Scott Francisco

An Appeal for Secular Society Versus Religious Society

The primary roles of religion seem very similar to the roles of society: to help us figure out how

to conduct our lives and how to reconcile our existence. However, I believe society could accomplish

both roles without the help of religion. Even though it is widely accepted that religion and society go

hand-in-hand--that one even functions correlatively with the other--the question stands if religion

actually helps society function. My name is Scott Francisco, and I am here in an attempt to both

answer that question and propose a solution for the problems between society and religion.

In order for me to state whether or not religion assists in the successful running of a society,

both society and religion, as well as there distinctive roles, must be defined.

If a population wants to function, it becomes a society. From the roots of mankind, as hunting

and gathering societies, to the most modern and technological societies, known as knowledge societies,

populations have required social groups to function and evolve. Society helps a population function by

offering people benefits that would be impossible or extremely difficult to acquire living alone or

individually. I know that I wouldn't be able to accomplish much without a society that I belong to.

Access to information, economics, marriage, work, government, friendship, etc... are all aspects of the

social contract and are made possible by being a member of a social group, which, in modern times,

usually arises from being a citizen of any given nation. However, the needs of a group can never be

perfectly matched to the needs of an individual person, so societies are both delicate and powerful,

consistent and evolving. Most people also make lifestyle choices consistent with other members of

their society, hence making culture a huge marker in the function of society. (Lord, 2008)

Religion is a bit easier to define, for it is essentially a cultural system that creates meaning in the

members' lives through connections and relations of truths, values, morality, ethics, and human nature.

Religion, being the public and social aspect of spirituality, faith, and belief, helps people reconcile
existence, the cosmos, afterlife, and morality during this life. Most religions involve a god or gods,

ceremonies, worship, clerical hierarchies, doctrines, laws of conduct, and even specific ideas relating to

art and music. Religion, whether in the case of world religions, indigenous religions, or new religious

movements, is an essential aspect of almost every society in the world by its inclusion or exclusion in

the society.

Religion, being a specific barrier among members of a society, is extremely influential in our

world and directly effects societies across the globe. Society in Ireland is starkly different from society

in Saudi Arabia due to many factors such as geography, politics, history, economy, etc..; however,

religion is a major difference between how these two countries function. So, does religion hinder or

help these societies function in their own separate ways?

Religion offers many meaningful benefits to its members from around the world, but

it also has cultural and societal effects. First of all, religion has been a monumental aspect of cultural

enrichment for years, as it has influenced everything from mythology and moral codes, to architecture

and literature. It would be difficult to find a person who didn't believe that religion hasn't offered

mankind some sort of enrichment to our world, whether in the form of stained glass paintings or Hindu

yoga practices. I, for one, appreciate European religious art from the Middle Ages and practice t'ai chi,

which is an art developed alongside Chinese Taoism.

Religiously affiliated people have argued that mankind would have fallen into anarchistic,

immoral, and barbaric hedonism without the presence of religion, whilst many secularists, myself

included, counter that the human conscience is not reliant on religion and that humanity would be just

as or more ethically based if religion did not exist. Religion has also been reported to ensure a sense of

peaceful harmony with nature and the universe by following its precepts, and many believe that social

justice, war, grief, life in the hereafter, and even success are guided by religion. As would seem

obvious, it seems most religious people would argue on the side of religion in these cases. Most

importantly, however, is that most religions offer believers hope--hope that life means something and
that people have a purpose on Earth.

On the other hand, religion has arguably been under more scrutiny and criticism in the past two-

hundred years than ever before. Secularism has even become increasingly widespread in the past sixty

years, particularly in Western society. As monarchies were pushed aside through the 16th and 20th

centuries and government became increasingly focused on politics, social issues, and science rather

than religion and the salvation of citizens, certain people and groups began to question the value and

validity of religion, including such thinkers as Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, and T.H. Huxley.

(Mulholland, 2008) Critics of religion, like myself, have put forth many ideas as to how they believe

religion is hindering society, such as religious violence, that religion causes people to think irrationally,

that religion has hijacked the idea of conscience, and some have even asserted that dogmatic religions

have become morally deficient due to antiquated and ill-informed rules, such as witch burnings and

Biblical rape laws.

