Thank
God!
It is
frequently asserted, not infrequently to
affirmative cheers and chants of
"Amen," that God is the source of
everything that all right-thinking and
virtuous people esteem and
value. Indeed, to many it seems an
obvious Truth, utterly beyond question.
Now, if
the assertion is true, then it should hold
up under examination. If it is true, then we have nothing to
lose, and only confidence to gain, from
exploring the issue. Therefore, let's
take a look at various important aspects of
human civilization, and consider the role of
religion and other influences in their
development.
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Categories |
Contributions of Religion |
Other Factors |
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Agriculture |
Agriculture
was made possible, in large part, by the ancient
discovery of the regular patterns of the seasons.
Crops planted and harvested at certain times of
the year produced more bountiful yields, and
rituals were devised to time activities so as to
coincide with the annual motions of sun and
stars. However, worship of the sun, blood
sacrifice, and propitiation of the gods in order
to ensure favorable weather and eradicate
pestilence have also been prominent facets of
religion, both ancient and modern. The
effectiveness of these practices has been
questionable at best. |
Science
hasn't yet learned to control weather.
Nevertheless, marine, aerial, space, and computer
sciences have greatly enhanced our ability to
understand, predict, and work with it. But even before these,
technological advances opened to cultivation vast
areas of land formerly deemed impossible to farm.
Pumping and irrigation, horse-drawn metal-tipped
ploughs, crop rotation, genetics, modern power,
and many other developments have enabled mankind
to support a global population, numbered at only
a few millions throughout most of history, now in
the billions and climbing exponentially. |
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Art |
Religion
has inspired and supported many works of art,
from prehistoric carvings and cave paintings to
modern cinema. |
Artists
make art possible through their talents and
imaginations (even to the creation of works whose
themes are at odds with their personal beliefs).
Technology has enhanced art through the
development of ceramics, metals, fabric, paper,
pigments, and solvents, as well as film, audio,
video, and special effects. |
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Economics |
Historically,
religion has allied itself with political power.
Its influence has therefore been to concentrate
and maintain wealth in the hands of a few,
typically yielding tiny privileged cliques
supported by large numbers of subsistence-level
laborers (slaves or serfs) and protected by a
brutal warrior class. Any religion older than two
centuries is necessarily built around such a
social structure, since nothing else had been
previously known or envisioned in any civilized
culture of more than rudimentary complexity. |
Humanity
was finally relieved of its age-old need for
slave and serf labor, not by righteous virtue,
but by the Industrial Revolution. From this
radical change sprang new economic ideas.
Capitalism, socialism, and communism are only
very recent experiments in human history. Some
have proven more successful than others, but all
have been more appealing to common people than
the aristocratic tyrannies of old. Capitalism has
fostered tremendous innovation and
entrepreneurship. Meanwhile, moderating social
forces have enhanced overall prosperity, by
restraining runaway plutocracy and extending a
stable consumer base to an unprecedented breadth. |
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Education |
Throughout
most of history, only a very few have been
educated to any appreciable degree. Indeed,
education in Europe was almost non-existent
following the fall of the Roman Empire. During
the late Medieval period, however, a rising
demand for general knowledge among the affluent
merchant class prompted the establishment of
Church-backed universities. |
During
the Medieval period, study in European schools
was limited to rudimentary mathematics,
scripture, and the writings of Plato and
Aristotle. Beginning with the Renaissance, fields
of study expanded to include natural inquiry and
the rediscovery of classical culture. This led to
an increasing appreciation of the value and
potential of humanity. |
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Government |
Theocracy
and monarchy. |
Humanism
and democracy. |
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Health |
Religion
has traditionally been called upon to provide
cures and comforts. Its greatest successes have
been against psychosomatic ailments. Against
injuries and pathogens, however, religion's
effectiveness has been questionable at best, and
downright disastrous at worst. It is no mere
coincidence that the Black Death spread
uncontrolled through Europe at a time when cats
— the primary natural controller of rat
populations — were hunted and destroyed as
demonic creatures. |
Science
has provided more and better food, better
clothing, better housing, better sanitation.
Science has enabled us to understand and combat
disease, and even to eradicate some once
formidable killers. Scientific advances have
approximately tripled human life expectancy. On
the down side, science (along with population
growth) has led to increased pollution, as well
as increasing incidence of ailments associated
with the elderly. However, science is also our
most reliable and effective tool in dealing with
these problems. |
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Justice |
Down
through history, religion has given us a number
of moral systems, typically rooted in fatalism,
based on prophecy and revelation, and engineered
to maintain tyrants in power over an ignorant and
superstitious populace. Aside from the civilizing
"eye for an eye" principle, religion's
most notable contributions to justice have been
holy inquisitions and witch hunts. |
Science
is neutral on the question of morality. However,
science gives us powerful tools, from microscopes
to genetic mapping, to discover the reality of
nature. It also offers a systematic methodology
for distinguishing behaviors which are genuinely
helpful from those which are demonstrably
harmful, and thereby gives us the ability to
devise laws which are truly just and which truly
benefit society and individuals. |
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Literacy |
Religion
initially promoted literacy among the priesthood,
and eventually allowed its secrets to become
known to the aristocracy with which it was
allied. However, allowing the power of literacy
to fall into the hands of common people was
regarded as too dangerous to contemplate. |
The
introduction of the printing press allowed books
to be printed in quantities sufficient to allow
any person of moderate intelligence and ambition
to become literate. Increased literacy led to a
better informed populace, a more productive work
force, and the acceleration of innovation in
nearly all fields of endeavor. |
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Longevity |
In
prehistoric times, life expectancy was about
25-30 years, given optimum conditions. Since the
establishment of agriculture, there has never
been a development in religion which has been
shown to have increased that. |
In
developed countries, human life expectancy is now
75-80 years and climbing. All of this is
attributable, directly or indirectly, to advances
in technology and science. |
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Medicine |
Religion's
most positive contributions to the field of
healing have been hope and adrenaline. |
The
only reliable preventions and cures for human
ailments have come through science, not
mysticism. More medical progress has been made
during the past two hundred years than during the
preceding two hundred thousand. |
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Warfare |
Whatever
implements of destruction scientific knowledge
has enabled us to create, the leaders of religion
have historically been all too eager to put those
tools to fiendish purpose. Wars have always been
fought for wealth, territory, and power. Faith
has merely provided a noble-sounding excuse to
pursue these objectives at someone else's
expense. |
An
unfortunate offshoot of science has been
innovation in weaponry and combat technique.
Sharpened stone weapons were superior to those of
bone and wood; implements of broze and iron were
even better. Clubs, axes, swords, spears,
horse-drawn chariots, bows and arrows, body
armor, firearms, mechanization, and chemical and
nuclear weaponry have exponentially enhanced
man's ability to maim and kill his fellows in the
name of God and country, and in the pursuit of
wealth and power. |
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Might our trust be misplaced? Are our
notions of virtue really beyond
question? You be the judge. Next
time you're moved to utter an expression of
thanksgiving, take a moment to ponder the
question, "Thank whom?"
The real answer might just turn out to be
"Thomas Edison," "Clara
Barton," or "Dr. Smith."
=SAJ=
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