More Than Just God To Live For
The debate over which religion is right rages on to this day in 2011. Among the issues in that conversation is whether or not we can have high moral standards and live a happy, purposeful life without religion of any kind to guide us. Dr. Laura Schlessinger used to argue on her radio show that, as I understood her, God supplies the only valid reason for adhering to moral principles. I heard her to say that without the fear of God and religion in general, society would destroy itself, because there would be no absolute retribution for doing wrong. That is, without the fear of God to disuade us from doing wrong she implied, there would be no reason to do right. But there’s more than just God to live for.
Indeed I completely disagree with Schlessinger, because more than God, there is additionally, the sheer sense of happiness and harmony that most experience when they behave in ways that please (or does not hurt) others. That’s the “brotherhood of man” that John Lennon sang of in his song, Imagine. There’s also more than God, the guilt and shame that again, most folks also perceive, when they intentionally hurt another, that keeps most sane people on the right moral track.
The Golden Rule, more than God himself, keeps us morally straight. We need not instill religious doctrine in someone to observe these naturally-occurring phenomena. Toddlers cry when they at first pull a dog’s ears hard, not realizing that this would cause her pain. While they know nothing of God, they certainly realize that they’ve done wrong by hurting the animal. When they actually see and hear the pet’s anguish from what they did, most children become sad and ashamed.
Now I’ll concede that religion, properly taught and limited in scope, can have a beneficial effect on society’s morality. But at the same time though, people put too much “faith” in God, and not enough in themselves. So they typically do not put forth as much effort as they could to reaolve or cope with their troubles. More than God, there’s the human desire to live in harmony just becaue it feels wonderful to do so.
I think we could get along quite well without the numbing effects that religion has on critical thinking abilities of the masses. Then, we would not have to debate about which religion is right, and people would look to themselves and their immediate surroundings here on Earth and realize that yes, there’s more about life to strive for than simply the oneness with God. We could instead, strive to please ourselves, and each other. We don’t need religion for that. We don’t need God either because there’s way more than just God to live for. My answer to the question of which religion is right is, as you’ve probably guessed, no religion at all.