"Religion poisons everything"

On the blog-o-sphere, I have noticed a good many posts that have responded to Christopher Hitchen's God is not great: How religion poisons everything. I have not read the book itself, though I have read a few reviews about it, so while I have a good idea at the basic premises, I can not directly respond to the charges made by Hitchens. However, my intent isn't to disagree with the basic premise, but I am actually in agreement, up to a certain point. If I were to write a book about the topic I would write "How most religion poisons everything."

True religion I would say it pure and poisons nothing but purifies the world and makes it a better place. However, much of religion, even religion that professes to be Christian, is actually an exercise in self-justification and exorcising our own guilt without personal responsibility. I think the greatest example of this is a commpon Protestant idea that some have; that we are justified WITHOUT having works, but with only an intellectual belief in the existence God and the role of the Son (and not a trust in God and Jesus). As such, this form of religion serves only as a tool to ease ones own conscience. This type of religion fosters slothfulness and carelessness. Some of the most hateful people I have met are conservative Christians in the middle of the Bible Belt, because the religion is most self-serving. There is more talk about forgiveness of ones own sins than us forgiving the sins of others. There is a greater focus on what we receive instead of what we should give. It paradoxically calls man a great sinner but yet bestows on him a status of blessedness, and this fosters with many people little desire to change their ways.

True religion, on the other hand, does not focus on oneself and what one procures, but it focuses on what we should give. Instead of talking about receiving grace, it talks about trying to be a means of God's grace. We recognize what blessings we receive, but only so far that it enables us to better serve God and our neighbors. True religion rids us of rabid individualism (like that here in America) and creates a sense of community. The ego becomes expanded to include all humanity, because we should love our neighbors just like they were a part of us.

Mere religion does make person a less moral person because the personal responsibility is lost, or made secondary. True religion makes personal responsibility our central goal, and our blessings are secondary.

True religion also does not exist to serve itself and its hierarchy. It does not exist to serve the institution of religion. When religion becomes about the institution itself, it ceases to fulfill its purpose and becomes merely internal and exclusive community (though there is to be some internal and exclusiveness in the Church).

True religion requires three things in order to be true religion. It calls for a rejection of oneself (or in other words, true humility), it make personal responsibility to God and our neighbors our primary focus instead of God's blessings to us, and finally it exists not to merely serve its hierarchy and institution. If any of those three parts are lacking, religion loses its saltiness.

And the problem is, people are much more prone to seek self-centered religion, as it doesn't require for a true humility. True humility is not merely an admittance of sinfulness, but an admittance one MUST change. To say I am a sinner, but I am accepted by God is not true humility, but it is a pride cloaked in humility. But most people do not want to accept true humility, a true rejection of oneself. Jesus spoke of this when he said that many are invited but few are chosen. Most religious people do not want to put on the proper wedding clothing of true humility. And without humility, there is no room for grace to transform us, because God is opposed to the proud, and He gives grace to the humble. True humility is scary to many, because it leaves no room at all for disobedience and faithlessness to God.

In the religious landscape today and throughout a lot of history, I will agree that much religion poisons everything. But to those who truly have received grace, they do more to better the world than the rest of humanity does itself. A few faithful, praying men can change the world greater than a plethora of programs and initiatives, both from the government and from the general populace. And I would say that the few faithful have made this world a better place, though we fail to see it and many even try to explain it away. So on the net, I would say religion does more good than bad, but many reject or explain away the good and only see the bad in order to reject religion as good (also known as confirmation bias). But if it was not for the bad of mere religion that lacks the true nature of it, the world would be even better. But then, that hits at the sinfulness of humanity and how few will really enter God's grace.