The complete nonsense of religious values!

Last updated on: January 18, 2008 at 2:09 pm by Desh Kapoor

The complete nonsense of religious values! 2008-01-18T14:09:14-06:00 Desh Kapoor

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I went to the blog of Joseph Thomas (Jo calling) who had challenged the call by an Archbishop to the Christians to send their kids to Christian schools only. Jo laments how the Christian schools are just into money and how he studied in a far away school, just because his family could not pay the money, and that they are hardly reflecting “Christian Values”! That made me think.

We have seen this to be prevalent in every ideology and religion – The Values of that group are held sacred. But then there are as many values as there are groups!

There are “Hindu Values”, there are “Islamic Values”, “Communist Values”, “Capitalist Values” and values of even the Institutions – like Harvard values or GE values! Lets try and analyze what we really mean by values and how nonsensical this entire construct is in the first place! I will use Jo’s line to discuss it further – not trying to pick on a particular group or Jo himself (sorry Jo!), but since that is how this thought started off.

Christian Values are discussed. Now, are Christian Values… the Values that all Christians LIVE by as a natural fact as soon as they come out of the womb or those that they SHOULD live by but dont always??

It is quite obvious from the discussion that these are values that Christians are “strive” to live by! Hmm… so why should they live by these values? Because a religious fountainhead gave it to them. If this religious fountainhead was even a wee bit serious and had any element of the Universal Consciousness in Him, then it would stand to reason that He would provide something that would be true for the ENTIRE humanity… actually ENTIRE creation.. rather than a certain hitherto unknown, un-created, and evolving/changing group! Isnt it? Its like I became enlightened suddenly and said.. ok, folks, too bad all you guys who came before me but all those who jump into this box that I will now call “Desh-ism” and live by my 13 cardinal rules will automatically assume that you are living by “God’s Word”!

If they were indeed values that entire humanity should have followed them and then they ought to be HUMAN values as opposed to Christian (or any other group) values! Isn’t it?

Most of the religious have this constant refrain – God is what creates and runs this world. If that is true then what goes on in the world is what God ordained. The Good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful! All! The “devil” included – for if anyone else created Devil, then it would imply a “higher” power than God!

Everything, then, should be God’s will! Right? Then doesn’t it sound logical that God’s “values” will be embedded into the VERY functioning of the creation itself? The opening up of the bud into a flower, the flowing of the stream, the murder of a toddler, the firing of the rocket.. everything!

The talk of living by values points to this elusive, written code that everyone should change to living by. What we mean, then, is – to not live in the natural flow of things but change the ways of the world to get to a way that is written in a book (and this “book” changes every 100 miles or so on this earth!) So, now the “natural embedded values of God” are no more sacred.. instead one should change to particular set. One that the clergy tells you to live by! For the original Guy is no longer there! And THAT is another farce!

These values … are sacred values BECAUSE they are purported to come from the “Holy One”! What happened prior to this Holy One appeared? Were his parents, grand-parents and elder siblings living “value-less” lives? The evangelists and the missionaries go about “spreading the Word of God” because those who have not “heard” it are unfortunate. By that measure, can you even BEGIN to imagine the misfortune of Jesus’ parents and grandparents?? And, crazy thing is that He was born to such people who lived a completely hopeless and value-less lives!

Excuse me, but if a life of no hope and absence of values – because of no access to a certain “Value System” can give me a shot at having a kid, or a grand-kid, like Jesus, well then, pray, why do I exactly need to “get” these values?

So do you see the nonsense? In a strange ironical way, the religious speak from both sides of their mouth! One, God decides everything that runs in this world, and Second, He could not do a good enough job and sent a messenger to create a static set of statements that should NOW govern his Values-less, immoral creation! This religious God is at best a Schizophrenic! He just cannot decide! Or is it?

…..Or Is it us? Who is this “God”? He is also our own creation! We, through our own psychologies have created God in our own image. Some have Him tall, some have Him dark, some have Him rich, some have Him Weak, some have Him strong… we all have a God. We have given names – Jesus, Buddha, Krishna.. but do these names mean the same thing to every follower? Ask 4 of your co-religionists…. then wait for 2 weeks, and ask again! Do you see the idiocy of this Godliness?

If you look through the charade of religion and values you will see that “Values” are like a pole that everyone wants to be tied to.. but if everyone were to ask him/herself honestly…. one will discover that he/she was NEVER even close! Why? Because there is something else beyond your “Book” and the sacred that takes you in a direction that is difficult to control! And you do not even know what that is! If there is indeed any God, then He/She/It should be reflected in every moment.. every inch…. every creation… every emotion of the this Universe (and beyond).. if not, then this “God” really does not matter!

If you really look at it, you need to answer a basic question – Is God reflected in a “value” or does the Truth that this creation is, a reflection of God? What are we seeking? If we are indeed in search of Truth that God is, then would it change for anyone? ANYONE.. mosquitos, fishes, the dacoits, the Saints? Or even if you never discovered Truth that God represents.. would it change? Is the Eternal dependent on YOU discovering it? Are you more important than the Truth – in the sense that YOU have to discover the “Word” to make a difference in this World? Or are “you” unimportant in the larger game of cosmos?

Use gravity to understand this. Does gravity change because you read about it’s “theory” in the physics class? Does gravity “strengthen” because you scored an “A” in your physics exam? If not, then do values really matter… to you? To God?

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