Does God Hate Religion?

March 01, 2011 by Patrick O'Hannigan

Continued from Page 1

If God hated religion, would Jesus have been angry with the moneylenders who defiled the temple by turning it into a bazaar? Would he have asked his cousin John to baptize him in the Jordan River, assuring that wild man that the overtly religious act of baptism was necessary so that the two of them could together "fulfill all righteousness"?

Would Jesus have told Peter that the "gates of Hell" would not prevail against his church if he had no use for churches?

It is also worth noting that after curing a leper, Jesus instructed him to show himself to the priests (Lk. 5:14) and to "offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed."

Finally, it seems doubtful that a God who hated religion would inspire the author of the First Letter to Timothy to identify the church as "the pillar and foundation of truth."

It is religion, not relationship, that describes Jesus as the Messiah and the "Lamb of God." Neither of those titles makes any sense except in a religious context. Moreover, as a devout Jew, Jesus said the Shema prayer ("Hear O Israel, the LORD is our G-d, the LORD is one") daily. He observed Passover and other religious feasts with his disciples. When speaking to crowds, he took for granted that they were religious, too, and demonstrated it ("You have heard it said . . .") by introducing quotations from the Torah before offering his definitive re-interpretation of them.

Certainly there were religious authorities who conspired against Jesus, but there were also some on his side (here's looking at you, Joseph of Arimathea, member of the Sanhedrin).

Moreover, had religion as such been tainted for all time by the actions of the priests who bullied the Romans into crucifying Jesus, had the violent death of an innocent man been the inevitable result of taking religion too seriously, then this serious drawback would have been recognized as such by Jesus, who was recognized as "teaching with authority, and not like the scribes." Instead, Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

There is, in other words, a mountain of evidence to suggest that God blesses "that old-time religion," properly understood, as an aid to union with him. We need religion to focus our minds and remind us of the stakes involved in our sojourn through this vale of tears.

Does God hate religion? On the contrary, he perfected it.

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