Do we need Religion?
Religion divides and people kill each other in the name of Religion…
According to WHO, the top reasons for death globally are diseases and health conditions. But here is a fact, about 6 million humans died during The Holocaust, about 1 million during the partition of India, and don’t get me started over the Israel-Palestine conflict, the Abyssinia-Somalia conflict, the Buddhist uprising and the list goes on. The concept of holy war is not new, it is as recent as 9/11 to as old as the Crusades. Countries, institutions and private citizens are at each other’s throats in the name of religion.
Now I know many of you are thinking/ shouting — but all the religions in the world only teach peace and harmony and the problem lies with the people who misinterpret the religious text. And the self-righteous are thinking but it is just their religion (you need to seriously enlighten yourself). The stats and the history is irrefutable, all through history humans have killed humans in the name of religion and would continue to do so.
So that begs the question, do we need Religion? I think we do. Please hear me out. Why do people believe in religion after all that hate and war? Why even after the existence of other religions, more religion has popped up in recent history? The answer is simple. People need hope to live their life. They want to believe that the big guy is looking after them, and all would be okay, not by random chance but because God would help them. If there is a higher invisible force, it gives meaning to random events of life and death. In simple words, Religion is the order keeping the chaos away, and humans really hate chaos.
So we do need Religion, but Religion that is flexible, respects others’ religion and understands that other religions exist because their own religion is not perfect. And the one that really really focus on giving people hope, that everything would be alright.