Both society and religion guide members through life by separate methods, one being largely

culturally and socially based and the other mostly doctrinal or spiritual.

No matter whether a nation contains a secular or religious government, every society has rules

and laws. If a society is largely secular, these rules and laws will be derived from other precedents of

justice and humanity, as well as the idea that humans have a conscience wholly unrelated to religious

guidance, sin, or karma. For example, the Czech Republic has one of the least religious populations on

Earth, but is still a functioning democracy with laws, restrictions, and social morays. (Kratochvil, 2010)

In fact, the capital of the Czech Republic is one of the most visited cities in Europe and Czech culture

is thriving. Furthermore, the Czech Republic's crime rates are actually quite low, despite a majority

agnostic or atheist population. (The Eighth United Nations Survey on Crime Trends and the Operations

of Criminal Justice Systems, 2003)

Conversely, most religions claim to have procured codes of conduct from a Supreme Being or

God at some ancient or, less frequently, more recent time. According to many scholars, one of the four
earliest forms of religious law comes from the Code of Hammurabi, which is a well-preserved

Babylonian law code dating to 1700 B.C. that consists of 282 laws, many of which are recognizable in

today's laws, such as the "eye for an eye" idea popularized in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible

and others relating to property, marriage, divorce, and violent crime. (Hooker, 1996) This code, along

with the Code of Ur-Nammu, the Torah, Bible, Quran, Vinaya Pitaka, Bhagavad-Gita, and a huge

assortment of other religious texts have been influencing law from Sumerian times to modern times.

(Bullitt, 2010) Religious law and secular law have been tied together for centuries, but they've been

breaking away from each other quite drastically in many societies. Are these religious codes necessary

in order to sustain modern societies? I don't believe it is so. I believe that antiquated and outdated

religious ideas have perpetuated views and practices relating to sexism, polygamy, varied types of

violence, slavery, and cultural discrimination. Why do I belief this? Don't worry one bit—I'm getting

there.

Religions, while containing many similar codes of laws, morals, and ethics, also contain many

differences, as there are a multitude of different religions around the world. Due to this fact, and the

fact that religions change their ideals over time, it's possible to deduce that fissures are created over

time as dogmatic rules change; consequently, you'll run into Christians who are extremely conservative

and traditional, and others who are more liberal and progressive. The evolution of religion is directly

related to the progression of secular morality. As stoning prostitutes became cruel and unpopular from

ancient times to the Middle Ages, religious punishment changed, even though the doctrine did not, as

with divorce, death penalties, and many other social issues. This means that religion evolves conversely

with societal morals, which makes it hard to deduce whether religion helps society function or hinders

it. However, I believe this idea just goes to show that religion now follows the moral compass of

society. At one point, it may have been different, but that time is not now. Regardless, there are other

factors to consider.

Society and religion can also provide distinctive purposes for existence. People are always
searching for purpose, whether they're agnostic existentialists or religious fanatics. Secular society

offers metaphysical and philosophical definitions for our lives, along with the emerging Western idea

that family and love are a purpose for life unto itself. Religions, on the other hand, each give a unique

purpose for existence, whether it's based on worshipping a god, attaining a position in the afterlife, or

learning how to banish desire and achieve Nirvana. Considering that many claim that without religion

they would feel directionless and hopeless, it could be possible to say that, for many believers, religion

gives them purpose to carry on, which is an extremely important aspect of society. If citizens don't

know why they're alive and have no purpose, they will likely not be productive members of society. I'll

go ahead and assume that we all want to be productive members of society, and thus require purpose.

It is here that religion may help, but not without change.

No matter how you look at it, no matter what your motivations may be, it is impossible to deny

that society and religion are deeply connected. Religion obviously requires a society, or culturally

similar population group, to thrive, but does this same society need their religion to function? Some

say yes, I say no—either way, this question will become evermore important in the future. Certain

scholars believe religion can only be functional in a society if it continually evolves and modernizes,

whilst others believe religious truths should be constant and that truth shouldn't need to change. With

increasing levels of globalization, wars in the Middle East causing religious tension, and voices of

dissension coming from secular groups, it's hard to say how functional of a relationship society and

religion will have over the next fifty or one-hundred years. Right now, we have to analyze and react.

