehensive worldview or ‘metaphysical moral vision’ that is accepted as
binding because it is held to be in
itself basically true and just even if all dimensions of it cannot be either
fully confirmed or refuted.” (Max Lynn Stackhouse)
8. “Religion is a
relatively-bounded system of beliefs, symbols and practices that address the
nature of existence, and in which communion with others and Otherness is lived
as if it both takes in and spiritually transcends socially-grounded ontologies
of time, space, embodiment and knowing”. (Peter Mandaville and Paul James)
9. "Religion itself,
not indeed on the surface, but fundamentally, not inintention or according to
its own supposition, but in its heart, in itsessence, believes in nothing else
than the truth and divinity of humannature." (Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach)
10. “Religion is a social
institution involving beliefs and practices based upon a conception of the
sacred.” (John Macionis)
Religion was created for
many reasons. Anthropologists believe that it offers explanations for several
issues, and people succumb to it for many reasons. Some of these reasons are as
follows:
1.
Religion explains natural phenomena that can otherwise not be explained.
2.
Religion explains experiences such as dreams, prescience that cannot
otherwise be explained.
3.
Religion explains the origin of things, of life and the purpose of life.
4.
Religion seeks to explain why there is evil and suffering in this world.
5.
Religious explanations make mortality less unbearable.
6.
Religion allays anxiety and fear, and makes for a comfortable world.
7.
Religion holds society together, and bonds different types of people who
are classified based on their role in society.
8.
Religion perpetuates a particular social order.
9.
Religion supports morality, ethics and human values.
10.
When people are superstitious, they succumb to religion.
11.
People think religious concepts are irrefutable.
12.
Refutation of religious concepts is impossible because people are
brainwashed and indoctrinated.
Anthropologists of
religion are not typically or commonly concerned with discovering the hidden
truths or falsehoodsbehind religion. They are more interested in how religious
ideas express a people's cosmology, which represent notions of how the universe
is organised (as held by such people) and the role of humans within thatuniverse
or world.It also therefore seeks to understand human worldviews and thought patterns
in relation to the world. The term “Anthropology of religion” refers to the
study of religion in relation to
other social institutions pervading in that
society, and the comparison of religious beliefs and practices across diverse cultures. This field is similar to other branches of religious studies,
though indeed there are many significant differences. Some early
anthropologists also tied a study and understanding of people in relation to
unilinear models of evolution which were akin to Darwinian models of evolution.
Based on this approach and technique, religions were often, and sometimes
fallaciously so, classified and categorized into primitive and modern
religions. Such views were held not only by EB Tylor, but also by James George
Frazer and others as well. Such views have more or less been abandoned
today.
Of course, many
anthropologists studied religion in relation to society, and other political
and economic forces, though in a somewhat restricted and old-fashioned sense.
Examples of such anthropologists have included Emile Durkheim, Bronislaw
Malinowski, and Mary Douglas. Other researchers
like EE Evans Pritchard studied more esoteric aspects of religion such as
witchcraft, and Victor Turner studied rituals and rites of passage. John
Lubbock also studied the religion of primitive peoples in detail, combining
both archaeological and anthropological evidence. There have been several other
approaches to the study of religion too. For example, Karl Marx was highly
critical of religion, and famously called it the opium of the masses. He also
called Religion "the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a
heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions". His ideas may
however have been highly naïve and simplistic as religion continues to thrive
today. Some scholars carried out a comparative study of religions. For example,
Abu Rahyan Biruni wrote detailed
comparative accounts of religions in Europe, the Middle East and India. Other
anthropologists have equated religion with pre-logical beliefs. Examples of
such anthropologists were the French anthropologist Lucien Levy Bruhl.
Excessive faith in religion is still sometimes associated with a lack of
general education. For example, the French philosopher and journalist Regis
Debray calls religion “the vitamin of the weak.”
Another important
technique used in anthropology of religion is ethnographic fieldwork. This is
what sets apart anthropologists who study religion different from other types
of religious studies scholars. According to a definition provided by Hammersley
and Atkinson (2007), “Ethnography usually involves the Ethnographer
participating overtly or covertly in people’s daily lives for an extended
period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, and asking
questions through formal and informal interviews, collecting documents and
artefacts, in fact, collecting whatever data is available, to throw light on
the issues that are the emerging focus of enquiry.”Ethnography istherefore, an
empirical observation and description of individuals, cultures and societies, in
order to produce a first-hand narrative, and understand its inner workings. For
anthropologists of religion, ethnographic fieldwork refers to a study of
religion through the lens and angle of rituals, worship patterns, religious
values and mores, and other components and aspects of religion.The field is
therefore to the ethnographer what the lab it to the physicist or the chemist.
