Yesterday, CBC News reported that church buildings are being sold due to a lack of attendance and funds. In Northern Ontario, a church building was listed for one dollar, which inspired me to write this piece.
I believe this trend has been happening for a long time but at a slower pace, making it less noticeable to the average person. It began when the movement for equal human rights started to work against all forms of prejudice. Many religions preach prejudice against other religions and against those who don’t follow their particular guidelines or rules. They often claim that joining their religion will guarantee a place in heaven, making followers feel superior to others and condemning non-followers to hell.
This is one of the biggest mistakes religions have made with their politics, as it disregards humanity as a whole and focuses only on specific groups. This raises concerns about the politics hidden behind spirituality. Religions preach that individuals are insignificant, creating insecurity, especially about the afterlife. Yet, for thousands of years, no one has returned to provide evidence of heaven or hell. We are told to believe blindly and follow orders, even to the extent of killing innocents or getting killed in the name of God. Questioning this makes one labeled as a non-believer, inferior to believers. This conflict will continue until we learn to balance a sense of belonging to humanity as a whole and respect others as God’s people as well.
We are an evolving species, and our knowledge constantly changes. Therefore, any knowledge that doesn’t evolve with the times becomes archaic. I believe spirituality is the essence of our existence, which has allowed religions to survive but also threatens to destroy them.
In the deep psyche of the human individual, helping each other regardless of group affiliation signifies a direct connection to the source, which can be called God. Religions often make individuals feel unworthy of a direct connection to God, yet it is the individual who performs God’s physical duties.
If you believe you are superior to others because of your faith, reconsider without prejudice. In today’s world, such an attitude would label you as someone who disrespects others and feels superior regardless of personal character, which contradicts the humility preached by all religions.
When it comes to a sense of belonging, all religions become political, allowing leaders to preach prejudice. They believe their prophets have kept humanity alive, yet the death toll from religious conflicts is unaccountable throughout history and continues today.
I believe those who have helped humanity, whether spiritually or physically, should be regarded as God’s people. Prophets of religions had extraordinary knowledge that helped people evolve and care for others. My hats off to them for that. However, religions should have remained spiritual entities. Since religion touches individuals like music and alcohol, it can drive them to extremes, including killing and dying for it. They should not let the politics of belonging ruin their reputation as spiritual entities.
We often neglect those who invented ways to combat infections or brought us insulin, enabling us to live. They deserve the same respect as prophets because they have saved millions of lives. Politically charged individuals who speak against other religions yet live thanks to medicines from opposing belief systems should respect the inventors who keep them alive. Credit is due where credit is due. Hypocrisy in personal life locks one into prejudice regardless of religion or sect.
It is illegal in Western countries to deny children medical care, yet some people believe blood transfusions are against their religion and that having multiple wives is acceptable. Some have been jailed for these beliefs. Religious freedom exists, but extremes evolve with time. Human rights is the new religion, and one shouldn’t want to be labeled as prejudiced. Medicine, religion, or any belief system should help individuals live better lives. If it doesn’t, the individual is responsible. It is your duty to use your religious faith for benefiting your living years. If it robs you of happiness or life itself, serious adjustments are needed.
Before you are Muslim, Christian, Pakistani, Canadian, black, white, or brown, you are a human being with both spiritual and physical sides. When hungry, spirituality, belief systems, and all rules take a back seat. Ensure no one goes hungry before enforcing any rules. Hunger leads to rule-breaking and hatred, causing intrareligious conflicts.
We are influenced more by our physical side than spirituality. Good deeds come when the stomach is full. Physical creatures, influenced by hormones, act based on ancestral knowledge. Problems arise when individuals think they are superior due to ancestral knowledge. This prejudice is the root of social ills. We blame others but need to fix our own thinking.
Right or wrong boils down to the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If we hurt from love loss, why do we rob others of love? Religions have fought for thousands of years, committing spiritual crimes in the name of God. Killing is political, not spiritual.
Instead of criticizing each other’s ancestral knowledge, we should embrace and learn from it. Humanity must evolve in all areas of life. Societies learn from each other, even stealing knowledge, as seen with hacking and patent systems. Knowledge is power.
We are interconnected more than we think, like a body consisting of different cells that can’t function without each other. Global issues like warming and human rights abuses connect us as humanity rather than separate groups.
