God And Religion Are Not A Figment Of Our Imagination
By
Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam
4 April
2024
The Atheists Will Argue That God And Religion Are
The Most Fantastic Fictions Invented By Man To Achieve All That Was Achieved
Through Religion. However, The Believers Know That The Moral Rules Would Not
Have Taken Several Millennia To Become Normative If This Were So. The Rationale
Would Have Been Provided Right In The Beginning.
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(Representative Photo)
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Undoubtedly,
every major religion and all the scriptures are primarily about teaching men to
live moral lives. They are about what mankind could not have known by
themselves, which is why the Quran says in verse 96:5, “Taught man that which
he knew not”.
Arabia,
once a fragmented tribal society of little consequence, experienced a profound
transformation with the emergence of Islam as a unifying force. In a remarkably
concise 80-year span, it ascended to become the preeminent power on earth,
surpassing the Roman Empire at its zenith. This swift rise of the Muslims,
achieving in about 80 years what took the Romans a millennium to accomplish,
highlights the transformative power of religion.
The Romans,
with their multitude of cults and mystery religions, faced a challenge as the
Roman Empire expanded. A need arose for a unified belief system to bind the
entire population. With its cohesive belief system and hierarchical church
structure, Christianity offered a solution. It could unite the empire
religiously and empower the emperor with more control over the population.
Emperor Constantine I (r. 306-337) embraced Christianity after his victory at
the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312, which he attributed to the Christian God.
His alignment with this burgeoning faith not only consolidated his power but
also united the empire under a single religion, underscoring the social and
political impact of religion.
It is
undeniable that religion has played a crucial role in fostering cooperation
among large groups of people. This cooperation is based on the shared moral
values that religion instils, creating a sense of unity and common purpose.
From the
history of modern man, which began an estimated seventy thousand years ago with
the “Cognitive Revolution,” we know that he was surrounded by other species of
humans that were numerically and physically much stronger. The modern man could
have survived only through cooperation among his kind. A common religion with
shared values was sorely needed to build their trust. We also know that modern
man was at constant war with the other species of humans until they completely
genocided every other species about ten thousand years ago. The enemy kept them
united by a common religion until ten thousand years ago. Once the enemy was
annihilated, the modern man broke up into several sects/religions from envy of
one another and began to fight among themselves.
Sixty
thousand years of being united by a common religion made everyone internalise
the moral values that helped them build cooperation and preserve their group.
These moral values became second nature to man and survive to this day among
all people, irrespective of their religion and even if they are atheists.
Therefore, the moral values from religion are as old as the appearance of
modern man.
The
atheists will agree with all of the above but argue that religion is man-made.
That begs the question - why have all the subjects of human endeavour, such as
philosophy, literature, and psychology, failed to contribute a single original
moral precept? Moral Philosophy is about developing theories of ethics/morality
to explain why people follow moral rules. Still, none of these theories have
helped generate any new moral rule, nor can they do so. Moral philosophy only
studies what exists and what properties and relations can be attributed to it.
None of it is about creating anything new.
Religious
morality, on the other hand, is prescriptive and focuses on the moral duties
and obligations that individuals have to follow without explaining why. It lays
down the rules. The earliest moral rules from religion are a list of dos and
don’ts, and only the later religions provide a rationale.
The
evidence, therefore, is that:
1. The
earliest religions laid down the rules without giving the rationale because the
rationale was not apparent and even counter-intuitive. These rules are
counter-intuitive because man is, by his basic instincts for self-preservation,
greedy, niggardly, impatient, ungrateful, contentious, acquisitive, envious,
jealous, fearful, and suspicious. The
moral virtues of recognizing the rights of others even at cost to self,
therefore, have to be learned. Even once
learnt, these are easily disregarded unless there is an unacceptable price for
breaking the rules.
2. Later
religions could provide limited rationale because, after centuries of
practising the rules as a religious duty, the benefits to the individual and
society were becoming evident and the people could now understand the why part.
3. Moral
Philosophy took this process a step further, examined the prevailing moral
rules, developed theories of ethics/morality to explain them, and helped to
make them normative. In other words, philosophy provides a rational explanation
for following the moral rules.
Moral
rules, because they initially made no rational sense and were counterintuitive,
had of necessity, to be laid down by a higher authority (God) for them to be
followed as a religious duty and have come only from religion. Many millennia
later, philosophy helped the moral rules of religion become normative which
formed the basis of secular laws. Now armed with the rational basis for the
moral rules and the fact that the rules are accepted by all without question,
although largely flouted, the atheists ask, “Couldn't mankind have developed
these on their own”? If they could, there was no need for religion and God. We,
however, know how great a role religion has played throughout human history in
all of mankind’s most outstanding achievements. Without religion, mankind could
not have taken a step toward civilizational growth. On the contrary, modern man
would have quickly become extinct, faced with their formidable enemies.
The
atheists will argue that God and Religion are the most fantastic fictions
invented by man to achieve all that was achieved through religion. However, the
believers know that the moral rules would not have taken several millennia to
become normative if this were so. The rationale would have been provided right
in the beginning.
This
subject has been covered in detail over the last decade in my following
articles:
1. Religion as a Civilizing Influence
4.
The “Natural Law of Morality” Has
Come From Religion
The Contribution of Atheists to
Moral Philosophy and the Practice of Morality
The need
for repetition is because atheists keep repeating their old arguments.
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A frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an
Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant after
having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible positions
for over three decades. He has spent years studying Quran in-depth and made
seminal contributions to its interpretation.
URL: https://newageislam.com/debating-islam/god-religion-figment-imagination/d/132081
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