By this method and
technique, MN Srinivas studied the religion of the people of Coorg, Jonathan
Parry studied the religion centred around death in Benares, Cliford Geertz
studied the religion of Java, and so on. Interestingly, Peggy Froerer also
studied the emergence of Hindu nationalism in rural India (Korba district in
Chattisgarh) through this technique. She also explored the complex relationship
between the RSS, Adivasis and Christianity. Milton B. Singer examined the myths behind the Krishna cult, and so on.
These studies are still mostly carried out from a white man’s perspective,
though Indians and others have slavishly followed their footsteps. Of course,
these studies are not associated with a desire to bring about socio-cultural
change. Anthropology also remains largely confined to a study of primitive
societies, though we believe this must change, as anthropological theory
readies itself to solve humanities pressing problems. [6][7]
Functions of religion
Any religion with all its
myriad affiliated institutions plays a prominent role in daily social life. Society
and culture (along with other political and economic institutions to a smaller
degree) have played a very important role in shaping religion and religious
institutions. But at the same time, many social and cultural institutions
(along with economic and political institutions to a smaller degree), are also
greatly influenced by religious institutions. Religion also it is argued, gives
individuals a sense of direction and purpose in life, and guides them to all
their travails and tribulations. Religion also reinforces a feeling and a sense
of group solidarity and community belonging by providing a we-feeling and
our-feeling. The term “We feeling” in sociology is a mutual emotional
relationship between people in a community which binds them and keeps them
together. At this state, the distinction between individual identity and
community identity becomes blurred, and a sense of shared identity and shared
values are fostered. Collective consciousness, also known as collective
conscience, or collective conscious as described by many sociologist ssuch as
Antonio Gramsci and Michelle Filippini, is the set of shared beliefs,
ideas, and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society.
Through this mechanism, different types of consciousness are coalesced into a
unifying whole. However, this concept is sometimes associated with negative
attributes such as group think and herd mentality. It therefore often leads to
what sociologists describe as "hive mind", "group mind", "mass
mind", and "social mind".CH Cooley, in his seminal work “Social
organization”, published in 1909, formulated the idea of primary groups and
secondary groups and their role in formulating social cohesiveness. He also
spoke of social subjectivity, and the subjective mental processes of
individuals. Several years earlier, he had proposed the concept of
looking-glass self. All these have had some bearing on the study of religion.
Another concept is the
idea of social solidarity which was first proposed by Emile Durkheim in 1893 as
a part of his theory on the development of societies. Social solidarity may be
subdivided into mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity. In the case of
mechanical solidarity, integration and cohesion arises from a homogeneity of
individuals or a set of individuals connected together through similarities.
Organic solidarity is a form of social cohesion that arises based on the
interdependence of people arising from specialization of work, division of
labour, and complementarianism. All these concepts can also be applied to
religious contexts too. This is often demonstrated through prayer or other
kinds of ceremonies where different classes of people belonging to different
castes of society assemble together. These actions lead to common feelings and
a bonding amongst the worshipers of a particular religion. Religion also
undeniably exercises a form of social control, and dictates other social and
cultural activities. It also moulds and shapes society, and shapes the
character of individuals in that society for better or for worse. It also helps
individuals discharge their duties in society. Religion also provides the
foundational basis for values even today, as most values and value systems
today are shaped or dictated by religion. Even today, religious-inspired and
religious-derived values have yet to be replaced by universal human values. One
plausible explanation for this could be that the former are more appealing. In
primitive societies, religious practices were crude, and lacked formal
organization or standardization, though they eventually increased in complexity
and sophistication. However, religion appears to show no sign of receding or
fading. As a matter of fact, religion, religious orthodoxy and religious dogma
appear to be increasing in many parts of the world.