Most religions have become political organizations, no better than socialism or communism. They mixed politics into spirituality, creating a lethal mix of perpetual killings, making them inferior to modern democracy. This is one reason why houses of God have lost value.
Living for the afterlife has political reasons, making individuals sacrifice their present lives for the benefit of a few powerful individuals. Why sacrifice the gift of life God has given you?
The need for a sense of belonging leads to control and power for some and sacrifice for the masses. This is political. As individuals, we must understand the importance of this life and not rob each other of it, as it leads to love loss and perpetual revenge killings.
This life is given to us to reciprocate directly with God. We are only good for God’s work when we are alive. When dead, we can’t perform physically and thus can’t help with God’s physical work. Helping each other to evolve humanity is our spiritual duty. God helps the needy physically through human hands. Without living human beings, God’s work is not done.
In the spiritual world, God is immortal and consistent. In the physical world, humanity is consistent as a whole, but individuals are mortal and inconsistent. This reality creates insecurity, leading us to seek security and control. Mortality makes us fear love loss.
If one believes they are above this, they may focus on securing themselves financially. But when mortality comes knocking, fear and discontent set in. As long as we are mortal, there will always be room for God in belief systems.
Right or wrong is not the question. It comes down to individual efforts to succeed and reciprocate. You can’t expect food to go into your mouth without effort, just as you can’t expect to achieve anything without effort. God helps those who help themselves.
We must not kill each other over belief systems. Respect the hard work and efforts of individuals. Mixing spirituality and politics of belonging creates belief systems and sects, leading to conflict.
Human beings are always evolving, and religious knowledge may not fulfill changing needs. Church attendance fluctuates with time.
God lives through human beings. Without people, buildings are empty spaces. Majestic architecture without humans is just expensive landmarks or ruins. If church buildings are being sold, it’s because fulfillment is not found in buildings but in people.
Educated individuals view God, religion, and spirituality through the lens of ancestral knowledge, which is biased by the politics of belonging. God and spirituality are separate from this bias.
To solve our problems, we must understand them as individuals. Only then will we evolve to the next level of civilization. Otherwise, we will continue killing each other over who is right about God without understanding God.
If everyone adopts divisive philosophies, with weapons and hatred, we may fulfill holy predictions of destruction. Instead, we should view choices as individual decisions. Even religious and nationalistic philosophies are political influences on individuals.
We call ourselves evolved individuals. Are we? Shouldn’t we question our religions and constitutions as we evolve? Nothing is so sacred that it cannot be questioned, especially if it goes against equal human rights. The fabric of collective evolution is made of individual threads. Disrespecting individuals jeopardizes the whole.
Preaching division and disrespecting individual rights is against spirituality. Religious buildings should be places for individuals to worship. All religions should allow worship in the same space because the need for God and spirituality is universal.
Today, people go to worship places with intentions to kill, be it church or mosque killings, in the name of God. No wonder our prime minister seeks an apology from the Pope for residential school injustices.
Religions often conceal political agendas behind charitable actions. If charity is aimed at conversion, it’s political, not spiritual.
Individuals still seek spirituality and lean on their religions, driven by personal insecurities. We want control over the unknown, the ultimate control perceived to be possessed by God. Yet mortality remains unchanged.
Our mortality is a reality, regardless of increased life spans. We live lives of control, even at the cost of health, happiness, and contentment.
If you believe your faith makes you superior, you are outside spiritual boundaries. True spirituality fosters humility, self-esteem, and hope. Politically charged religious fanatics lack true self-esteem, committing spiritual crimes in God’s name, tarnishing God’s name due to their insecurity.
Religions are full of stories of God’s interventions, yet God does not stop perpetual killings by religious extremists. We need to gain more knowledge and evolve. We must take responsibility as individuals to distinguish spirituality from the politics of belonging.
Each of us can contribute to humanity’s evolution by assuming our responsibilities.
In true equal human rights, one should not have to seek security within their own kind. A human is a human, period. In this day and age, we should already understand this. Why must we seek security if humanity is present as a whole? No one should be deemed inferior due to their color, sexual orientation, nationality, or religion. The reason we gravitate towards similarity is for security. If you examine the social crime rate and everyday killings, it becomes evident that our own group often holds the worst record for individual safety.