Religion has to move with the Times

 

Religion has to move with the Times

Dr M. D. Thomas

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Religion is a major entity of the human society. It has a significant role in regulating the social life of the humans. In other words, religion is a key factor in establishing social order. Without doubt, it has and will have an unparalleled place in human life.

Undeniably, religion has contributed substantially to the culturing of human life and to the making of civilizations, world over. It has added taste and meaning to the lives of millions and millions of people. It has benefited human lives immensely.

All the same, it cannot be denied that religion has been behind wars, conflicts, tensions, frictions, divisions, discrimination, hatred, and the like, from time immemorial, though in more or less degrees. Besides, it has been responsible for a lot of communal divide, distance and havoc in the country and world over, directly or indirectly.

It is also true that religion took origin from prophets and great men and women and from their teachings and lifestyle. As time passed, the theological theories, stipulations, observances, devotions and practices became rigid and complex, almost in an unnegotiable way.  

Religion could be compared to streams. Water in the streams at the source is pure. As they flow on, dirty elements get mixed with the water, and consequently, the flow becomes slower and the water in the river become dirtier. 

In a similar fashion, religions were simple and clear in the beginning. As time passed, worldly elements of money, power and self-interests got mixed up with them. Eventually, the mighty systems of religions became highly static, rigid and complex.

It cannot also be denied that religion, all religions, for that matter, is highly past-centred in its content. Along with the times, the theories and practice of religions were repeated and repeated, establishing them a reality of the present. Only minor exceptions of alteration could be observed in the way they are appropriated.

To a large extent, the content of the past in religions has to be taken for granted. It is because the life and contribution of the prophets and great humans cannot be repeated. It will continue to remain a property of the past only, for all times.

The problem arises when the past is carried forward without reflection. When the past comes to the present in an exaggerated form and becomes customary, it becomes stuffy and complicated. Repetition is a regular habit in religion. As a result, the present becomes almost a doubled form of the past.

As a matter of fact, religion has to be a shared reality of the past, present and future, all at the same time. The contribution of the present and the future will definitely add a lot of enrichment to religion.

When the past is carried forward to the present, that too, in an unreflective manner, religion becomes irrelevant and burdensome. When time management becomes upside down in religion, it becomes a liability or a curse.

In point of fact, only the best of the past has to be brought forward to the present. Similarly, only the best of the present requires being carried forward to the future. Such an approach makes religion simple and relevant, all times.

Whatever that has life cannot be preserved as it is. The place where lifeless things are preserved are fridge or museum, for food materials and for other things respectively. Preservation is done after killing or after dying. To consider religion such a lifeless thing is an anomaly.

Religion has ever to be a living entity. Practitioners of religion have to instill life into the religion they practice. This calls for believers to be ever alive and awake as regards the precepts and practice of religion. Religionists have to live their religion in a lively way.

Religion has to be lived in a live way. New interpretations are called for, in line with the demand of the times. An attitude of simplifying religion has to be evolved. ‘Less luggage, more comfort’, thus goes the dictum. Religion should not be a heavy weight in life.

‘Religion is for life and not life for religion’. The clothes have to be suited to the body and not otherwise. Food is for the body and not body for food. One should not be a victim of religion. One should not get glued to religion, especially of the past, too. One has to be realistic by placing life above religion.

A sense of quality has to be applied to religion. Few beliefs are good enough, but well-believed. Observances have to be reduced to the minimum. The values of the religion have to be given the utmost importance. ‘Value-conscious’ and value-based life is the core of religion.

Sree Narayan Guru of Kerala states ‘whatever be the religion, it suffices if you are a good human being’. Being a good human being is the real result of religion. If one is not a good human being, being religious is of no avail. Religiosity has to be measured in terms of one’s goodness.

The most growing phenomenon of the world today is the increasing number of ‘atheists’. This applies to all religion and countries, though in more or less numbers. They are mostly good human beings, too. The lack of interest of atheistsin religion is a question mark to what religion currently is.

Life can be understood in two ways: what is inherited and what is acquired. Both are essential components of life. This has to be applied to religion. The religion that is inherited form the past and that has to be edited, simplified and adjusted to the present. Whatever is new in the present is what is acquired. Religion has to acquire a form that suits the present, and eventually the future, as well.

But unfortunately, most of the religion, all religions, for that matter, hardly is edited with new perspectives and interpretations. As a result, much of the irrelevant material of religion is carried by believers blindly and unreflectively, like donkeys. No wonder, religion and religions become a burden to the human lives, since they do not produce fruit in life. 

Religion has to move with the times. It has to keep being edited, simplified and updated according to the passage of times. It has to be an ever-living entity. It has to be simple, light and meaningful always. Only then, it will remain relevant and expressive. Only then, it will be a blessing to the human society.

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The author is Director of Institute of Harmony and Peace Studies, New Delhi, and has been committed to cross-cultural perspectives, cross-scriptural values, constitutional values, interfaith relations, social ethics, communal harmony, national integration and social wellbeing, for the past nearly 45 years. He pursues the above mission through lectures, articles, books, messages, video messages, conferences, social interactions, views at TV channels, and the like. He could be contacted at ‘mdthomas53@gmail.com’.