One possible explanation
for this is the great man theory. People cannot often stand up for themselves,
and emulate great leaders blindly and slavishly. The following quote by
Babasaheb Ambedkar sums this up succinctly in relation to Gandhi, “It is indeed
extremely easy for anybody in India to become a Mahatma by merely changing his
attire or his dress. If an individual is wearing an ordinary dress and is
leading a mundane or an ordinary life even if he performs extraordinary or
noble deeds, nobody takes any notice of him. But if a person or an individual
who does not behave in normal manner and shows some queer or peculiar
abnormalities or trends in his character, he instantly and automatically is
recognized as a saint or a Mahatma. If an individual puts on a suit or ordinary
dress and do something, people would not even like to look at him. But if the
same person or individual discards all his clothes, run around naked, grows
long hair, abuses, preaches to and lectures to people and drinks dirty water
from the gutters, people fall at his feet, revers him and begin to worship
him“. This quote dates back to several decades ago, but is still sadly relevant
even now, and may continue for eternity, though it may lessen to a great
degree. Social scientists must address all these grave concerns immediately,
and must understand the human psyche thoroughly along with psychologists and
social psychologist. There is lamentably, a wide disconnect between scholars of
different hues and colours, and an interdisciplinary and a multidisciplinary
approach is sorely lacking. Pedagogy of course needs a thorough and a radical
overhaul, and we have discussed this repeatedly.
Rituals, prayers and
rites prevailed in different important occasions in social life such as birth,
marriage, harvesting, hunting, death etc. and in all these activities religious
rites were performed in both primitive and more complex and evolved societies. In
some cases, rites were associated with rites of passage or liminality, where
the pre-rite social status was different from a post-rite social status.
Examples of such rites are initiation rites of boys in Malawi. This was a
concept first developed by Arnold Van Gennep. Ndembu rites, as studied by
Victor Turner, were life crisis rituals, and rituals of affliction. These were
undeniably related to their primitive religion. Such concepts were later
extended to more complex forms of religion, and in modern life, births,
marriages and deaths are also associated with ceremonies that are tied to
religion. Such ceremonies can also have a non-religious connotation: ceremonies
are performed during house warming ceremonies and inauguration of office
complexes, and oath taking also. Therefore, religious ceremonies have many
complex and wide-ranging functions just like religion. This is true in the
modern world, and even in more advanced and industrialized societies. Even
scientists are often religious; there is a certain degree of cognitive
dissonance they invariably and inevitably live with.
The functions of religion
in society may be classified into many groups. The first group comprises the
personal functions of religion. Religion provides a great deal of solace and
comfort in dealing with the challenges of modern times. It also provides an
antidote to stress, anxiety and pressure, and a convenient escape route. It may
also therefore be compared to a pressure valve or a relief valve. It also
provides gratification to the soul. Many early sociologists, anthropologists,
and most atheists attributed religion and belief in God to fear, but such
notions may be highly reductionist and outdated. Of course, it can be
attributed to the lack of confidence, but this is only one part of the story.
Education can reduce the societal impact of religion, but only partially. According to Sigmund Freud,” it is seen that
how the religion gives tranquillity and by it we can tolerate the problems,
suffering and injustice of this world…death is not the end of everything and it
is a bridge between two worlds.”Freud even believed religion was rooted in
human libido and mortido. According to the professor of philosophy Stephen T.
Asma, religion can provide direct access to an emotional life in ways that
science does not. Therefore, one can argue that science cannot ever replace
religion. In sum, religion cannot be wished away as a mental disease or a
symptom of primitive societies. Those who do so, will pay the price for it.
The human brain is a
strange amalgam of different functions: the ancient reptilian brain which is by
far the oldest (motor functions, fight-or-flight instincts, medulla, pons,
cerebellum, midbrain, globus pallidus, and olfactory bulbs, etc), the limbic or
mammalian brain (behaviour and emotions) and the much more recently evolved
neocortex also called the neopallium, isocortex, or the six-layered cortex,
(this deals with logic, reasoning, and rationality). Religion may be
incompatible with the rational brain but it nourishes the emotional brain
because it calms people, soothes them, and assuages their fears.According to leading
neuroscientists like the American neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, Portuguese
neuroscientist Antonio Damasio and the American neuroscientist Kent Berridge, and
neuro-psychoanalysts like Mark Solms, our minds are motivated primarily by not-so-logical
and not-so-rational emotional systems,
like fear, rage, lust, love and grief. Hence, it would be highly illusory
to expect humans to always act rationally. The Swiss psychologist, Carl Yung likewise
stated, “a believer person is the owner of a precious thing, it means that he
owns something that gives meaning to his life and it is the origin of life and
beauty and give magnificence to the world and individuals, such a person is
having faith and comfort .According to Robert Ernest Hume, professor of the
history of religions, ” Religion gives something to human being that cannot be
received from any other source”.Therefore materialistic pursuits alone do not
satisfy all human beings. Most atheists act and think in silos; many are
evolutionary biologists, yet there is scarcely an inter-disciplinary approach.
