Fixing Religion? – Dialectic Two Step
Estimated reading time: 5 minute(s)
Question: Shouldn’t religious people give up their religion if the tenets are archaic. Shouldn’t they look elsewhere to satisfy their spiritual need?
Response: I think religions would do well to give up archaic, arcane and false dogma. But, perhaps fixing religion is a futile goal. To me, your question carries with it its own answer. What are the spiritual needs of religious people? They vary. I would suggest that many, probably most, find satisfaction in the current selection of religions.
People like us are the outliers. Unfulfilled by platitudes and fundamentalist interpretations of sacred texts, we’ve moved on from mainstream religion. We find our homes elsewhere. But to offer advice to abandon the mainstream would probably fall on deaf ears, and rightfully so. We would be speaking from our own needs. That is by definition selfish and unhelpful advice.
Religion is a very personal thing. Freedom to choose is something that is fundamental to a fruitful spiritual practice. While the cognitive dissonance we find in mainstream religions pains us, there is little correction we can offer to someone who finds gratification in it. It is from this perspective that I find evangelism to be an unwelcomed thing.
Freedom to choose is something that is fundamental to a fruitful spiritual practice.
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Don’t get me wrong, there are boundaries that should be firmly established to protect us from dangerous religious ideas. History’s most famous being the establishment clause of the US Constitution. But the same document wisely ensures the freedom to practice the religion of our choosing.
Dialectic Two-Step is an ongoing series of my thoughts on questions that come my way.
Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. - Octavio
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