Yesterday, I was having this discussion with a friend of mine about whether religion is something you should feel protective about. His argument was that it is like your mother or father and if anybody insults them, you should feel hurt and be protective about it. It got me thinking about the crux of this argument. Here are some thoughts (a disclaimer here: If you are highly sensitive about the religion, please stop reading now).
Why or when do you feel protective about your parents? It is when you believe there are certain things that will hurt them (either mentally or in rare cases, physcially). Does the religion FEEL anything? Is it an entity or NOUN to feel anything? As per my understanding, religion is a way of living defined to live together in society without hurting each other and optimizing the resources to achieve betterment of the society.
Then comes the rare instance of where the protectiveness is about the faith you have in your parents. You have built an image about your parents in your mind and you dont want anything to destroy it and hence attack anything that even has a remote chance to destroy it. I think this is the instance that is best suited for people's protectiveness about the religion too. They have lived their life with a particular faith and dont want to listen to anything that has a remote chance of destroying that faith. I would call this as another form of insecurity as well. If you have a strong faith in what you believe, it shouldnt matter what peopele say about it and if there is some truth to what is being said, what better way to answer than make the changes required in the living style to overcome that? Why do we worry that the mistakes in somebody else hasnt been pointed out? Does it not mean he/they will continue to live with those mistakes longer before you correct yourself and make a better living? I know, its far easier to lecture about this in a world as volatile and hyper-sensitive as todays where there is a mix of religions and the idea of living together itself has been shred apart by mix and match.
As with anything, times are changing and its imperative that all old rules and ways of living should change too. We are crying out for changing the laws that are not relavent to our times and why should religion be any different? Nobody travels in bull carts these days or carry a bow and arrow to war. There has been a revolution (especially in last 15 years or so) that has changed the way we used to live and religion has to adapt and change to address the needs of present men too. However, it looks like religion is something that is set in stone that can not undergo any changes according to a few. Thus it is becoming more and more irrelevent to the way we live today and that's when people have to resort to God men who are able to bend the religion to the needs of the present people and get their way.
It is for people in this generation to make that adjustments and to change the way religions are defined and can work for you in the present times. As with any change as drastic as this, there will be a lot of friction and nay sayers. It is the same when the industrial revolution happened or when the computers were introduced. These were much simpler in that sense as these were more of a physical change in living while when we talk about religion, its realms are moral and philosophical. So I can understand that there would be a much higher price to be paid when you try to affect a change there.
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity" - Albert Einstein
"The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness." - Albert Einstein