We must henceforth declare them outdated, just as we declare Marxist approaches
to the study of religion highly outdated if not outright misleading. It is just
wishful thinking, though the role played by religion in society can be
mitigated through better education.
The second group
comprises social functions of religion. Religion helps human beings relate to
society, and its myriad and its multiple roles. It aids and assists him in
accomplishing a meaningful and productive social life. Besides, it also helps
him find his role and place in society, and helps him mitigate his suffering.
Additionally, it helps amalgamate society, and remove fissures and schisms in
society. Therefore, according to Kent Berridge, ” Religion is not only an
attempt to determine the reality; it is the unity principle of human being
society”.Therefore, according to Robert Smith. “Religion has two functions. One
is regulating the personal behaviour for the benevolence of others and the
other is motivating the common feeling and social unity”. Also, according to
Emile Durkheim, religion reinforces social unity and stability. It is also an
agent of social control, and cements a pre-defined social order. This unity is
of course based on a commonality of beliefs, and less commonly, a commonality
of purpose. The downside of religion however, is that while it unites people of
a particular group, often people speaking different languages and belonging to
different ethnicities, it automatically has a tendency to alienate and
antagonize people from other religious groups.
Thirdly, religion can
have a cultural aspect. It is important to note here that social and cultural
dimensions of religion are entirely different despite a possible overlap. Both
culture and religion can each other bidirectionally and multidimensionally.
Adherents of a religion often act as brand ambassadors not only for a culture,
but also for a nation and a region. Culture represents the way of life for a
society, and culture intrinsically includes religion. Religion is also one of
the most important determinants of culture. Wittgenstein and others gave the
idea of culture a Marxist bias, but this is highly misleading. This is a view
that pervades in some circles even today. Culture is real and can be
scientifically approached and studied. At the same time, it is also subjective.
Religious identity is also intertwined with other components of entity such as
national identity, social identity, and cultural identity. It is for this
reason, that religious shifts can sometimes be exceedingly difficult. Fourthly,
religion may have an economic impact on society. For example, religious tourism
is an important business in many different parts of the world. For example, the
Tirupathi Balaji temple in South India is one of the richest in the world. Haj
revenue constitutes a major source of income for Saudi Arabia. According to Brian and Melissa Grim of
Georgetown University, religion in the United States contributes $1.2 trillion
each year to our economy and society which is more than the top ten technology
companies combined. The publication of religious books and religious literature
also constitutes a major business in some countries.
Fifthly, religion also
has political connotations and overtones in many cases, and is associated with
political power. This is because religion has historically played a major role
in public life in many societies. It even makes or breaks rulers and
governments in many cases. This has been witnessed and observed throughout
history. Critics of Islam state that Islam is a quasi-political entity with so
separation between religion and the state. The relationship between the two may
of course be mutual and bidirectional. For example, the monarch is still
officially the head of the Church of England, and the Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom is still responsible for selecting the Archbishop of Canterbury.India
is officially still secular, but its secularism has waned in recent times with
the rise of Hindutva. This may have been both reactionary and non-reactionary,
though vested interests and political forces and entities were indeed involved.[8][9]
Definitions of God
Among the earliest usage of the word God comes from the sixth century Christian manuscript “Codex Argenteus”. The English word itself is thought to have been derived from the Proto-Germanic word “Guđan”. The English word God along with its counterparts in other languages is used for virtually all conceptions and the term remains an English translation common to all conceptions of religion. This is in spite of the fact that there are many significant differences across religions. It is sometimes used to describe a formless irreligious God associated with nature. This usage is relatively more recent however, and is said to have originated from the ideas of Baruch Spinoza, who was a pantheist. Among the Jews, the word Yahweh was used to mean God, while Muslims and Hindus use the term Allah and Brahman respectively. Other religions use different names; for example, in the Chinese religion, Shangdi is referred to as the creator of the universe, while in Zoroastrianism, the term Ahura Mazda is used. The term Waheguru is used by the Sikhs to refer to a great teacher, while the Baha’i use the term Baha.
