Part I – If religion isn’t the enemy, what is?
Religion seems to take the brunt of the blame for much of
humanity’s frailties, abuses, oppressions and egoic needs for control and
domination. People have been fighting, oppressing, suppressing, controlling,
dominating and manipulating others for centuries. A large segment of the
population today believes that “religions” are the main culprit. The reality is
that dominators and oppressors will use any excuse, rationalization,
justification, rationale or scapegoat that is in their world view for these
abuses. People have used race, ethnicity, gender, nationality and just about
every other outward identity as the motivating factors for conflict and
hostility. For some reason, though, religion
seems to be the lightening rod scapegoat more than any other factor. Why is
that?
There is no question that religion has been used throughout history
to justify discrimination, oppression, control and domination. No question. That
continues into present day. Religion, however, does not have a monopoly on such
malice, hate and hostility. We’ve seen oppression around the world based on
ethnicities, gender and nationality with equal fervor. Genocides, displacement, and oppressive and
suppressive societal controls have been forced onto certain segments of the
population on every continent at some point. Some believe that the religions themselves
promote inequities and discrimination based on identities such as gender,
sexual orientation and other religious affiliations. Do they really, though? Take women as an example, which is the most
commonly oppressed identity with religious justifications, particularly with
Islam and Christianity. In the times of both Jesus and Muhammad, women had
leadership roles around them and in their community which both teachers embraced,
supported and respected. Interpretations of these religions’ holy books saying otherwise
have been distorted and taken out of context. Both Jesus & Muhammad
believed they were servants to their people, embraced other cultures,
ethnicities, professions and genders and were never biased or discriminatory
based on an identity. 
What about ethnic and nationality oppression? Is religion
really responsible for some hostilities but then something else is responsible
for others? These purported
justifications for discrimination and hostility are gross distortions and
cherry-picking out of context certain limited statements in religious sacred
texts. This also presumes that you define a “religion” by what is currently
viewed as the institutionally sanctioned sacred text and dogma of the day. In
any event, there is little in any religion that truly justifies hostility or
oppression towards any group or identity. Despite this, religion, as much or more
than anything else like money and power, is viewed by so many as the ultimate
world corrupter.
I contend that it is
not in fact religion, or money, or power, or anything else outside us that
motivates and drives thoughts, emotions and behaviors towards “us” and “them”. Money, religion, and power are just tools,
and not the underlying cause or problem. All of these behaviors and mentalities
arise
from one thing. The ego. It is the ego run amok – our shadows - that
justify oppression, control, domination, bias and hostilities. It is not a
religion, or a flag, or money, or power that corrupts. All of these are just
vehicles to carry our own egoistic hate and need to feel superior over others
and our environment by controlling and dominating others. Our egos will use
anything and everything at our disposal to justify and tell ourselves the
stories that rationalize our desired beliefs that we are superior and our
resulting behaviors.
Stay tuned for this ongoing discussion….
