Religion is a Lie!
And Now That We Have Your Attention…
Recently, on a trip to Denver, CO, we ran into a young man and woman, probably in their early twenties, who were handing out literature on the sidewalk. Both wore black t-shirts which read, plainly, “Religion is a lie.”
Naturally, we stopped to hear what they had to say. The young man handed us a card, which said the following:
Religion, by it’s very nature, is so ambiguous. What does it mean? Every major religion claims exclusivity (i.e. they are the only way). So which one will save you? Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Mormonism or Christianity? And if Christianity, which denomination? Baptist, Catholic, Christian Scientist, 7th Day Adventist, Lutheran, Protestant, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Methodist and the like? Which one ultimately answers the question of an afterlife and why? Do we need man or church to reach God? Can other beliefs, like secular humanism, consumerism, or environmentalism be considered religions? Is religion about the eternal and a deity or is it about finding purpose and meaning in something. Does truth reside in us or outside of us? And if we can simply cherry pick pieces of each, everyone believing what’s right for them, then what’s the point?
Does this sound like something we could have written here at Skeptical Monkey? Perhaps—but if you check out religionisalie.com (and we invite you to do so) you’ll see the above paragraph, soon followed by, “With all our backgrounds and religious upbringings, we’ve only found [what we're looking for] in the person of Jesus Christ and we want a relationship with him.”
It didn’t take long for these young people to mention the necessity of a “relationship” with Jesus Christ. We asked if THAT was a religion. “Oh, no,” the young man said. “It’s a relationship.”
You Say Potato…
The idea is not a new one. Ray Comfort has stated on his blog
…man messes up everything to which he puts his hand–especially religion, that I hate religion, and I explained that the difference between being a Christian and being “religious” is something called “works righteousness.” Religious people think that they can earn (or bribe) their way to Heaven by doing things–fasting, praying, facing Mecca, doing good works, etc., when eternal life is a free gift of God. It can’t be earned. I said that I would rather be called ’stumpy’ than ‘religious.’ Religion has caused untold wars and misery throughout history, it’s the opium of the masses, and I don’t run around in a white robe sprinkling water on people.”
The folks at Notreligion.com have built a whole website around the relationship-over-religion phenomenon:
“…if you’ve never had a real encounter with the compassionate, powerful, loving Creator of the universe, what’s to lose except hope, purpose and knowing what happens after this life? This will be the most important relationship you ever start.
Still, we say it’s a religion
Merriam-Webster defines religion (emphasis mine) as:
- a: the state of a religious ‹a nun in her 20th year of religion› b (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
- 2: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
- archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness
- : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
When Christians rail against religion, we suspect it is the “personal set or institutionalized system of…practices” that bothers them. We couldn’t agree more. To get tied up in the rules and details of a religion, to the extent that you miss the bigger picture, is of course not advised by the good folks at Skeptical Monkey. But what about the “service and worship of God” part of this? Or the “system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith”? Don’t those constitute religion? And aren’t those big building blocks of the Christian belief system?
But Let’s Play Along For a Just a Minute…
Assuming you can have a relationship with someone who can’t be seen or heard, how would you ever know but that person wants of you? The “Religion is a Lie” folks had the answer—forgo all the corruptions of man, and turn to the bible.
Fair enough. But if a “relationship” with Jesus demands that you believe everything in the bible, even to the point that you toss out modern-day scientific discoveries in favor of the six-day creation story (we don’t actually know for sure if the “Religion is a Lie” folks are creationists, but for the sake of argument I’ll make the assumption) isn’t that religious dogma in and of itself?
Conclusion
In the end, we agreed with the two young people when they told us that religion tends to muddle and confuse things. We then politely excused ourselves from the conversation.
We just believe in one less religion than they do.
This seems to be a variation of the No True Scotsman fallacy. If you don’t like “religion,” then just define it in such a way that it no longer applies to you! Well, the extent to which this can work depends on whether or not others are willing to accept the new definition. I don’t.
I was asked several times by Christians on my college campus this past year about having a “relationship” with either God or Jesus. I simply don’t understand this. Unless you believe that God/Jesus secretly speaks to you, then it seems to me like a very one-sided relationship. If I told people that I have (present tense) a relationship with a deceased relative, or that I have a relationship with a colony of invisible fairies, I would probably be considered insane. Yet, if I say that it is God, then that is considered perfectly normal.
Written by James on June 30th, 2008Wow - really an interesting encounter! Those T-shirts are pretty disingenuous, I’d say, as well as their card, “Don’t trust religions because they all claim to be the one way? Try our way, it *really* works!”
What makes me sad a bit, as a religious person, is that they seem to dismiss the possibility that religion might actually, for many, be about building relationships with the Divine - making their way perhaps less novel than they imagine.
I’m ok with having James think me insane for saying that
I think his comment is great because it touches on really interesting points - one being that when we have a “state” religion (which, let’s face it, we do - it’s “normal” in the US to be Christian - it’s a plus for presidential candidates, while professing to being Wiccan or Buddhist would be considered iffy at best by the masses) the weirdness of what it is that religion is, is lost (on most).
Religion IS subversive, is insane - the way an artist or poet or someone in love is insane. Religion when accepted, when “normal,” or especially when used as a tool of power is potentially a very ugly thing. At the very least, when it becomes a convention, a boring routine, it ceases to live. Perhaps that’s what those Tshirt folks mean when they confess to not having found a relationship with the Divine through religion. Which is ok, but it doesn’t mean that this is true for everyone.
Written by fluorophore on June 30th, 2008I don’t think “Religion is a lie” is quite accurate. It’s a great tagline, but I believe “Religion is a mistake” would be nearer the truth - or even “Religion is a discredited hypothesis”. As conscious beings, our problem is that we’re clever enough to be aware of cause and effect, but not patient enough to allow things to be “not yet known.” That’s why we short circuit the slow, rational, scientific discovery of the universe by filling in all the not-yet-understood bits with “God did it”. As for a relationship with the Almighty - well, it does help to postulate a benevolent third-party intelligence sometimes, to give us some objectivity with our relentlessly subjective and ultimately selfish outlook on life. But God is a construction of man, not the other way around. He is the X we use in equations - an artificial unknown we use to help us make sense of a frankly bewilderingly arbitrary universe.
Written by Andy Kimber on July 8th, 2008The “relationship vs. religion” bit bugs the heck out of me. It’s what I heard all of my life. James is right, it’s really just a semantic game, changing the name of something without changing its substance.
Written by the chaplain on July 8th, 2008One of those attention-grabbing ads that sucker you in, before the hard sell.
You made some really good points on the definition of religion.
If believing that you have a relationship with an imaginary friend, on the basis of a fiftieth-hand translation of a book written thousands of years ago doesn’t count as “religion”, it’s hard to see what could.
Written by heather on July 12th, 2008Damn, I was hoping it would say “Religion is a lie” as the title then for the article it would just read “That is all. Thank you.”
Written by Wolfy on September 29th, 2008