For better or worse, religion has been a near constant in the lives of human beings since before the dawn of even written language. A side effect of civilization, when mankind gets together and has questions of the universe, religion has provided answers and comfort.
Even in the present day when questions about our world that don't have answers are growing far and few between, religion remains an incredibly important factor in the majority of people's lives. For many people it is at the root of everything they do and all decisions are made around it.
There is no doubt that for those who subscribe to it, religion is an incredibly powerful tool. And although I don't practice any religion and have never felt a need to believe in any sort of almighty power, I do recognize that religion has helped a lot of people overcome difficult times in their lives or find the strength within themselves or even quell their anxiety about the unanswered questions about the universe.
But when people start to say that religion is the reason why they act kindly or religion is the reason they are a good person, that's when I begin to draw the line.
I find it extremely concerning, particularly in this day in age, that there is still a large chunk of the population that genuinely thinks that if they didn't have their morality dictated out to them in black and white by some divine force with the threat of eternal damnation as a consequence if they act against it, that they would not know behave morally.
Morality is something that is ingrained within all of us regardless of the faith you grew up in, and while it varies from culture to culture and person to person, it exists within every single human person, even psychopaths. It is something you need to find within you rather than just take at face value from text or dictation. Morality isn't a textbook lesson; it's a method of understanding the humanity within all of us and adjusting our actions in a way that respects that humanity and sensitivity. Just like memorizing math formulas without knowing the reasoning behind it, it might get you the right answer, but you're never going to understand the math.
And then there's the question of whether forcing morality on someone by promising them a reward if they fulfill it and punishing them if they don't actually produce morality that is equitable to morality that is naturally generated.
Because we shouldn't act with kindness just because we're afraid of the consequences of not doing so. We should act with kindness because that is how people deserve to be treated, and we should want to do things that help other people.
If you are just being kind because you think that it will look good on your cosmic resume when your sins are weighed against your virtues after you're dead, you aren't truly being kind — you are looking to save your own ass, and selfishness will never beget kindness.
True morality is a genuine thing, and true kindness is never forced. And none of this is to say that religion can't guide you in finding the best way to be kind to people, but religion should be a guiding force, not a lecturing one.
If a hundred years from now or a thousand years from now or even tomorrow, we find concrete evidence that all of our most popular belief systems are entirely wrong and the Bible and the Koran and all other religious texts are entirely wrong about everything, I'd still like to think that people would want to be kind to each other.
Because if God is the only reason you're a good person, you were never a good person in the first place.
