Wrestling with Religion

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you" (Isaiah 41:10) is a sentiment repeated all through scripture, Abrahamic and otherwise. Religion generally counteracts fear--our instinctive physical reaction to impending danger, loss, or insult. Fear is a surge of adrenaline that causes sweating, dilation of the eyes, a fast heartbeat, a surge of blood to muscles, imprinted memories, and an impulse to freeze, flee, or fight.           For the millions of years our progenitors wandered in small bands exposed to carnivores, starvation, and strangers, terror helped them survive, but today, when wild beasts are rare, food warehoused, and most strangers harmless, fear can be useless and corrosive. Chronic anxiety afflicts us in social situations where we can't freeze, run, or fight--not productively anyway. Fear erupts as road rage, PTSD, agoraphobia, blanking on exams, and other dysfunctions, and chronic stress degrades sleep, health, and pleasure. Fear ...

   "How do I know? The Bible tells me so!” This old song claims that the anthology finally edited in the third century of the Common Era is the word of God. If not dictated (like the Quran) it is divinely inspired with authority transcending human reason and experience. Many Protestants call the book “inerrant” and Catholicism's softer view declares it reliable in matters of faith and morals. Thus, if proof texts align, the Lord has spoken. Case closed. “How firm a foundation you saints of the Lord, / is laid for your faith in his excellent Word!” This authoritarianism averts its eyes from the fact that many different books and collections claim like authority: The Pentateuch alone, The Book of Mormon , the Quran , the Bhagavad Gita , the Upanishads , the sutras of the Buddha, the Tao Te Ching , the teachings of Confucius, and many more. The Marcionites, for instance, accepted only a revised gospel of Luke plus some of Paul’s letters, and the Cathars accepted o...