Religion, Society and Civilization

There can be no doubt that religion has had a powerful effect on society. Some historians and historiographers have suggested that with the ascension of a new religion has come a renewal of civilization. Studies in the social sciences have suggested that religion facilitates cooperation among unrelated people, including strangers, within a culture or society (assuming that all or most members of the society are members of the same religion.) There have been cultures based around common religious belief and practice, theocratic states, and even theocratic empires. There have also been many conflicts caused by religious differences, including wars waged by the members of one religion against the members of another, the purging of heretics, and lesser conflicts in the form of verbal and social attacks.

IMHO, one of the central purposes and functions of religion is to unite people. We can look at this statement in two different ways:
1)The function of uniting people that religions have had in the evolution of social order. This would be the materialist view.
2)The purpose of uniting people that the founders of religions have had and that the Supreme Being has had in inspiring the revelation upon which each religion is founded. This would be the theist point of view.

Likewise, IMHO, the conflicts which religion has caused are due in part to the those tribal instincts which we share with our closest genetic relatives, the great apes. While religions have, through the ages, provided common identity, common goals, common moral laws, and cooperation within large groups of people, it has not eased competition and conflict between large groups with different religions. The tribal instinct is exacerbated by the human creativity of some clerics and pseudo-clerics who use the influence of religion for the promotion of their own power. It has been found in the villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan that education can strengthen a society against the influence of so called “fundamentalists”, who try to recruit terrorists by using lies about Islam. This is especially true when girls are educated the same as boys. (See the book "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson.)

I believe that conflicts can be ended, and humankind's potential increased, by a religion which grows by its power to attract peoples hearts, which appeals to our highest aspirations and ideals while also satisfying our intellect, and which promulgates the oneness of humanity (that is, that expands the group to include all people everywhere, whatever their races, cultures, nationalities, or original religions), the oneness of religion, universal education, unity of nations and the development of a common world language and script.

Bahá’u’lláh says, “The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension and discord, of hate and enmity.” 'Abdu'l-Baha expands on this, saying, “if religious belief proves to be the cause of discord and dissension, its absence would be preferable; for religion was intended to be the divine remedy and panacea for the ailments of humanity, the healing balm for the wounds of mankind. If its misapprehension and defilement have brought about warfare and bloodshed instead of remedy and cure, the world would be better under irreligious conditions.”

It is because of human nature that an institution such as religion is needed to unite and facilitate cooperation among large groups of unrelated people. Human nature includes many characteristics that we share with chimps, bonobos and other great apes. Among these characteristics is a sort of tribal instinct. Tribes of great apes usually consist of 20 to 50 individuals. There is coherence and cooperation within each tribe, as well as a limited degree of competition. There is competition, between tribes, and inter-tribal warfare has even been observed. Human nature also includes a degree of creativity and individual expression far beyond that of the great ape. This creativity and ability to act outside of cultural norms and constraints is, I believe, what the book of Genesis refers to as “knowledge of good and evil”. Our creativity has also led us to form cooperative groups (societies, states, cultures, etc.) much larger than the tribe.

Cooperation in these larger groups requires shared identity, trust gained through a shared moral code, and shared allegiance to leaders who are perceived to have a strong claim to authority. All of these are provided by religion, along with guidance on how to practice being a good member of society and motivation (in the form of promised reward and punishment in the afterlife) for behaving within the norms. From a theist point of view, one sees that God, having created us and the universe in which we live, has given us religion to guide us along the path He has set for us. In the scriptures of most religions, we are urged and guided to strive toward the goal or purpose for which we were created. In the Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá’í Faith, that purpose has been stated in different, but compatible, ways. One of them is, “to know and worship God.” Also in those scriptures we are told that to knowledge of God is knowledge of our true selves. In the Bahá’í Writings we are told:

“The heights which, through the most gracious favor of God, mortal man can attain, in this Day, are as yet unrevealed to his sight. The world of being hath never had, nor doth it yet possess the capacity for such a revelation. The day, however, is approaching when the potentialities of so great a favor will, by virtue of His behest, be manifested unto men. ... All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization. The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth.”