By Baselos
Imagine if suddenly one day, human beings collectively decided that they must live in just the same way as their ancestors did some centuries or even a couple of thousand years ago, and that, therefore, they must make their dwellings in caves and up in the trees, that they must wear the skins of beasts and the bark of trees to cover their nakedness, that they must hunt for food rather than grow it, that they must walk to travel from one place to another or ride on animals like donkeys, horses and camels for the same purpose, and so on? If all of this were to happen, human civilization would stagnate, progress would come to an end, and we would all be likely living in rather primitive conditions simply because we decided to believe that we must be exactly as our remote ancestors happened to have been.
Mercifully, we human beings do not feel compelled to live just as our ancestors did out of some misplaced sense of loyalty to them and their ways of life. Rather, it seems that the human species has always been characterized, perhaps ever since it appeared on Earth, by an innate urge to progress and make things better for itself. This is how human civilization has been continuously evolving in various fields—from art and literature to science and technology—as each generation of human beings continuously seeks to go beyond what it receives as an inheritance in different spheres from the generation that preceded it. While each new generation of humans benefits from the progress made in various fields by generations that came before it, it does not consider itself bound to remain at the level of the latter. Rather, availing of what it regards as of value in the legacy that it has received in from its predecessors, it is driven by a desire to go beyond it. In this way, human civilization has been undergoing a process of ceaseless development ever since human beings made their advent on Earth.
There seems, however, to be one major exception to this rule of continuous progress in various fields of human endeavour—and that is in the realm of religion. Vast numbers of people even today believe that progress in the field of religion is not just impossible but is nothing short of anathema. To depart from the religious beliefs and practices that they have inherited from preceding generations, even if in the name of ‘progress’ or 'reform' is, they believe, an abominable sin and worthy of being severely punished by both God and man. While like other people they may be very enthusiastic about progress in fields such as science and technology, when it comes to religious beliefs and practices, they brook no change, reform or progress whatsoever. In matters of religion, they insist, one must faithfully believe and practice all the things that their remote ancestors did. They think that what they have received from their foreparents in terms of religion is the Absolute Truth, set firmly in stone as it were, and that, therefore, it is completely error-free, because of which there is nothing about it that ever needs to change. So fierce is their insistence on rigid conformity to inherited religious belief and practice in large parts of the world that in some communities and places, dissenters who defy this diktat can even be killed. Persecution by religious and political authorities of those who dare to depart from the religious beliefs and practices of their ancestors is supplemented by threats of fierce punishment by this or that supposed supernatural being for what is regarded as the heinous crime of non-conformity to what has been passed down the generations in the name of religion.
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Societies where rigid conformity to religious beliefs and practice that were developed centuries ago is expected and enforced by religious, social and political elites are among the most backward and violence-torn in the world. This is hardly surprising, because such enforced conformity goes completely against the natural human tendency and desire to progress, or, in other words, against God-given human nature. Just as banning progress in the field of scientific research and artistic expression would cause a society to stagnate, banning progress in the field of religious thought and practice would prevent a society from advancing, and would even push it far backwards. Any effort to stifle the basic human impulse to continuously evolve, be it in any field, whether art, literature, technology, religion or whatever else, is bound to lead to such deleterious consequences.
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Just as continuous evolution in various other spheres of human endeavour is a must, because the tendency to continuously evolve seems to be something part of the way human beings have been fashioned by their Maker, continuous evolution in the sphere of religious thought and practice is indispensable for human flourishing, fierce opposition to it on the part of some notwithstanding. While people can certainly benefit from wholesome religious teachings and customs which they may have inherited from their foreparents (as they can in terms from the wholesome attainments of their foreparents in fields as diverse as literature and cuisine, music and technology), there seems no compelling reason why they should be completely bound by them and forced into rigid conformity to them. The consequences of this are clear for all to see today, in parts of the world where such conformity is expected and brutally enforced—including in the form of endemic violence, widespread violation of human rights, stern political authoritarianism coupled with enormous social unrest, mass intellectual retardation, extreme economic crises and collapse of values.
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As human beings continue to evolve in various fields, it is but reasonable to expect that our understanding of the cosmos and our place in it must commensurately evolve, too—and that is what progress in religion is really all about, religion being here understood as a worldview that purports to explain the universe and our purpose and role in it. To expect human beings to advance while they continue to rigidly hold on to a worldview that was developed centuries ago, at a time when human attainment in various fields was not as advanced as it is today, is unreasonable. One can hardly expect a worldview that was born several centuries ago and was rooted in what were then widespread beliefs which do not accord with the findings of modern science and contemporary ethical sensibilities to help human beings today to flourish and not act as a drag on human progress. It is simply wishful thinking, or even sheer foolishness, to imagine that humankind can live in peace and prosperity when in the name of conformity to inherited religion, millions upon millions of people cling to ancient worldviews that are predicated on patently irrational beliefs and exploitative practices and that actively stoke negative prejudices and even violent behaviour, such as against women, socially marginalised groups, people who do not share the same worldview and non-human species. Without continuous reform in the sphere of religion, such worldviews can cause havoc on a horrific scale.
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The human story can be seen as a journey of continuous evolution (of course, while facing numerous impediments on the way) in various spheres of life. Evolution of human worldviews, which encompass all the spheres of human life, however, has not always been received with the same sort of enthusiasm as has evolution in particular spheres of life, such as in the field of science and technology. Though this may not be true for all religionists, this is specially the case for vast millions of people whose worldview is defined by religion. They seem to imagine that while evolution in all other spheres of human life is not only possible but also something commendable, such evolution is not possible, and nor is it desirable, in the realm of their particular religious beliefs and practices, regarding this as a challenge to God or some other such posited supernatural being or power. But when such religious beliefs and practices are clearly irrational and also an affront to modern ethical sensibilities, they can easily lead to brutal consequences, including posing a major challenge to peace and progress of humankind, as can easily be witnessed today. In such cases, opposition to progress in the field of religion becomes a major threat to humankind’s continuous evolution.
Clearly, then, just as continuous evolution in other spheres of human life is vital for humankind’s onward journey, so, too, is continuous evolution in the sphere of religion, or the sphere of worldviews more generally. This underscores the need for openness to, and even enthusiastic advocacy of, progress in the field of religion, removing the dross from religion that weighs people down and eagerly embracing and incorporating into it new and wholesome findings and experiences that emerge as human beings evolve in other spheres of life. Continuous evolution of religion, as indeed of all human worldviews, is essential in order that it keep in tune with the general evolution of humankind and also so that it can help facilitate humankind's further evolution, rather than being a burdensome barrier in its path.
Thanks for an important and excellent article!