Has Religion Satisfied Our Needs?
MARIA was a Roman Catholic nun for 21 years. She grew up in a very religious environment. Why, even as a child, she would get up at night to pray for others! Eventually, however, the poverty, suffering, and injustice that persisted despite thousands of years of religious influence made her wonder: ‘Has religion really satisfied our needs?’
Most religions advocate high ideals and moral principles. But religion is often viewed as causing problems, adding to our difficulties, rather than satisfying our needs. For instance, consider these comments by observers of the religious scene: “The innermost reason for inhuman savagery is religious.” (National Review) “The chief motivation for war is no longer greed but religion.” (Toronto Star) “The Holocaust ‘was all done by baptized Christians.’”—The Tampa Tribune.
Is it any wonder that people dismiss religion’s claims that it is the satisfier of our needs? They have seen its fruitage. For example, “it was Shinto, the native religion of Japan, that had not only given its wholehearted support to the war machine but had provided its very rationale,” said The Christian Century. How many religions have done just that—‘given wholehearted support to the war machine’! Think of the massacres and reprisals perpetrated by Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka, the murders and atrocities involving Catholics and Protestants in Ireland—why, the list seems endless! “Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs and other sects have been bloodying each other for centuries in India,” lamented U.S.News & World Report.
Others may not see religion as a force for bad, but they surely do not look upon it as a powerful force for good. The National Catholic Reporter spoke of “the traditional church’s failure to adequately address human wants and needs.” And the journal Liberty said that society seems to view the clergyman as a “blesser-sanctifier-benedictor” brought out only on ceremonial occasions. It added: “In the minds of many people he is the minister of the status quo.” Have you viewed religion in that light—not likely to do us harm but also unlikely to do us much good?
Religion today is much as it was when Jesus Christ was on the earth. He said that the religious leaders of his day honored God only with their lips. The result of their practices was that they added to people’s burdens instead of satisfying their needs. “They bind up heavy loads and put them upon the shoulders of men,” he said. (Matthew 23:4) Today, religion promises much but seems to deliver very little. So is there any reason to believe that religion can satisfy our needs?