Extremist Muslims commit suicide bombings in the name of Allah, Hitler and his Catholic

Christians slaughtered Jews during the 1940s in one of the worst genocides in all of history, and

religious differences in the Sudan have been a factor in the massive killings of thousands of people in

the past ten years. So, is religion really helping society, or would these atrocities occur just as often

without the application of religion in society? Is it a simple case of religion being good and its

interpretation being evil? Have politicians used religion to muster up hatred or is the religion itself
mustering up the hatred found in people? We have to decide before it's too late.

Admittedly, no culture around the world hasn't been touched positively and negatively by

religion. Mixtures of religious groups have contributed greatly to the richness of many cultures around

the world, and religion explains things that are beyond human understanding of our physical world.

Most laws around the world also have a religious origin. These are some positive aspects. On the

other hand, religion has given people throughout history another reason to discriminate against other

groups of people and hold themselves as a self-righteous chosen people of a god or gods. The number

of deaths in the name of god, whether human or animal, is so astoundingly high as to be countless.

One could argue that an expense of the existence of religion is murder and war. This may seem like

hyperbole, but simply surfing the internet in relation to religious conflicts tells a sad story.

In our own era, religion and society still carry on a contentious relationship—it's hard to even

discern if they should be considered friends or enemies. This rings true in the United States, especially.

Many issues, such as gay marriage, stem cell research, and abortion are just three examples of the gap

between secular society and religion. To extrapolate on these examples, it is interesting to look at

societies with varying majorities of religious groups and look at how they respond differently to these

issues.

Gay marriage has recently been legalized in many nations with large secular populations, such

as Canada, Belgium, and Denmark, but it is met with disgust and hatred in many countries that allow

religious groups to run their government, such as Syria and Iran. (Whitaker, 2006) Some religious

groups don't even believe they offer good places to live for the LGBT community, as is seen in this

graph of the presentation. Some religions have openly accepted gay marriage and there are a few sects

that even perform marriage ceremonies for the LGBT population, such as certain denominations of

Christianity and Sikhism. Although this is an encouraging development, it is an exception at the

moment. However, if more religions adapt and modernize, they may yet be able to remain pertinent to

the ideals of many populations. For now, conservative religion is still the main reason as to why gay
marriage hasn't been legalized in more nations, including the majority of the United States.

Stem cell research is another issue that exemplifies the gap between societal ethics and religious

beliefs, especially in respect to Catholicism and the countries in which it prevails, like the United

States. (Kent, 2011) Embryonic stem cells, being cells harvested from an embryo, have vast

therapeutic potential and many countries around the world are exploring this potential by conducting

scientific research in order to develop cures for many of the world's most deadly diseases, including

Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. (Moreno & Weiss, 2010) Many religious groups, however,

believe the harvesting of embryonic stem cells to be a blatant disregard for human life, even though the

embryonic stem cells used literally could not develop into a human. (News Batch, 2008) Some believe

that religion is holding back certain countries from realizing the potential of embryonic stem cells,

whilst others, like South Korea, are making advances in the field each year. (Pierret & Friedrichsen,

2009) Archbishop Naumann, a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, recently stated

that, “The issue of stem-cell research does not force us to choose between science and ethics, much less

science and religion. It presents a choice as to how our society will pursue scientific and medical

progress.” (O'Brien, 2011) Many disagree with this statement, however, for it is widely believed in

secular communities and the scientific community that religious issues are holding back developments

in stem cell research. I stand with them, as I would love to see Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease

cured in my lifetime.

Abortion, like the issue of embryonic stem cell research, is a heated debate concerning the

stages of human life. Even though there are secular groups that disagree with abortion and some

religions that don't have any bans on abortion, it is still an issue between what many societies believe is

moral and what many religions find moral. For example, most Protestant Christians and all Catholics

are against abortion, but even Islam, which is often viewed as a notably strict religion, generally allows

abortion within the first 120 days of pregnancy. It is believed in Islam that a soul does not enter the

body until the fetus is more concretely formed, which occurs around the 120 day marker. (Syed, 2011)
In secular society, however, the belief in the soul is either contentious or rejected, so deciding at what

stages abortion should be legal during is a challenging concept and relates to social morals, which are

growing apart from religious morals. The two are often joined together, but they don't need to be.

