A La Carte Religion

A couple of years ago a friend and I got into a discussion about religion, one that I think was left up in the air.  It’s been bugging me since then, popping into my head over and over.  There was a point I was trying to make that I don’t think I got across.  I think it’s a pretty important point.

It all started when I saw a woman with a Hebrew phrase tattooed on her ankle.  Tattoos are specifically forbidden in the Torah (Leviticus 19:28).  I made a snarky comment that anyone who was actually Jewish, religiously not secularly, wouldn’t get anything tattooed regardless of what the message was.  My friend responded that my beliefs were old fashioned and advocated for a more modern approach, which seems to be some sort of a la carte spiritualist affair.  Personally, I find that belief system to be intellectually dangerous.  You’re supposed to grow throughout your spiritual journey.  If you pick what you want to believe based on what you already believe, how do you grow?

Western religions are absolute.  Whether you follow any franchise of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, you believe that your book or books are the word of God, either handed down by God Himself or written by humans who were inspired by God.  Those rules are God’s will for you to learn and follow.  I can’t recall any commandment or law, and those of you who are more versed in the Torah, New Testament, or Koran than I can correct me if I’m wrong, beginning with the phrase, “if it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” “if you feel like it,” or, “if this statement already agrees with what you believe I would say.”  It’s that third qualifier that really troubles me.

If you buy into Western religion then you believe in a perfect God who sent you his words.  Those words are perfect, and it’s not your place to second guess the creator.  God created everything so He knows what’s what.  He gave us these books to study and follow, not to question.  All of the commandments and laws are to be followed, not just the ones you want to believe in or think are easy to accomplish.  You are not the arbiter of truth.  You learn the external truth.  That is how you grow.

If, on the other hand, you decide that you can choose which biblical passages God actually meant and which He didn’t, then surely God is made in man’s image.  I don’t see how you can hold both the belief that you can decide what God is as well as the belief in a supreme being who is the ultimate arbiter of truth.  Either you define truth or God does.  If you choose yourself, then you have to reject western religions because in those faiths, God is the truth. 

If you find you don’t buy the whole package of these western religions of absolutes, then maybe Gnostic theistic philosophies are not for you.  Back off from them.  Most importantly, stop identifying as a member of one of those groups.  Speak the truth about who you are and what you believe.  The United States is a country filled with people who claim to be Christian, but most only on Christmas and Easter.  If more of those people identified themselves as some sort of unaffiliated theists or something that accurately described their beliefs and practices, maybe the Republican Party wouldn’t spend so much time pandering to the religious whack-jobs who think the United States is a Christian Nation.  

Eastern religions, more akin to philosophies in the western mind, don’t rely on some single set of rigorous and concrete laws to be slavishly followed like western religions.  However, these are not “believe whatever makes you feel good” philosophies either.  There is still an external truth for you to seek.  You grow spiritually through meditation and learning, you wrestle with philosophy, but you do grow.  There are correct paths to follow.

The modern spiritualist is on a self-designed path, picking and choosing items from a variety of different philosophies and religious traditions to suit their own tastes (often incorporating magical and pseudo-scientific hoo-hah along the way).  But how do you know which beliefs are right to choose?  More importantly, if you’re only choosing things you already agree with, how do you grow spiritually? 

When these spiritualists seek an external guide, they invariable choose someone who is saying what they want to hear, what they already believe.  So, there’s really no growth there.  Instead, you end up with a group of likeminded individuals reaffirming their biases and participating in groupthink.  In groups where ideas are not challenged, instead forming consensus, there can’t be growth.

If you happen to be one of these types of spiritualists, you can stop your quest now.  You already know what is right, what is wrong, and why.  There’s no need to waste any more of your time surrounding yourself with quotes that reaffirm what you already believe.  You’re not going to grow.

Personally, I would like to see more people evaluate their religiosity.  I find that in my lifetime I’ve met few devoutly observant people.  I bet, through reason and deliberation, that most would conclude that they are not religious.  However, since few have used evidence or reason to arrive at religion, I doubt that evidence or reason will persuade them to abandon religion.

I, myself, am trying to live a life with a reason and evidence-based philosophy.   I know that there are many things I do not know, and that won’t be known in my lifetime.  I’m OK with that.  I don’t need to fill the gaps in my knowledge with any convenient fantasy.  Instead, I’m learning to be comfortable saying, “I don’t know.”  Learning to say, “I don’t know” is a great experience.  It is liberating to speak the truth.