I recently happened to watch ‘Religulous’ ,it is a documentary by American comedian Bill Maher questioning the very need for religion in today’s times and citing it as one of the gravest dangers facing mankind today. It sparked me on a little quest to review religion;its importance and place in my life as well as in today’s world order. So what is this religion that we’re talking about .It’s something like your hair colour, you’re born with it but you can change it if you like. It’s something like race, different races keep vying for superiority and people keep getting discriminated against on the basis of it . It’s something like music, it brings people together and gives them a reason to bond. But these are all things religion is like, but what is religion itself . Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature and purpose of life and the universe. This set of beliefs usually attributes the creation of the universe to an all-powerful and supernatural being (Lets call him GOD!) and its functioning to his divine will . Accompanying most religions is a set of religious texts and practises that allow us to participate in religion today.

Before challenging the premise of religion we must look into the evolution of religion. How did religion come into being? Most historians note that modern religions appeared around 5000 years ago and primitive religions appeared much before . The rise of religion was the answer to the confoundedness and bewilderment that human beings of that era felt when they observed nature and its many phenomena .One can truly understand that humans in that day and age would resort to religion and its explanation of everything by means of a supernatural being when faced with the (then) mysterious and inexplicable events like sunrise, floods, rain, etc . Some early religions (and many modern ones too) do not bother creating a God who then creates the universe ,they simply make Gods out of nature itself .So that’s what religion was, an explanation of the unexplained ,an answer for questions that men couldn’t answer themselves.

Now fast forward 5000 years ,man has ushered in the era of science , an approach to existence which began with the Renaissance , where everything is questioned ,all beliefs are put on trial in the court of reason ,through science man has found consistent explanations for almost every aspect of his world. Using science and its sister technology ,man now lives in a universe where he can fly, produce rain and do other wondrous things that were either unimaginable or reserved for the gods . Man’s universe now isn’t the whim of an angry god but the slave to nature‘s laws which are now within man’s understanding .Not exactly the place where religion must thrive right? Well then aren’t we surprised . Religion today still commands as much a place in an individuals mind as it held millennia ago.

Religion holds sway even today because of the very same reason that it did thousands of years ago; it provides answers where there are none, it shines a light in the dark corners of human perception. Many argue that religions answers are as good as no answers at all but for billions these shallow answers offer something more welcoming than the uncertainties and doubts cast by science . Science accepts that life is full of uncertainties and randomness but a human mind always seeks to find order in everything and many a time, the answer takes the form of religion.

Most people marry, make friends and die in the same religion that they were born in .As a Christian , when I go to church , I may not truly believe that I am consuming is the blood (represented by wine) of my messiah but all religions have an underlying moral code, a set of guidelines which tell us how to lead a better life .Though these guidelines could have also come from logic , but being in a community which centers round and urges you to be a better human being is maybe what keeps people from abandoning their religion though they may not fully agree with all the beliefs of their faith. We could call this approach to religion ‘Religious Moderation’; an approach to religion wherein one participates in religion just for social upkeep and some solace and hope when required while otherwise rejecting totally the beliefs that reside in the supernatural. Image Courtesy : Fernando Gregory A really good question posed by Bill Maher in his documentary is that whether by participating in religion in any measure (devoutly or ‘moderately’) do we encourage religious extremism which is the direct cause of the Terror threat plaguing the entire globe .It may seem funny but I reckon the answer is an undeniable yes. When anyone decides to take up religious extremism , he implicitly assumes the support of his fellowmen . Even though some of his fellowmen may totally disagree with the said extremist and express their views plainly, he will always think on the lines of ‘God will enlighten them one day ‘ or ‘’He doesn’t know what God wants me to do’.It is because he is allowed to think that he has so much support and that he has so many people to fight for that he probably takes up extremism . If the above described moderates were to give up religion altogether and make it as unfashionable as possible ,I think the world be unburdened by quite a few problems . Maybe Bagism is the answer.