Gay marriage, stem cell research, and abortion could each have entire presentations devoted to

their relation to religion and society; however, these summaries exemplify the tense controversies

occurring between society and religion in many of the worlds modern cultures.

Considering the current conflicts between religion and society, predicting the future of their

relationship seems unfathomable. It may even become bleak. Information travels at such rapid speeds

that it is believed that an individual living in our modern technological society absorbs as much

information in a single week as an individual in the 1920s did in an entire year. (Devito, 2007)

Consequently, many people are learning of the ways in which religious interpretation has influenced

oppression, war, and discrimination to a degree that is unprecedented—such as it did in the Holocaust.

Adolf Hitler himself said in his massively influential Mein Kampf, “Hence today I believe that I am

acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am

fighting for the work of the Lord.” He believed he was doing right as a result of religious

interpretation.

Such things deeply concern me, as do many current interpretations of religious texts. Religion

requires a person to sustain a belief in the divine, which implies a belief in divine intervention in our

physical world. Due to this implication, it could be declared that fanatics of various religions have

reinforced their ideas, such as bombing abortion clinics or trains in Europe, with a belief that a deity

wants them to cause harm to others, despite what their religious doctrine may say—or perhaps in

accordance with what their religious doctrine proclaims. However, if all of these proclamations were

followed exactly, many of us would have been killed already. To prove my point, let's look at excerpts

the Torah, Bible, and Qu'ran.

In Leviticus 20:13 of the Torah, it is stated, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of
them have committed an abomination: they shall be put to death: their blood is upon them.” There

goes every member of the LGBT community. In 2 John 9-10 of the Bible, it is stated, “Everyone who

goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the

teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do

not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his

wicked works.” Consequently, no Christians and non-believers should technically be allowed to greet

each other. In Sura 4:74 of the Qu'ran, it is said, “Let those fight in the cause of Allah who sell the life

of this world for the Hereafter. To him who fights in the cause of Allah, - whether he is slain or gets

victory - soon shall We give him a reward of great value.” This excerpt, amongst others found in the

Qu'ran, encourage killing in the name of Allah. Do I need to go on?

Aside from strict interpretations of religious doctrines, religion does offer insights into spiritual

well-being and a sense of belonging among members of societies who participate in the same religion.

However positive personal attributes of religion may seem, the societal consequences of religion are

serious and stark, as you can see from earlier examples. Religion may or may not have been a doorway

through which morals entered our world, but it is argued in secular circles that humans retain a

conscience totally separate from religious influence. If so, it could be stated that religion is antiquated

and is no longer useful. However, if that were the case, would mankind be able to sustain hope in the

face of inevitable death? It's difficult to say, but I believe it can be stated that religion is, at best, a

crutch to rely on in hopelessness, and at worst, thoroughly detrimental to the progression of the human

intellect and society at large.

I realize this is quite a declaration, and so I will now endeavor to support it.

Over the past ten thousand years, society has matured to the point where religion is no longer

necessary to uphold the pillars of law, governance, the arts, and ethics. This can be seen by comparing

societal data from the United States, which is the most religious Western democracy, with societal data

from largely secular nations in Europe, such as France and Belgium, known as secular developed
democracies. (Pellegrini, 2009) Even though the following examples primarily apply to the United

States and Europe, they are still important to take into consideration, as they also use societal data from

Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

In a study titled “Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health With Popular

Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies,” from the Journal of Society and Religion,

it was shown that high religiosity does not help a society function. The study analyzes societal data in

relation to religious affiliation, acceptance of scientific theories, homicide rates, teen pregnancy rates,

STD rates, abortion rates, and even mortality rates. In all of these regards, the United States fares quite

differently from the secular developed democracies. To quickly cite examples of data found in the

study, the United States has the highest population of religiously affiliated people, the lowest

acceptance of human evolution, is the only prosperous democracy to sustain high homicide rates (aside

from Portugal, which is largely theistic), has higher mass murder rates among school students than

every other secular developed democracy combined, has higher adolescent rates of sexually transmitted

diseases such as gonorrhea and syphilis, uniquely high abortion and teen pregnancy rates in relation to

the religious population, and even sustains lower mortality rates. Combined with data from other

nations, it was even deduced that “life spans tend to decrease as rates of religiosity rise.” (Paul, 2005)

This information clearly shows us that religion and morality are not the same thing—not at all.

