The Question of Religion Pt. I

‘God is dead’, as quoted by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, encompasses for me what it is to understand religion in this day and age. To say that you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim; a follower of any faith, is to categorise you into a enormous collection of people who live their lives in accordance to their holy texts. It is thus this fact which technically should bind people of different faiths in their quest to fulfil their religious duties. But it doesn’t. Why is this? The Bible states in Matthew 19:26 that ‘ Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. ’ My interpretation of this is that with God anything is indeed possible, be it the one you follow which is different to mine. I do not follow any religion, it could be said to a certain degree that I am somewhat anti-religious, albeit this is not pertinent, and I am in no way condoning any faith. More to the point, why has the world struggled to live virtuously amongst other faiths which although different in context, are identical in their aim? (To respect one’s God and to lead a good life in accordance with the text). I am in no way claiming that this is the sole purpose of each, I am aware of the complexities which are present, however these are two themes which are present throughout all faiths. It is illustrated in the Qur’an that ‘ Prayer carries us half way to God, fasting brings us to the door of His palace. ’

It can be argued that different religions and branches of these religions allow for every individual to find one which suits their beliefs (i.e. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholicism, Sikhism etc). This thereby means that the origin of religions can be brought into question – were they created in order to cater for those who were adamantly not going to believe in what they had been told? To prove a point, be it political or not? Questions such as these which I have heard span on for pages and pages. I am not demoralising any religion in the slightest, but what I am trying to point out is that we do not know where they have come from, nor do we know who has really written them. Yes you can say that it is the word of God, but there is also the argument for texts such as the Bible to be used as metaphor only; a popular point being that the book of Genesis is believed to have been written by different tribes and collaborated, (the study of the handwriting was used in this point). If we have no solid proof of the origin of the texts, then we must conjure up a belief and trust what we are reading…