Religion: The Sacred Cow

Here is a subject that quickly becomes controversial and, in some cases, taboo to speak about. To begin with, I would like to say that I fully support the basic tenets of most all religions in so far as they encourage the Golden Rule (you can’t go wrong with “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”): loving kindness, love your neighbor, do no harm, and many more admirable virtues and intentions.

It is said that there are fifteen basic principles shared by all major religions, all of which in theory are lofty and admirable ideals and practices.²⁶ Whether pursuing a spiritual path connected to a religious affiliation or simply pursing the effort to cultivate kindness and compassion in one’s life, those principles are a helpful standard and reminder of what we aspire to. Many churches do good works in the world, offering service, comfort, and community. This is a force for good.

Unfortunately, the core beliefs of goodness, compassion, and mercy are often submerged under dogma, prejudice, intergroup conflicts, outright war, and abusive powers that use religion as a way to manipulate people, and serve as a justification for dominance and exploitation (a cover for darker intentions and actions). So, it is a complex and messy realm. Much evil has been done in the name of God.

One only needs to take a quick glance at history to be reminded of the hate, racism, bigotry, sexism, and abuse associated with “religion.” Looking just at Christianity, we see the terrors of the Spanish Inquisition(50–68 million people killed), the Crusades(1–3 million people killed), the brutal colonization of the Americas (8.5–138 million people lost) . . . just to name a few in a litany of hateful acts done in the name of God (in this case, singling out Christian history, particularly Catholicism). More recently, there were Catholics who preached against condoms during the AIDS epidemic in Africa. But wars and oppression in the name of particular religious faiths have been repeated over and over again for centuries, something not unique to Christianity or Catholicism.

Here in the US, an alliance has formed between the Republican party and the religious right . . . politicians use the issues of race, abortion, and sexuality to bring fundamentalist and evangelical groups into their economic and political agenda.²⁷ This has proved to be a powerful political tool to keep progressive ideas from taking hold.

Most religions do not discourage large families, even if they do not specifically ban contraception. Some religions encourage increasing their numbers, either directly, or indirectly through discouraging the use of contraceptives. The primary groups are those affiliated with Catholicism, LDS (Mormons), conservative Protestant groups, Muslims, and Orthodox Jews²⁸ (especially Hasidic Jews, with an average of 7.9 children per family)²⁹.

In the book of Genesis in the English standard translation of the bible we have the famous line. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Unfortunately, it does seem we have fulfilled the dangerous commandment of filling the earth, subduing it, and claiming dominion over every living thing. What a frightening instruction!

It still surprises me that so many people look upon the bible as a sacred text when much of it is unrelated to life as we know it today. Something I have always had difficulty accepting is the way religion, and religious beliefs, quite often get a free pass when it comes to common sense or a sense of responsibility. It has never made sense to me that just because a person holds a particular belief (no matter how crazy), we are not allowed to question the validity or relevance of that belief. Thus, some very antiquated beliefs and practices continue unquestioned, and in the midst of the crises we are facing today, we need to question almost everything about our values and lifestyles if we hope to leave a livable planet to our children.

Some people believe that our purpose here on earth is to procreate, that it is a commandment of God. Many cultures consider a large family a symbol of status, others believe they need many children to ensure they will be taken care of in their old age, and, unfortunately, many don’t give it any thought at all, and just assume that having numerous children is expected of them.

According to the Pew Research Center, the religious profile of the world is rapidly changing. If current trends continue, Muslims will grow faster than any group, and by 2050 the number of Muslims will be close to the same as Christians worldwide. By 2050, the world population is expected to rise to 9.3 billion, and from 2010-2050 the Muslim population is expected to increase by 73%.³⁰ Buddhists numbers will stabilize near the numbers from 2010, while Hindus and Jews numbers will be larger. Interestingly, the unaffiliated numbers will increase, but will decline in their overall share of the global population.³¹ Of course, these projections do not indicate whether individuals are practicing their faith, or just sharing a cultural affiliation. Currently 84% of the world’s population identifies with a religious group, and this segment of the population tends to be younger and produce more children than those without any religious affiliation.

Areas where birth rates are high, as in developing countries, are likely to have more rapid population growth. Much of the growth worldwide is expected to take place in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, Muslims have the highest fertility rate at an average of 2.9 children per woman. Christians are second highest at 2.6 children per woman, and the average of all other groups is 2.2 children per woman.³² Fertility rates and birth-control practices of different segments of the population are closely related to education levels and access to information and services, but even more so to religious and cultural beliefs,(my next chapter,) and their influence on the acceptability of family planning.

