08.27.07
Regarding Christopher Hitchens’ Book: “God is Not Great
Here is a comment I sent in last week to Amazon about the above mentioned book, which I just finished reading.
Mr. Hitchens provides a very carefully reasoned and well-researched treatise on the evils of organized religion. And surely he presents a convincing case for a society that would be better off without the sort of religion he describes. (I must admit that this is the first time I ever heard anything negative said about Mother Theresa or about Mahatma Ghandi - but perhaps I have been living with my head in the ground.) The historical and political perspectives Mr. Hitchens offers are invaluable in understanding how the details and rules of many of our organized religions may have been manufactured by man and influenced by the political powers that be. But it is important to note that the structure offered by traditional religions (strict rules, pre-set beliefs of how we got here, and pat answers about what happens when we die) is very much needed by certain types of people who need help keeping their world in order. (These people are referred to as Stage Two believers in my article “Religious Development….for Dummies” on my blog “BeliefStagesandGrowth.com.) Mr. Hitchens and the other best-selling atheist writers fail to recognize the very deep level of need these people have for the offerings of traditional religion, despite all its’ failings.
But, surely without some more solid base, the great religions would never have stood the test of time. We humans seem to have a very deep need for a sense of transcendence and mystery. What Mr. Hitchens fails to mention is that there is another type of believer who does not accept the easy answers of traditional religion, does not propagate the evils he mentions - but who is so to speak more advanced than the Stage Two person. This person does not engage in religion for its rules and its answers - but for its mysteries and his religion contibutes to society in a fully wholesome manner, poisoning nothing.
It is becoming increasingly important that we distinguish between these two very wide categories of belief - because, despite my great over-simplification of a very complex phenomenon, without that distinction, most of what is said about relgion of any sort only adds to the immense confusion that exists in our society today. Without the distinction between two very different levels of faith that exist in all religions, even Mr. Hitchens railings lose the validity they deserve.
Margaret Johnston
BeliefStagesandGrowth.com
Judy Beckman said,
October 26, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Although I have problems with organized religion today, I still need the church. I get things there I need to cope with everyday life. I don’t “buy into” everything I hear–I am a thinking person who looks for Bible based Truth in a variety of ministries to strengthen my Christian spirituality. I don’t feel any one denomination or philosophy has a corner on truth. I don’t put any man, clergy or whatever, between me and God. I answer to God for what I believe and do. The church is the vehicle for public worship and should be a “dispensary” of products for healthy spiritual growth. Too often it falls far short. But keeping an eye on God, not on man, I find great encouragement and help to cope with problems of everyday living.
I have learned to look at religious organizations as fruit-bearing trees. When I pick fruit, I don’t take it all, only what I want. There is more rotten fruit on some trees than on others, and, of course, I don’t want that. But I want a variety of fruit, some of this, a little of that, more of something else. The rest of the fruit is left on the tree as I walk away from it. I don’t need to criticize, trash, or slander the fruit I don’t want–just walk away from it. It will meet someone else’s needs. We are all unique individuals with different tastes and requirements for satisfaction.