Reason versus Religion
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
21 March
2023
“Many developed countries have achieved remarkable success in terms of
scientific and rational thinking of their people. Religions in these countries
have little clout. These countries are also the most democratic, egalitarian
and high rankers in the happiness index. On the other hand, many developing
countries are moving into the reverse direction. "
Mr Ashok
Sharma from “Can Rationalists Fight Religious Bigots?: Transcript Of A
Speech By Ambassador Ashok Sharma In Delhi”
Mr Sharma's
pithy observation is spot-on. Wherever people have moved away from god and
religion, the societies are peaceful and enriched. For example, Western Europe,
esp. the Scandinavian countries.
Look at the
state of Pakistan and Bangladesh, two fanatic countries where reason has no
place and religion rules the roost. In fact, reason and religion are antitheses
of each other. Both have always been at loggerheads. Bigoted minds don't listen
to the voice of reason because the mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the
eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it'll contract.
Evolutionary
biologists and anthropologists believe that the brain of an average religious
person (not all) is often impervious to reasoning. That's why, no amount of
logic and science can make such a hardened brain see sense. Two examples will
make it clear. Hindus believe that their monkey god, Hanuman, was the son of Vaayu
Dev (god of air) and Anjana. Hanuman is often referred to as Pavan Putra
or Anjaneya by Hindus. Both were extremely good looking (at least,
mythologically) but their son was born as a monkey with a tail. No believer has
any answer or explanation to it. But ask this. Your existence will vanish into
thin 'air' (pun intended). Second example is from Islam. Till 840 AD, written
Arabic was extremely fluid.
Arabic
scholars Noldeke, Gibb and Yahya Minfirab called it ' an orthographically
amorphous and ambiguous ' language. It was linguistically standardized only in
the second half of the 9th century, whereas the Qur'an was written well before
the said period. It stands to reason that if Arabic was script-wise not fully
developed when the verses of Qur'an were being received, how can anyone be sure
of their explanations and interpretations which can never be definitive? That's
why, the Qur'an is so ridiculously and bafflingly interpretative. A rationalist
can understand this but will a believer ever accept that much of the Qur'an is
written by humans? He (believer) will verbally or physically, depending upon
the level of education, challenge the rationalists because he doesn't have much
wherewithal to defend his ramshackle religious views. Here lies the danger in
the form of a potential threat to one's life. What happened to the rationalists
like Dr Narendra Dabholkar, Kalburgi, Pansare and Gauri Lankesh? All were
killed by fanatic Hindus. Rational bloggers questioning Islam, Muhammad's
outlandish claims and the authenticity of Quranic verses are being killed at
regular intervals, esp. in Islamic countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Syria,
Sudan, among others. Unless, a safe and secure space is created for a healthy
discussion, involving rationalists and hard-core believers, we shall continue
to witness a simmering difference between the two groups. It's, therefore, a
sine qua non for both rationalists and believers to be level-headed and able to
accept all types of views without resorting to violence or vitriol.
Let
religions also survive along with their concocted gods as humans still need
them. But we can all be a bit more rational. The marriage between the reason
and religion is not impossible. However, what kind of offspring will this union
produce, remains to be seen.
------
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/reason-religion-rational/d/129365
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