On the practical side all species are enjoying their earthly purpose to be born, live and die, except humans who are so enthralled with their intelligence that they have raised the ante. Proclaiming themselves plenipotentiary representatives of a Supreme Being on earth, humans invented religion, a destructive concept that evolves into a “raison d’être” surpassing domination and conquest, the main attributes of survival and evolution. So powerful is religion that it has become inconceivable to imagine our world without it. Ironically, the concept creates a host of intractable issues that not only challenge humans’ vaunted intelligence but may well bring their untimely demise.
Because humans are a diverse bunch that could never blindly follow any universal precept, regardless of its allure or potency, religion may never work according to the design of its architects or proponents even in a hypothetically homogenous world. The history of religion from its inception to the present proves it, since religious doctrines are as changeable as the weather and as accommodating to human influences as nature. Because the basic tenets of many of the world’s best known religions are invariably made to tailor human idiosyncrasies and communal evolution, it is incumbent upon theologians (professional religionists) to prove to skeptics that religion was God’s edict and not a human creation. Barring such explanation, time remains religion’s worst enemy despite the occasional outbursts in religious fervor marking the major religious faiths to varying degrees throughout their recorded existence.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand that compassion and indifference, love and hate, virtue and wickedness also exist in the non-human world, hence the notion of God and Satan, which characterizes those traits, could not possibly be the defining proof of the existence of a Supreme Being that forms the essence of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and other lesser known monotheist faiths. Fortunately for the architects of the concept and unfortunately for the devotees, other species have so far been unable to present their own version of the “Creation” upon which rests the notion of an omniscient and omnipresent God. Were that to happen, their perspectives would undoubtedly differ from the accepted theory that confers to humans dominion over all things.
Assuming one stands prepared to give the notion of a Supreme Being the benefit of the doubt, that person cannot in all truthfulness countenance his omniscience because it is testing to imagine an omniscient God leaving humans, apparently his most wicked creation, in charge of their own judgment. Moreover, the notion that God prefers to take a back seat and let humans enjoy their earthly stay on the premise they will ultimately be judged for their actions trivializes his inimitable wisdom and is patently absurd from a theological perspective. This religious disseminated view makes God an intriguer, possibly a practical joker, not the infallible and omniscient creature who purportedly conceived the universe and its contents.
Take for example the story told in the bible of Jesus having sent by God to teach disobedient humans the way to salvation. It implies that God, far from being omniscient, may have actually lost control of his prized creation. Moreover Jesus did not help matters either, since his teachings were allegories that remain subject to different interpretations, leaving an elite group of priests, pastors and theologians to tell the rest of us what is to be construed literally or figuratively. Adding to the confusion is the sad reality that these modern-day Sanhedrin themselves typically cannot come up with an authoritative reading of Jesus Christ’ message, making theological differences among Christians intense and unforgiving. Accordingly Catholics are derided as followers of the Pope not Christians by other Christian denominations, even though Jesus is the central figure of Catholicism.
What about Judaism’s doctrinal contention of the Jews being the chosen people? It implies that God, by virtue of his preference for a particular group of people, is actually a prejudiced Being and every non-Jew claiming to be His progeny is an impostor. This fundamental tenet of Judaism incidentally contrasts with Christianity’s own, which holds “God so loved the world (those adhering to the Christian faith), that he gave his only Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Furthermore Christians could look askance at the Muslims’ claim of God having sent the Prophet Muhammad to spread his words, after Jesus, his begotten son, had failed. These conflicting theological readings of God’s intention may explain the hard to comprehend delay in Jesus’ anticipated return that baffled generations of Christians for the last 2000 years, because God apparently does not want to add to the confusion. Hence any religion claiming to be the only authentic conveyer of God’s wishes is an insult to the Creator himself, because it is indeed presumptuous to accept as true that God would delegate to humans or any religion for that matter the right to fight battles or defend causes on his behalf.
Many Haitians have turned to religions following the January 12th earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince, in effect validating the notion of desperation as a potent facilitator of religious beliefs. Since the Reverend Pat Robertson authoritatively claimed that the tragedy was God’s punishment for the pact made by Haitians with the devil (1791) to liberate themselves from the ignominies of slavery, are these Haitians trying to make amends with the Creator? If that is the case, then God himself has lost track of what should be considered good and evil.
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