Conceptions of God also vary widely. The primary streams of
religious thought are monotheism and polytheism. Monotheism refers to the
belief in one God, while polytheism refers to the belief in multiple Gods.
Monotheism has variants such as henotheism, though this term is less commonly
used. The idea of monotheism is traced to the Egyptian Pharoah Ankhenaten,
though the idea of one God could be still older. Agnosticism is
the belief that the existence of God is unknown or unknowable.
This position is popular among scientists, and theologians alike. This is also
the position that we most strongly endorse. Deism is the belief in a deity
without religious belief. Monism is the denial of a duality between man and
God. Some scientists are atheists, and this position either rejects the
existence of God completely, or holds that there is no evidence to prove the
existence of God. For example, Richard Dawkins is an outspoken atheist, while
Jerry A Coyne and Christopher Hitchens were antitheists, holding the view that
religion is outright dangerous and needs to be attacked from every front.
Others
like Carl Sagan, Stephen Jay Gould, Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson have
mostly veered towards agnosticism, though they may have held different positions
in their lives. God is often seen to be omniscient, omnipresent, all-merciful,
and all-powerful, though he is at times seen to be wrathful and harsh. Other
religions also prescribe and describe a personal equation between man and God,
often through the medium of prayer. Many arguments have been made for, and
existence of God. These commonly include philosophical, epistemological,
cosmological, teleological, and ontological arguments. Creationism is the
premise that the universe was created by a divine entity, and some creationists
even attempt to half-heartedly refute scientific explanations such as
evolutionism. This is by no means, however, always necessary. We have briefly
touched upon various creation myths in our earlier work. Given the vast scope
of the conceptions of God, the definitions of God also vary vastly; some
overlap, while others do not. It is pointless reproducing all of them here. Solutions
to intractable problems will not come about easily including the mystery of
time, space and life; we always need healthy skepticism, though not
pathological skeptopathy. The latter can be dangerously counter-productive to
scientific enquiry and the progress of knowledge; we also need epistemological
neutrality. Remember our old adage – one kind of bias legitimizes every other
kind of bias.
Spinoza’s God
Baruch Spinoza who lived from 1632 to 1677 was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, and was considered to be one of the most important and radical thinkers of the early modern period. Spinoza developed a highly original philosophical system that advocated for individual liberty, a secular democratic state, and a conception of God as identical with nature. Monism or the God of nature was one of the most important concepts developed by Spinoza. According to him, there was only one infinite substance in the universe, called "God, or Nature" (Deus sive Natura). This substance had infinite attributes, of which humans can only perceive two: thought and extension (mind and body). Spinoza also advocated determinism, (which is somewhat difficult to prove) arguing that everything in the universe followed from the necessity of the divine nature and natural laws. These concepts later evolved into pantheism. His ideas did not sit well with the Jewish orthodoxy, who believed in more traditional ideas of God, and he was eventually ex-communicated for alleged heresy and blasphemy. However, his ideas were accepted, and in some cases modified by the likes of Hegel, Nietzsche, and Albert Einstein, who stated, "I believe in Spinoza's God, who reveals himself in the harmony of all that exists in the universe, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and the doings of mankind, or punishes and rewards". We also then have deism, or God without religion; conversely and inversely, some religions like Buddhism don’t talk about God at all. Many other scientists believed in Spinoza’s God. Carl Sagan viewed the concept of God ambiguously, rejecting the traditional, anthropomorphic figurehead of God, but acknowledging a "God" as the universe's physical laws or the cosmos itself. Isaac Asimov contrarily was a staunch atheist, viewing God as a product of ignorance, preferring to trust in science, human reason, and evolution for understanding the universe and humanity's place, though he acknowledged peoples' rights to believe. A few scientists were however, devout Christians.