Basically, organized religion is on the wane in Western Europe and North America, while it is growing in the rest of the world. Followers of most major religions report increasing hostilities,³³ a sign that the institutions of religion are doing more to create differences than encourage cooperation even as they share similar ideologies in their core teachings.

Although the current Pope (Pope Francis) has made some efforts to reform the Vatican, the institution of the church and the conservative forces that control it are preparing to seize more power after his reign.

I personally have felt that the symbolic office of the Pope has represented more criminality than spirituality in as much as the church has refused to take a responsible stance in regards to contraception in the face of uncontrolled population growth. Coupled with that is my feeling about the church’s abuse of power. Here I have a little story to share.

As a child, I used to love going to mass with my Catholic girlfriend. My family was not connected to any particular church or religious affiliation, except for an occasional trip to hear the Messiah sung at Christmas, but I was curious about religion and drawn to ritual. I found the ambiance of the Catholic Church inspiring . . . the music, the architecture, the art, the mystique of the rituals . . . essentially the beauty. This was when everything was still in Latin (which I didn’t understand), so for me no discernible ideology was being propagated. I grew up loving to sing sacred music, earned a BA in Pictorial Arts in college, and have always loved visiting chapels and churches to take in the art and the ambiance. So when I was a traveling hippie in 1969, I went to visit the Vatican City in Rome. I was looking forward to being in the sacred space of the Sistine Chapel. As it turned out, after paying a substantial price to be admitted, I wandered through an endless maze of galleries . . . incredible paintings and sculpture, famous early manuscripts and drawings (Galileo, Leonardo da Vinci, among others), a huge amount of cultural treasures collected from all over the world . . . Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamian civilizations, to mention a few. I was amazed at the quantity of relics, treasure and art that the church owned that originated from other countries and cultures. It was almost overwhelming. But I was dumbstruck when I came upon a gallery displaying robes, crowns, and jewelry made for the Popes over the centuries. It was the most ostentatious display of wealth that I had ever seen in my life . . . robes lined with ermine, crowns studded with huge precious gems, and an enormous amount of gold. I was seriously taken aback. I continued to explore the maze of galleries but, given the vast enormity of galleries to take in, there was not enough time to see it all. Since I really had wanted to experience the sacred space of the Sistine Chapel, I decided to return the next day and go straight to the Chapel. Being a hippie of the 60s generation, I decided to enhance my visit with some LSD. I paid my entrance fee again and headed straight to the Chapel as my “drug enhancement” was coming on. Surprisingly, it was not the sacred space of my imagination . . . no seating except a peripheral bench, echoing sounds like in a gymnasium . . . people listening to tours in different languages. As I stumbled in, a man just behind me (obviously American) looked up and exclaimed loudly “He must have worked his balls off.” So much for my “sacred space” . . . the art was astonishing, but the ambiance quite lacking in reverence. I eventually disengaged from the masterful trompe d’oeil of the ceiling and somehow made my way to St. Peter’s Cathedral, the largest church in the world. The sense of power evoked in the massive architecture was overwhelming and felt very masculine and cold . . . all gray granite, marble, and so gigantic! The only real softness or femininity was in the statue of the pietà just as I entered. Mary holding the collapsed body of Christ across her lap was emotionally moving. It felt like the rest of the church was designed to make you feel very small and helpless . . . the huge massive columns, the high ceilings, the lack of warmth. I was struck by the contrast between simply dressed women lighting candles and praying, and the opulent wealth I had just seen on display. It felt somehow wrong to me. As I exited the church and headed across the square, suddenly people around me began crossing themselves, some kneeling, some crying, and I looked up to see the Pope waving from the balcony above. Something about the symbolism of that moment in time forever changed my attitude of indifference toward the church to one of asking how the institution of the church is serving the very real needs of the people who believe in it. Couldn’t it be doing more to help its congregants? I have been encouraged by much of what Pope Francis has done to advance more progressive ideals, but, to me, there is a profound contradiction between espousing environmental sustainability while still not endorsing birth control . . . an undeniable hypocrisy.

There are many factors that contribute to population growth, and it seems evident that religion plays a significant role, but rarely do we see leaders of religious institutions actively advocating birth control. Instead of disseminating ideologies, they could be disseminating contraceptives, sex education, and other services . . . finding meaningful ways to help people who are often burdened and overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring and providing for more children.