The German theologian Friedrich Wilhelm Graf wrote an interesting essay recently in which he reflected on good religions vs. bad ones: Was ist eine gute Religion?
"Whether a religion is good or not depends on its perception of the divine. Are there several gods, some of whom are happy and some of whom are conflict-ridden? In the case of monotheistic religions, is God presented as an all-powerful authoritarian ruler, a jealous and cruel despot or a protective and loving father? How does that God manifest himself and what kind of worship does he demand? It is the perception of God that decides how the world and man's position within that world is interpreted in the languages of the different beliefs."
Professor Graf concludes that good or successful religions embrace the ambivalence of the religious experience, and encourage a self-reflection on the part of the adherents. The nuances are critcal:
Gut ist eine Religion, wenn sie in ihren Symbolsprachen selbst die Ambivalenzen des Religiösen präsent hält, bearbeitet und so durch selbstbewusste Glaubenspraxis die Besinnung ihrer Anhänger fördert. Wie bei gutem Essen oder eleganter Mode kommt es auch hier auf feinste Nuancen an.
Unfortunately, what we see in the world today is a lot of bad religion. Forget about nuances or self-reflection - religion, for the most part, is a blind obediance to a dogma. The religious historian and writer (and ex-Roman Catholic nun) Karen Armstrong wrote about bad religion recently in an essay - Is Immortality Important? - which appeared in the Harvard Divinity Bulletin:
Not all religion is good; there is bad religion in the same way as there is bad art, bad cooking, and bad sex. In fact, religion is difficult to do well and we are seeing a lot of bad religion at the moment. By encouraging a vengeful, exclusive, and superior attitude that sees personal survival as the key issue, this concentration on the afterlife is what the Buddhists would call "unskillful." It runs directly counter to the compassion that lies at the heart of all the great traditions—including Christianity and Islam. Jung once said that a great deal of religiosity seems perversely designed to prevent people from having a religious experience. These spiteful fantasies about the afterlife are a prime example of this.
This perverse focus on the afterlife is the hallmark of bad religion. Karen Armstrong argues here, and I think Professor Graf would also agree, that good and successful relgions are about inhabiting the eternal in the here and now:
In our violent world, when we are seeing so much bad, egotistic, and cruel religion, we should recall the Chinese belief that a person who has refined his humanity in this way can save the world. His compassion would radiate from him, and because he has bridged the gap between Heaven and Earth, he brings the divine into our conflicted, tragic world. "A mature person transforms where he passes, and works wonders where he abides," Mencius explained. "He is in the same stream as Heaven above and Earth below. Can he be said to bring but small benefit?"
Comments