The West has a habit of looking down on anyone else, doesn't it? Its self-appraisal almost always tends towards elitism and the perception that the West is the most advanced and superior in all aspects above others. Of course, might makes right, doesn't it? Historically speaking - for the past 800 years or so, more or less, the countries of Europe combined with the new kid on the block (the USA) have, as "the West" embodied that concept.
Taking that into consideration, I think that fundamental view or belief is what underlies white supremacy, at its very core, as can be seen from resultant ideologies that today we call "right wing".
The tendency for one group to view itself as superior to others for whatever reason, as if we are all involved in some sort of competition with an invisible goal and invisible prizes.
Yet beneath it all, religion has lain at its root all along, as it did when it justified one tribe's destruction of another - just as much as it drove events like the European colonization of the Americas for example - and when both sides in WW1 confidently claimed "God is with us" and then annihilated the fuck out of each other.
Religion is like a hammer, anyone can pick it up and wield it. Neither the one wielding it, nor the ones it is wielded against, can define it as anything more than that - a tool, an implement. A weapon.
Religious studies is an interesting field - and not just because of all the big words that get used - such as "polemic" and "epistemic" (if you don't know what they mean, look them up - I had to). That said, I believe one of the reasons why there is (still) no uniformly agreed upon definition of religion, is because no religion is exactly the same, and since (probably a generalization here) each religion views itself as the "one true religion" and others as false, the same holds true for their own views on what constitutes religion. I mean, from my personal experience, I've rarely encountered a Christian anti-Satanist activist who's ever reacted to, addressed, or recognized Satanism as a religion. No, they perpetually use the small-case 's' to denigrate what they view as a non-genuine religious pretender, a usurper - a competitor, even. But I digress.
Religion, supposedly, began in the form of animism - back in our distant, supposed cave-dwelling prehistory, when we stood - as our modern, somewhat more hairy cousins have only begun to now - beside the body of a dead friend or relative and wondered as a commune, what to do with it?
Is religion - even its most "advanced", "complex" and "complicated" forms - not really just that primitive, fundamental superstition run amok? The basal fears that engendered rituals of crossing rivers only on *this* side, rather than on *that* side, for example, to avoid ill luck - evolved into more complex systems with all the bells and whistles that make it what it is today? Libraries filled with scriptures, musings, speculations, madrashes and addenda supporting an overburdened, over-complicated self-aggrandizing machine bogged down by the bloat of centuries of lore, and stumbling over its own self-importance?
My personal appraisal of religion is a critique of the state of the world as it is. I view religion as a symptom of mental illness, a flaw rather than as a feature; a crutch, a scapegoat for blame or for justification of omissions or shameful acts. I see religion as a willing tool of the powerful to control the multitudes, a weapon of the colonizer, employed to subvert and undermine human thought, reason and independence, designed to force compliance, cajole obedience and impose conformity. This is a cliché' I'm sure, but I think it is also true.
How do I view my role as a scholar in the field of Religious Studies? I feel that part of it is to understand religion and humanity's obsession with it - and part of it is to assist in weaning humanity of that obsession - to help it kick the crutch as it were.
Yes, there are many different religions, gods, faiths and superstitions, many from different cultures, and many which have crossed cultures - but to me, they all symbolize the same thing - delusion, in the contexts of both the "mass-delusion" and "self-delusion". A salve to soothe our guilt or make us feel better, like the fabled "chicken soup for the soul", and a motivation to achieve, obey, or conform on the promise of - whatever rewards they tell us await us on the other side. The most aggravating part of this is that nobody really knows for certain what is on the other side, or if there even IS an "other side" to this life.
Which also reinforces my feeling that religion is not only delusion and deception, but also built upon insincerity and malice. If nobody knows, how can anyone claim to be so certain that what they believe - no matter how intensely or sincerely, holds any actual truth?
I think religion (especially Abrahamic religion) fetishizes free thought, non-conformity, or dissent as "original sin" - which largely constitutes things which are natural, or come by way of nature. Take homosexuality for example - or transgender. Science has provided answers and explanations for these already, but even so, some religions persist in hostility towards LGBTQ+ people, using themselves to justify their intolerance, hatred and even violence - even though doing so flies in the face of reality, common decency - and in fact, human nature itself.
For me it's always been amazing how we humans, as supposed thinking animals, have used thought to limit ourselves; to build prisons of thought for ourselves and for others - little artificial cages of empty ritual and meaningless limitations lined with lists of do's and don'ts, and creating hierarchies of righteousness/holiness/purity/deity and etc. as if to satisfy those ancient fears and superstitions that cause us to step wide of cracks in the pavement and avoid walking underneath ladders.
I see religion as embodying that prison, confining us, stifling our growth - even in an age where not everyone is religious, but we are surrounded by enough who are religious for this to affect everyone. For humans to grow as a whole, we need to shed those bonds, exit that prison, grow beyond those artificial limitations, and eventually, to reach adulthood.
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