Why Religion is not Always Private
by Stefan Thiesenthiesen@uni-muenster.de The fundamental difference between science and religion is that religion isin ist entirety a cultural and hence ultimately a mental construct, whilemodern science with its roots in ancient Greek Philosophy to date is theonly serious attempt in history that aims at transcending the otherwiseomni-present walls of mental and cultural concepts holding us in lifelongcaptivity. Science seeks to explain reality in all ist complexity – pleasant ornot – and religion for most adults is what stuffed animals are for littlechildren. Something to hold on to, something to shelter their fragile selvesfrom the cold, harsh facts of the outside world. The basic question I tend to ask is: can we grant freedom of religion toreligions that fundamentally oppose all notions of freedom of belief? Let usface it: religious belief pervades much of society, and it is unlikely thatsomeone votes for, hires or otherwise supports a person who believessomething very different from what he himself believes. This means thateven on a seemingly harmless and seemingly peeaceful level religion hasa deep influence on decisions in almost every respect. Religious feelingsand beliefs can be decisive for a the direction a persons private life takesor a countries political direction at large. The problem wiht that ist hatfrom an objective point of view there are too many contradictory religionsto allow them all to bet true. At the same time it ist he very nature of religions to point out the others as being wrong. There is a big issue abouthuman nature – it is, I should say, fundamentally flawed. Humans tend tobe fearefull, jealous, greedy and – they just love to believe in things theywant to believe in. Mainly because they are trying to make sense of theworld around them. And it helps to have strong leaders explaining theworld and pointing into the right direction. That is what the good Moseswas all about, right? Of course one could have gotten a bit suspicious1
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