Invincible Ignorance

Baron d’Holbach’s piece on the absurdity of theology articulated many thoughts that I have on a fairly regular basis but do not speak aloud for fear of getting into frustrating and fruitless argument with people that I generally like. Though I call myself an agnostic, and Hume is clearly an atheist, literally everything he writes in this essay rings true to me.

D’Holbach makes point that following a creed which is, by nature, unknowable, forces perfectly capable people to be “crushed under the double yoke of spiritual and temporal power.” Man then remains bound in servitude to not some all-powerful being, but instead to the self-proclaimed, and very human, earthly enforcers. I have often reflected on the question: if religious ideals are the most rewarding way to live life, then why do you have to scare people into following them with threats of punishment or eternal damnation? The ‘repercussions’ in many religions seem to me to be too bitter and vindictive to have been created by an omnipresent, all-powerful, eternally wise Being. Instead, they seem to be in place to appease man’s sense of fairness (i.e. “It’s O.K he didn’t wake up early and go to church like I did, because he’s going to Hell and I’m going to Heaven.”) or to worry people into submission to authority figures.

D’Holbach then makes another point about morality that I found incredibly striking and had never thought of before. He says: “To found morality on a God, whom everyone paints to himself differently, composes in his way, and arranges according to his own temperament and interest, is evidently to found morality upon the caprice and imagination of men.” I agree, because I think what God is willing to forgive depends on the person you ask and what sinful things they have done lately, not on some magical, code of conduct, checklist mechanism up in Heaven. As someone who has never been to church/temple/mosque, it always drives me crazy when people say that religion teaches them how to be better people. Though this may be true, I hate the unspoken implication that you need religion to be a ‘good’ person. Therefore I was very happy with d’Holbach’s theory that morality stems from nature, and that with, or without God, our relationships would dictate our actions.

Obviously, someone who is very religious may see this piece in a completely different light, but at this point in my life I cannot help but celebrate it as an appeal to logic. I completely respect spirituality, and the idea of things more powerful and wiser than humans, but I think d’Holbach’s discussion on the evils of organized religion makes some very good points. I wish they would be circulated more widely today, for some people are still so close-minded because of their religions, when spirituality should, if anything, make you more mindful of the world around you.

Osama+Westboro Baptist Church kids prove, "if ignorance is useful to priests, and to the oppressors of mankind, it is fatal to society.