The problem with religion

A nine year old girl in Brazil is allegedly raped by her step-father, and gets pregnant, carrying twins. Doctors say that because of her tender age, and the twins inside her womb, her life is in danger, so she goes in for an abortion. The church responds to this by excommunicating her, and all those who helped her get the abortion done-her mother, the doctors involved. The step-father is not ex-communicated.

Now, I am a secular person, and not against any particular religion, but any doctrine, which ignores basic facts about rape, that too of a child by a family member, and then her right to life, and responds by ostracizing her at a time when she needs the support of the society, I cease to have any respect for the people who run that doctrine.

To me, what was shocking was not just the response of the local archbishop, but also the defense of his actions by the Vatican. Where has all the sense and sensibility gone? This represents a fundamental problem with religion altogether, which is following the text of its Gods by the letter, not in spirit. In a case like the one above, the church takes no action against the step-father but goes to great lengths to defend the life of the unborn twins, when it has no respect for the life of the nine year old.

The idea of religion, and the concept of having a few men dressed in robes of a revered color having the ultimate say in the interpretation of the religious texts needs reform. And this reform will not come by a mass social movement, it will be a silent revolution, taking place in the minds of free men and women, when every individual will choose for himself and herself, whether he would rather follow his conscience, and do what seems ‘right’ or listen to someone (mis)interpret the gospels of the messiahs. The color of the robes, and the actual preachings of the texts concerned is not important, what is important is that the underlying message of humanity is not lost: we must follow the basic principles of morality, and our actions must be determined with what seems right or wrong to our inner-voice. The independence from organized religion and moving towards an enlightened individual will eventually bring in universal harmony. Motivation for one’s action should be morality; religion, at least the way it is supposed to be, is a platform for moral actions, and this may not be needed in an enlightened world, in my opinion.

I am sure the day this happens, I will see unicorns grazing in my backyard, and people flying around on broomsticks.