THE BURIAL OF RELIGION

Nwanyanwu Chris

The burial of anything presupposes the death of that thing. The death of that thing presupposes the existence of that thing at a point in time. Talking about religion, while some are saying that religion will die, some others are saying that it is dead and buried at least in some part of the world and others at the extreme say that religion is still alive and will continue to be alive.

The question of the death of religion is derived from the situation in our world today especially in some parts with regard to the way people are abandoning religion and doing away with religious practices and properties. A closer observation with what is going on in some parts of Europe shows that within the nearest future, there may not be religion or its practices even of the minutest level. This is because as science tries to answer all the questions available, solve people’s present problems and provide a life of comfort to people, there may not be any need for religion since religion was because of some of these lacks.

However, I do not think that the claim above is true. The why of my non-agreement with the claim above is due to what religion is. Religion is the belief in the Supreme Being and the worship of this Being. This belief stems from the fact that people recognise that a being must have made the world as it is; for nothing can come out of nothing. Being that the world came from somewhere means that that somewhere or the person must be greater than that which is made. Hence, human beings believe that this Being can influence the world and as such respect and honour is given to it. The various ways of relating with this Supreme Being manifested in the various religion show that people are at home with this communion. Thus, the various religious institutions in the world today are used to foster this worship with the Supreme Being in one way or the other. This is the true nature and structure of religion. Therefore going by this, religion can never die unless deep within the consciousness of all human beings, the idea of the Supreme Being is scrapped out. Can this be possible?

Following the arguments of the antagonists of religion like Feuerbach who say that religion is created by man and the Supreme Being is equally a creation of man, which is just to fill in some the gap of psychological doubts / problems and lack of human desires, can we say that religion can die?

First and foremost, if we claim that people created the idea of God just to fill in the gap of unsatisfied desires, can we say that religion will die? I do not coincide with this because there has never being a time when human desires were met completely. This is because they come after the other; at times in group and other times individually. An example of this is the experiences we all share in our everyday life where the moment we meet what we need, another one reappears. Thus, going by this argument, religion will not die; for in the words of Adams Smith human wants are insatiable and the consolation/explanation people get for them is religion. How then can religion enter into the coffin eager to go home when these are true?

Another, role religion plays in the human society is that of explanation of the happenings in the society. The human mind is so limited that even when it abandons sense-experience for pure reason in a bid to answer all the human perplexing questions, it ends up with a contact with some confusions; for at that point in time, nothing can be understood. And so in other to gain at least a temporal answer to the problem at hand, the object of understanding in the world of religion which is faith is employed. Thus, faith is used to answer some of those “high-mountained” problems. This goes on to show that religion is always the last resort of human beings when the human intellect becomes inadequate. Arguing form this background and as science is yet to answer all the questions about reality for those who believe in it, and as human bewilderment continues to take place individually and collectively, human beings will always rely on the interaction with the Supreme Being for answers. This interaction is religion.

In relation to the above, as people continue to seek answers to their problems by being open to any kind of contact especially in the Christian world, and in connection with economic insecurity and the rush for social status, religion will continue to live. This is true when we imagine the number of the churches we have in the Christian religion. In fact religion is seen as a money-making business as people assume the power of ordination and the call of the Holy Spirit to minister unto the people whom they exploit through several buried means.

From the foregoing, we have been trying to base our attack on the bases of the antagonistic attitude to religion where it is said that religion is because human beings have unfulfilled desires. What we have tried to show is that if at all science could answer all the human problematic questions, religion will live on; for new human problems emerge when old ones fade away.

Besides that line of our argument, we can equally show that religion will never die. This is due to the need to always make reference to the a historical principles or the eternal in whatever that happens here. Metaphysics will always tell us about the universals that give rise to the particulars and whom the particulars must refer to. Although the post-positivists like Rorty will argue against the eternal and the a historical,  the point remains that for those who believe in God and still want to relate with him in all they do, their practice of religion will not die.

At this juncture we are left with a very peculiar case of two different directions with regard to the death and burial of religion. The first direction belongs to the group of people who are religious for what religion can do for them and the second direction is for those who are religious for the sake of religion. While the former group is likely to carry their own religion to the grave as far as they can solve their problems, the later will never carry or even allow theirs to be sick talk less of death and burial. Also, while in the former group as the human problems remain unsolved completely, they are will not abandon religion, the members of the later group will always remain attached to their religion.

Finally, religion is too young to die collectively. It can die individually. But the greater percent from the foregoing has the fact that religion will never die!