In times of tragedy, the greatest evil is religion

he new millennium is still in its infancy and already God has reared his pious head. Believing that they are divine soldiers in a holy war with promises of eternal glory awaiting them, 19 men hijack and crash planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, murdering and maiming thousands of innocent people and destroying hundreds of thousands of other lives.

In response to these horrific and inexcusable acts of cowardice and dastardly malice, Americans everywhere seek solace from God in prayers, vigils and church services. Everywhere there is copious mention of God and his mysterious albeit always meaningful ways. Members of Congress sing "God Bless America" on the Capitol steps, and President Bush quotes the Bible and assures us that "God is still with America."

The first use of God we condemn and the second wielding of religion seems innocuous enough. Yet, it is this dual nature of religion that allows it to continue to stumble across the world like a clumsy child, preying on people's fears, ignorance and desperate need for a sense of mystery and meaning in their lives. What people fail to realize is that the mystery is that there is no mystery and the meaning, more bountiful than any scripture or prophet could fathom, is implicit in our very being present in every breath we take between the joint blessings of birth and death.

How long, gentle readers, until we discard the tired yoke of God and religion once and for all? They have admirably served their purpose in humanity's continuing evolution, but for humanity to further evolve to its kind, loving, optimum potential, we must take off the training wheels of our intellect.

Too harsh?

As a reformed zealot who was a devout altar boy in the Catholic Church for eight years, I posses an acute understanding of the intoxicating power of religion. The ability of religious faith to provide comfort and solace and the empowerment it lends to those who feel downtrodden is indeed impressive. Martyrdom appears to the faithful to be the courageous act of a true believer, when, in fact, it is the height of selfishness.

Karl Marx's ubiquitous quote, "Religion is the opium of the people," is only a partial truth. Religion is also the paramount anxiety-reducer of the people far superior in pious application to anything you can purchase in an alley or over the counter.

Yet, for every moment of relief religion grants, for every act of good it inspires, it causes a proportional amount of pain, suffering and misplaced passion, as the annals of history bear out.

Remember, the same God President Bush calls Americans to pray to, the same God he says guides his decisions, is also the God President Bush believes doesn't allow women the right of choice over their bodies, the same God who doesn't believe contraception should be available to high school students, the same God he consulted in his limiting of stem-cell research, the same God who apparently isn't concerned with global warming and the same God who also didn't mind the record number of executions in Texas while Bush was governor of the Lone Star state, including the execution of mentally retarded inmates.

The point is not to dispute the politics of President Bush, questionable as I think they are, but that God and religion should never again be used in anyone's agenda or quoted as a source for any decision, regardless of the apparent sanctity of that decision. God resides with no man or woman with no country or coalition with neither Osama bin Laden nor George W. Bush with neither the United States nor Afghanistan.

The time has come for humanity to be accountable only for itself for each of us to be fully present in this life and to never be so cruel as to pass off personal responsibility for our actions on an invisible God.

One of the great travesties of religion is that it dilutes our sense of personal power and also projects the sacredness that percolates in each of us onto an intangible entity. Perhaps its most disturbing aspect is the apparent monopoly many believe it holds on good works and just behavior. Morality and ethics are separate from religion, and while they can take shelter under its umbrella, they are neither tethered by nor bound to it in any way. You do not need to believe in God to honor your dead or be properly grateful for the good things in your life. You do not need to believe in God to be a moral and ethical person. You do not need to believe in God to be a kind person. You do not need to believe in God or be religious to be a person of honesty and integrity.

While those who harbor religious beliefs may be frightened/angered by these words, you should rejoice! Throw off the heavy yoke of your beliefs uncauterize your mind. Far from making life less valuable, if we answered only to each other, if we were always honest and fully awake and didn't scurry around like lemmings constantly seeking a divine stamp of validation on our lives, we would have more time to feel the sheer joy of existence and hold human life in even higher esteem.

I offer a sincere wish obviously still not possible at the genesis of the 21st century that the omega of the century will see a world that neither needs nor desires a divine suzerain to monitor its actions. A world filled with citizens brave enough to stand alone, united who refuse to be either pressed down on or comforted from above, but instead rejoice and take courageous solace in their own rising up from the earth.

In the sagacious lyrics of the late philosopher John Lennon, Imagine there's no heaven / It's easy if you try / No hell below us / Above us only sky / Imagine all the people / Living for today / Imagine there's no countries / It's not hard to do / Nothing to kill or die for / And no religion, too / Imagine all the people / Living life in peace.

Copyright 2001 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 144, No. 14 (Monday, September 17, 2001), beginning on page 7 and ending on page 9.