We lack a holistic social sciences driven approach; how did time originate; doesn’t everything always have to have a beginning; Isn’t this counter intuitive? There are indeed limits to knowledge. On the other hand, why should we worship the law of gravity? Is there a personal intervening and benevolent God? How do we define a personal God? How do we prove it? Are people’s beliefs justified and true? How did Indian philosophers arrive at the ideas of God? Was it imagination? Was it hallucination? Was it inference? Was it deduction? There are some logical fault lines that currently exist. Shouldn’t we make out a case for a difference between God and religion? Shouldn’t we get rid of the God versus evolution over-simplification? Why do evolutionary biologists always crowd out others in debates? It has even become fashionable to bash God without defining what God is. All forms of group think are bad. Christian centric debates dominate. Works are primarily targeted towards western-centric audiences. People from other parts of the world also lap them up slavishly. It has been well over one and a half centuries since the theory of evolution has been published, yet religion reigns supreme in many parts of the world. Clearly, we need other approaches. We need integrated ones; we need culture-faced ones, we need people-centric ones; we need to ramp up science communication before it is too late, and reorient it if necessary. People from different cultures may tend to approach philosophical issues differently; we need to acknowledge and factor in those differences. In the media, the Higgs boson has often been called the "God particle" after the 1993 book titled “The God Particle” was published by Nobel Laureate Leon M. Lederman. However, the original name proposed was the godamn particle, and this titled was rejected by the publisher.
Religion and identity go hand in hand; religion is a core component of personal and societal identity. We have published extensively on identity in the past; The names of the papers were, “Formulating ‘Extended identity theory’ for twenty-first century social sciences research: Modeling extended identity in relation to real-world observations and data” and “Generic Identity Theory for the Twenty-first Century: Towards grand unified approaches in identity formation, identity transformation and identity dilution or neutralization”. Readers are requested to read these two papers in full, and we need greater interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and multidsiciplinarity in efforts. Identity also stems from we feeling and our feeling, as observed by CH Cooley in 1909. Identity and other topics such as enculturation, acculturation, transculturation, massculturation, deculturation, mind-orientation, cultural orientation, thought worlds, world views, and alienation can also be likewise proven through valid and bona fide social science techniques such as ethnography, participant observation method, interviews, questionnaires, and surveys. We had covered all these in detail in the past. Religion is here to stay. Its effect can however be whittled down. People will always be people. Not everyone can become an evolutionary biologist like Richard Dawkins; not everyone can become an anthropologist; not everyone wants to become an evolutionary biologist, either; not everyone wants to become an anthropologist, either. Only one in a million probably can. People are driven by fear and anxiety. People are driven by family values and family systems. People are driven by cultural values and cultural norms. In India, when people have family problems, or are worried about their families, they go to the temple and pray. Cultural orientations vary, but gaps can be bridged; We also developed the concept of non bounded mindspace; Religion provides many people with succor and solace in their hour of grief and hour of need; Science cannot usually do that. Humans are sentient and thinking beings. They are not machines. Religion may not stand an epistemological chance in heaven or hell given that there are probably hundreds of billions of planets in the observable universe, but there is almost certainly no Hinduism Islam, or Christianity in any of them.
This does not again however, take away the fact that humans will almost always remain humans, driven by the inner urges and proclivities. They are not always necessarily logical. We had spoken about cognitive dissonance and self-reinforcing cognitive dissonance in our previous papers and publications; that is why we need well-rounded and well-heeled research, and not research that is imperfect, one sided, and has the potential to sow seeds of doubt. We need ethnography driven research; we need data driven research. We need emic perspectives of various types and kinds, including wide and deep perspectives. We need to understand how people think. We need to understand why people think the way they do. This is the work of social and cultural anthropologists. This is necessary because we are living in an interconnected world. Islamic terrorism is every one’s problem. Religious inspired and religious derived acts of terror continue to plague the world. Hindutva revision of history is everyone’s problem. And so on and so forth. We have also spoken about deep emic and wide emic in the past. The principles of phenomenology can help too. We have the theory of cultural lag. This means technology changes faster than culture. Most parents teach their children about culture and religion, not what make of smart phone or automobile to buy. We must understand enculturation processes of various types and kinds in different cultures. We also need to understand group conformity and cognitive dissonance.
