I don’t think I’m alone in having an ambivalent attitude toward religion. My ambivalence is captured perfectly in an International Baccalaureate examination question titled: “Is organized religion a force for good or evil in the world?” The answer, of course, is both, although your essay would need to be a little more expansive in order to satisfy the examiner.
Article by David Cottam | China Daily (Hong Kong)
The case against organized religion is an easy one to make. All you have to do is list the horrors that have been perpetrated in the name of religion over the centuries. From the medieval Crusades, to the 16th-century European wars of religion, to modern examples of antisemitism, Islamophobia and terrorist attacks in the name of “the one true god” — throughout history, religion has left destruction, bloodshed, hatred and division in its wake.
The case in favor of organized religion generally relies on the original teachings of those religions, which are universal in their advocacy of peace, humility and goodness. It is only the perversion of those religions, it is argued, that leads to evil in the world.
A third view of organized religion is that it is a force for neither good nor evil, but a manmade construct providing a set of rules and ethics to regulate people’s moral behavior, preserve law and order, and minimize social discontent by the promise of a better afterlife. Karl Marx’s famous dictum that “religion is the opiate of the masses”, and the idea that man made god in his own image, are very much in this school of thought.
I’ve been reflecting on all of this since recently attending a religious ceremony in Hong Kong, where I came to the conclusion that rather than thinking in terms of the pros and cons of “organized” religion, we should be focusing on the more personal aspects of religion and how they can impact on our individual values in life. This conclusion wasn’t reached because of the ceremony itself, steeped as it was in the ritual of one of the world’s oldest religions, Zoroastrianism. It was reached because of the personal values at the core of the religion, which were so eloquently put into words in the post-ceremony celebratory speeches.
Before I expand on this, I should first explain
The question whether organized religion is a force for good or evil in the world will continue to be debated, but no rightminded person can argue against the universal values that were encapsulated in that special ceremony for two young children in Hong Kong.
a little more about the ceremony in question. This was a key milestone in the lives of two young people being welcomed into the Zoroastrian faith through the Navjote ceremony, traditionally conducted between the ages of 7 and 12. After one of my daughters married into a Hong Kong, Parsi, Zoroastrian family, I learned that Zoroastrianism is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, founded by the prophet Zoroaster in ancient Persia (now Iran) approximately 3,500 years ago. Although now having only a tiny following of approximately 100,000 people worldwide, it was once one of the largest religions in the world, and the Zoroastrian belief in one supreme being and the concept of good-versus-evil had a profound influence on the later religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The ancient Greeks also acknowledged the wisdom of Zoroastrian sages, which gave rise to the story of the Three Wise Men in the New Testament.
Having fled to India from Islamic persecution in Iran from the eighth century onward, India’s Zoroastrians, known as Parsis (a name derived from “Persians”), claimed to be the true custodians of the religion. Later, in the 19th century, a significant number of Parsi traders migrated from India to Shanghai, where they formed a small but vibrant community. In the mid-20th century, many then settled in Hong Kong, fleeing from the horrors of the Japanese invasion of China and the subsequent civil war.
This is all background information to the Parsi ceremony I attended in Hong Kong. People were there from a variety of religious and nonreligious persuasions, including Zoroastrians, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, atheists and agnostics. Many were Hong Kong residents, but others had traveled from across the globe to be there, including from India, the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland. It was very much a multifaith, multinational occasion, appropriately being held in cosmopolitan Hong Kong on the evening of the winter solstice, traditionally an auspicious date for even older, pagan religions.
The lesson I learned from the occasion was not that one religion is better than another or holds greater truths, but that the coming together of so many disparate people to witness two children being welcomed into a belief system encompassing such positive values is very much worth celebrating. This was the clear message of the uplifting post-ceremony speeches. One phrase that particularly resonated with me articulates the key principles at the heart of Zoroastrianism: “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.” These fundamental values not only underpin the generosity and philanthropy that are so characteristic of Parsis, but they should also underpin the mindset of people everywhere. At a time when national, racial, religious and ideological conflict affects so much of the world, this simple Zoroastrian philosophy has never been more relevant.
The question whether organized religion is a force for good or evil in the world will continue to be debated, but no right-minded person can argue against the universal values that were encapsulated in that special ceremony for two young children in Hong Kong.
Author:David Cottam The author is a British historian and former principal of Sha Tin College, an international secondary school in Hong Kong.
