Religion unites, divides us against each other

To the editor:

I used to think religion helped us apply God’s spiritual principles to our daily life. But now it occurs to me that as we become more mature, we naturally seek to improve our quality of life through the use of intelligent and emotional thoughts and feelings that lead to the positive aspects of life.

More simply put, the best things in life are produced by the higher goals we aspire toward.

Physical survival was the highest goal of the Neanderthals, and it led them to cooperate in the establishment of human culture, which enables our survival. However, in modern times, our quest for wealth and comfort has led to the over-use of fossil fuels that contaminate the atmosphere and cause global warming.

In order to help restore the Earth’s polluted environment, all the nations, corporations and people of the world need to restrict the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and try to limit the ill effects of global warming. We also need to re-establish the old-fashioned spirit of cooperation, which has been corrupted by the propaganda of Capitalism and politics, not to mention the unmindful compliance of sheep-like modern people. Our cultural goals ought to promote the deeper meaning of life itself, rather than the needs of capitalism.

Although religion unites people within a culture, it is a double-edged sword that pits some cultures against each other, which is not good for survival. The “one true religion” is only found in the mind of those who seek peace and contentment — instead of power, prestige and comfort.

There is danger that our civilization will succumb to the Law of the Jungle, and only a few of our descendents will survive to face the hardships of a primitive existence. But it is also possible that — under the threat of mass extinction — modern people will unite and make the best of things through old-fashioned cooperation, similar to the Neanderthals, who understood the basics of survival and passed it on to us.

As their more innovative cousins, we modern humans developed science, government, economics and faith-based religion. And after the 16^th century Reformation, most of us came to recognize a sense of self and the human rights of all people. Our enlightenment led to the American Revolution, which was largely inspired by the pamphlet, “Common Sense,” written by Thomas Paine.

Mankind is now facing an historic turning point that requires us to adopt a Neanderthal-like cooperation that is truly geared toward meaningful survival. We need to balance our individual rights with the good of the group — as well as recognize and adopt the common sense principles that were explained by Thomas Paine a few hundred years ago.

Our present cultural goals and the manipulated outlook we have acquired concerning our selves and the meaning of life need to be revised according to the basic facts of life — which seem to be a mystery to corporations and many religions.

Art Carney

Wasilla