People need to fit into a culture, a society, and its values and norms. Science and technology may not be able to replace culture and religion for the most part. However, there could be wide variations between society to society and from individual to individual. Religions like Christianity, Islam and Hinduism represent major identities with well-entrenched positions. They have major and well-entrenched cabals and vested interests, and are linked to territorial identities as well. The problem with current science is that cross-cultural approaches are lacking. Transdisciplinary approaches are lacking. Science lacks a human touch and is not cross-cultural and transdisciplinary enough. As Seth MacFarlane once said “Religion is notorious for conceiving an idea and then trying to make it true, either by propaganda, or sometimes by force, while science makes a discovery and then immediately sets about trying to disprove it, just to make sure that it’s correct before everybody makes idiots of themselves”. How true, but the underlying processes encompassing science can themselves be overhauled, as we have repeatedly written. Religion will slowly decline. At least the importance people accord to it will slowly decline. This can be no magic wand or an on off switch. At the same time, there are so many things about the universe we do not understand. People do not like to believe in lies and half-baked truths. It is better we get to the truth through dialogue and debate and not polarize people further. Whether people are being poloarized or not, can also be understood through valid and bona fide social science techniques. People may wish to remain cultural Christians, cultural Muslims and cultural Hindus for some more time.
At the same time, we can allow for less damaging philosophies and religions to emerge in the long term; this will at best be a gradual process, and the mechanics of any such process are iffy and uncertain. Major religious shifts are possible, but they may not be easy given the fact that Islam, Christianity and other identities are major, powerful, and well-entrenched identities, as previously stated. Both Islam and Christianity replaced less powerful pagan religions for the most part. Better education and pedagogy is required, but even education systems in many western nations are apparently outdated. Even western educated people – some very highly educated people, convert to Islam, or flock to Hindu God men. This means something is badly amiss; changes are required everywhere. Scientists will readily admit to not knowing everything; this is an intrinsic feature of science. However, many unnatural cross-cultural and transdisciplinary gaps still persist to this day; hence, our globalization of science mission. Many if not most researchers cannot get past binary thinking and embrace complexity yet. Most researchers think in bits and pieces. This fact can be verified and easily proven. This naturally leads to counter-movements and reactionary movements such as renewed adherence to religion, new age movements, etc. The point is to change the world, slowly at least, and not lament the oversized role that religion plays in society. We had proposed a ten point agenda, repeatedly, and we reiterate the concepts here.
1. A complete and a total
separation of religion and state
2. Developing secular
constitutions that grant all human rights to citizens
3. Universal education
for all groups and both genders, and being UpToDate with latest pedagogical
techniques so that educational systems can be brought UpToDate from time to
time
4. Granting complete
religions freedom including freedom to practice, freedom to convert, and
freedom to non-religion
5. Saying no to religious
inspired laws, and instituting and promulgating secular laws
6. Taking steps to
promoting a scientific temper and a spirit of enquiry in society, by allowing
meaningful and productive debate, and improving education systems
7. Phasing out religious
education and teaching universal human values instead
8. Allowing free media –
There must be absolutely no censorship of internet and media
9. Allowing complete freedom of speech and free and open discussion of
religion, and permitting constructive criticism of religion in various
platforms such as the media, and in universities.
10. Moving all nations towards democracy and democratically elected
governments in due course
We must fight to gradually bring them into fruition. This can be done through collaborative and concerted action by scholars, and by putting pressure on governments and institutions over the next couple of decades. These alone can put the menace of religious violence to a complete end, and once and for all. Governments must also step in and take action. Scholars must lead from the front. This is because social sciences can no longer afford to be passive; they must become agents of change.
[1] A little history
of religion, Richard Holloway, Yale University Press London, 2016
[2] What is religion? Origin, definition and explanations, Brian Courtney
Wilson Brill Leiden, Boston, Koln
[3] Millenium Developmental Goals and
Muslims of India Tanweer Fazal Oxford Indian Working Papers Series, 2013
[4] The Indian Muslims, M.Mujeeb,
Munshiram Manoharlal Pubishers Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, 1967
[5] The Saffron Book: Many splendoured
Hinutva by Prafull Goradia, Contingency Target Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, 2004
[6] Religion and Science: Historical and
Contemporary Issues Ian G. Barbour, HarperOne, New York, 1999
[7] Ethnography:
Brewster John, Open University Press, 2000
[8]Introducing Anthropology of Religion: Culture to the
UltimateJack David Eller, Routledge, New York, 2014
[9] Audi, Robert, and
Nicholas Wolterstorff. Religion in the Public Square: The Place of
Religious Reasons in Political Debate. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield,
1997.
posted by Sujay Rao Mandavilli @ December 15, 2025
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