[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’PEOPLE POWWOW ‘ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY HERBERT VEGO
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
Materialism in religion
SUNDAY is no church day for me – not anymore. I have hopped from one Christian sect to another only to discover God “outside of religion.” I can no longer “stomach” conflicting views that pit one religious sect against another.
Religion thrives in commercialism. Popular priests and pastors – including those who have not gone through theological schools and seminaries – have enriched themselves at the expense of loyal adherents. If there’s one thing that religion has succeeded in, it’s in fulfilling the material greed of religious leaders, not in fulfilling the spiritual growth of members.
In other words, the followers’ tithes and offerings certainly ensure the earthly survival and expansion of churches. But who can truthfully say that churches ensure the heavenly afterlife of their flock? We may never know.
I once wrote a column questioning the “religious fanaticism” of Roman Catholics who would always swallow hook, line and sinker what their Church teaches. Unwittingly, I offended a reader named Hector, who emailed me four successive letters in defense of his faith.
Hector begged to disagree with my observation that our main reason for believing in God is a selfish one – “to free us from the bondage of mortality and catapult us to eternal life in heaven.”
Hector said, “Sorry to disappoint you, but I believe in God and the Catholic religion because it is rational and not for the selfish reason that you mentioned.”
I was not disappointed. I recalled what Dale Carnegie had written in his book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”: “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.”
As to whether people who die outside of the “true religion” would suffer eternal torment in the fires of hell, Hector quoted a few words from the “Catechism of the Catholic Church”: “Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, yet sincerely seek God and, moved by grace, strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known through the dictates of their consciences, may attain eternal life.”
Then indeed that’s precisely also the same reason that those of different religious affiliations – whether Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or whatever – endeavor to tread different paths while targeting a common goal: eternal life in paradise.
Vox populi, vox Dei? Nay, not so. Truth is not found in majority opinion or decision. As all Christians today would agree, the majority of the Roman soldiers went wrong in heeding the demand of the majority to crucify Jesus Christ.
Poor Galileo Galilei for not heeding the majority opinion in his time. He was excommunicated as a heretic in the 16th century for declaring that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe.
I would not refute Hector’s argument that Catholics do not worship graven images but just “venerate” whom they represent. It’s the various “escapist” interpretations of the Bible that affirm why Christianity has divided itself into a thousand and one sects.
As to why I have dropped out of Church, it’s because I have found it ineffective in reforming society. Action speaks louder than words. Religious preachings fail against filthy realities. We don’t see in religious politicians and church leaders what it takes to bring us to peace and prosperity.
I remember an incident in high school when a classmate got mad at me for “debating” with him on religious matters. I insisted that he had not chosen his religion, that he had merely adopted his parents’ religion. To which he grumbled, “Kung saan ka nadapa, doon ka babangon.”
I quipped, “I refuse to stumble.”
I might have won an argument but lost a friend. (hvego31@gmail.com /PN)
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
