A Religion For The Atheist? Sophicism

For the vast majority of my life I’ve criticized the concept of religion harshly. In my eyes, each were founded on fits of fantasy and irrational “faith” or superstition (though, some more egregious offenders than others).

I knew each would (and had) ultimately mislead their followers. It’s no wonder I saw religion as an antiquated idea that had no place in a modern world…keeping us as individuals and societies from advancing.

But one day I mused “what if a religion was created with a rational solid foundation? Would it still be a religion? Would it still be a pox on the world?”.

The first question I had to answer was what “religion” actually meant. So I searched for the definition.

While a good start, this definition seems to leave out some of worlds major religions (namely Buddhism). So I moved on.

“Faith”…this is an interesting term. But it wasn’t too much help at this point. Obviously the dictionary was failing to shed light on this question.

So I turned to a more thorough source.

From my understanding of this, it seems essentially a religion is nothing more than a collection of world views and ethics to guide our lives. Magic and fantasy are not qualifiers.

This makes quite a bit of sense if you think about it. In antiquity the fantastic explanations they invented likely seemed much more grounded in reality. One could easily imagine a person looking into an active volcano and coming to the conclusion that a world of fire lies under us.

The supernatural, at the time, was natural (often with evidence, though to our modern eyes quite flimsy).

With my new understanding that religion COULD, by definition, be a rational belief system….I began to think what that might consist of.

Obviously, first off would have to be a foundation of science. This relatively modern process of methodical testing and observation is the best humanity has come up with for learning about the reality we inhabit.

Of course science is filled with its own problems (such as political influence and corruption). But, by and large, over a longer period of time this open method of discovery has lead to a self correcting system of knowledge.

Next, I thought philosophy would surely have a place in a rational religion. While science may teach us how to create an atomic bomb, it doesn’t have us consider the usage of that knowledge.

Philosophy allows an open debate and exchange of ideas. Though, without constraints…philosophy can lead down any road a person may choose…

Of course any religion without art is one that can’t express itself. Art is the gateway by which we communicate philosophy…so should be a cornerstone of a belief system which values rational thinking.

As I said before, unrestrained philosophy can be dangerous.

So, to give a small amount of guidance, I determined a sane religion should have some core principles to base its morality from and guide its philosophical thought.

From my point of view, the goal of a society should be one which functions without harm. To create a society that provides peace and avoids suffering.

I would ascertain this is a fundamental desire of all living creatures. Perhaps not to avoid harm in others, but surely to avoid harm in ourselves. Simply by making that inherent desire outward facing we can strive to achieve this goal for all.

With that one could derive the core principle of

While it may seem simple, this core world view allows for the derivation of all desirable behaviour for each person within a society.

After considering the core principle…I realized while it avoids negative behaviour, it also doesn’t expressly encourage positive behaviour. Essentially, it is neutral.

If a person lives their life on a rock, they are neither good nor bad.

So, I took it one step further and reasoned that if we can agree doing harm is immoral….then giving care is moral.

And with that, we had our guiding foundation to which philosophy can take over. It is a religion entirely of good, of rational thought, and of trust in methods which are self correcting.

While many may agree with these ideals (and some even casually dismiss them as self evident)…perhaps the greatest challenge is “why does it need to be a religion”?

These are obviously conclusions many of us come to on our own as we age (to some degree or another).

But I would argue that by formalizing a world view which clearly places values on the rational processes, that clearly lays out fundamental morality, that it can more easily be promoted through the world.

The sad reality is that not all of these ideals are shared by others. We have witnessed how belief systems can spread through religion, that it is powerful to create a group to which others can grow up within and share easily with others.

Why must we, as rational beings, allow these advantages of religion to be solely used by those who would mislead their followers?

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Cheney Meaghan is a single mom and writer from Connecticut trying to make a living with her words. You can support her best by clicking here to sign up for her email newsletter.

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