The Sins of Religion

The Buddhist faith has watched over this world for 2,550 years. The sons and daughters of the Buddha have seen empires rise and crumble, generations come and go,  nations and peoples prosper and perish. In the last 2000 years, we also have observed, with concern, the rise and decline of the younger Christianity and the resurgence of militant fundamentalist Islam in the modern age. In doing so we have watched, largely powerless, as much of the world turns its back on religion.

But how can we blame the faithless? For those who have studied, or experienced, the two most sinful religions on Earth – Christianity and Islam -  it is hard to make a case for their relevance to any normal person. As the two most globally militant religions, Islam has recently replaced Christianity as the most likely religion to oppress women, torture unbelievers, wage war in their God’s name, and blow up buses with schoolchildren inside (a unique phenomenon).

As A.C. Grayling put it, however: “It is a mistake to think that our own Western milk-and-water clerics would never conceive of doing so likewise; it is not long in historical terms since Christian priests were burning people at the stake if they did not believe that wine turns to blood when a priest prays over it, and that the earth sits immovably at the universe’s centre, or – more to the present point – since they were whipping people and slitting their noses and ears for having sex outside of marriage, or preaching that masturbation is worse than rape because at least the latter can result in pregancy.”

The sins of Christianity are manifold: Crusades, Inquisitions as an “alternative method of persuasion”, the Salem Witch Trials, economic and religious exploitation of natives by missionaries, anti-Semitism, and hostility to science, modern Christians need to look hard and well into these episodes in history and ask: “How can we ensure that no matter which epoch we are in, that this never happens again?”

We cannot throw religions into jail because religions are developed and maintained by people. Sins and crimes are committed by humans and humans alone. The bloodsoaked history of Christianity and Islam would serve well to remind the faithful of the two religions that even though their congregations are among the largest, they can no longer accuse heretics without destroying their own conscience.