As if this data weren't enough to support claims that society no longer requires the help of

religion, there is more to consider in the discussion of why religion does not help society function.

Throughout history, religion has negatively influenced societal discrimination, murder, and war. The

main cause of intolerance and hate toward homosexuals has been found to be religious beliefs.

Religion has led many groups to commit acts of murder, and even mass murder or mass suicide, such

as religiously based suicide bombings in the Middle East, the Christian influence present in the

Holocaust, mass murder in Sudan partially based on religious discrimination, the subway gas bombings

in Japan committed by the Aum Shinrikyo cult (Bajoria, 2008), and a sect of the Heaven's Gate
religious group that committed mass suicide in 1997. (Robinson, 1997) The list really does go on and

on. Does it sound like religion has helped society function? To be frank, no.

Religion has also sullied the human influence on morality and the conscience. According to the

beliefs of many major world religions, humans are incapable of living honest, good, and healthy lives

without religious law, forgiveness from God, or adherence to religious doctrine. This is completely

unacceptable, for morality and the human conscience are separate from religion. Doing what is least

harmful to your fellow man is usually considered the right thing to do, and societies around the world

have cultural morals based around what they believe to be right that are wholly separate from religious

regulations of behavior. Following religious law is based more around obedience to holy precepts than

a sincere desire to simply take the best course of action.

Many secular ideals are similar to those found in religious groups, such as not stealing and

heavy punishments for committing murder, but secular societies offer clarity where religion offers

blurry contradictions. Thou shalt not kill, but most religious deities I've researched have killed, from

the Jewish God to Islam's Allah. In fact, Steve Wells tallied up how many people died as a direct cause

of God and Satan in the Christian Bible, and found that Satan, the antagonistic force in Christianity,

directly killed 10 people and Jehovah, the Christian God, killed 2,476,633 people. (Wells, 2006) It is no

wonder that religiously fueled acts of murder or war have been so common throughout the world's

history with deities who slaughter men present in their own doctrines. Where is the appreciation for

human life? It appears that humanism and the respect for human life are not at all related to religious

ideals. The idea of paradise in the afterlife may even decrease the level of respect religious groups

have for earthly life.

Despite my belief that it is no longer necessary for religion to exist in order for a society to

function, religion could reform from its current state to help society instead of hinder it. You might ask

how a religion could reform, for reform implies change and religion claims to offer eternal truths, but

every religion present in our world has changed dramatically in practice since its origin. Consequently,
religion could change again in order to better society.

As I stated earlier, religion may or may not have been a doorway through which morals entered

our world, and if so, religion had a helpful influence initially. However, this influence has changed

from progression to digression in relation to human nature and mankind as a whole. In order for

religion to reform, this focus on traditional precepts of behavior and a lack of tolerance must change.

Religions have had to update every time society has modernized to remain relevant to these said

societies. (Baggini, 2005)

In order for religion to remain relevant to modernizing societies, like our own, it should

compromise its focus on social issues that are wholly unrelated to the sphere of religion, such as human

rights, stem cell research, foreign policy, etc... Christianity, the Republican Party's own unofficial

religion, is a good example for this idea, for it contains so many diverse sects, each one beholden to

different tenets. There are many Christian sects, such as Mormonism and Catholicism, that remain

quite traditional and tend to focus on antiquated social ideals, whereas other groups of Christians are

quite liberal and progressive, focusing more on acceptance and spiritual harmony. (Dillon, 2010) This

is where religion could flourish—by becoming less “religious” and more spiritual. By truly separating

from state, government, and law, religion can become important and perhaps even inherently good. I'm

calling for a true separation of church and state, such as the ones our own founding fathers wished for.

Religion's influence in these areas is unnecessary and is utterly adverse to social progress, which was a

belief held by Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton.

My own beliefs aside, it must be recognized that spiritual wellness is an important aspect of

human existence and the human need to understand the unknown is massively influential. Whatever

science can't explain, religion can. As Huston Smith wrote in his enormously popular book The

World's Religions, “Modern science has superseded their [religions] cosmologies, and social mores of

their day, which they reflect—gender relations, class structures, and the like—must be reassessed in the

light of changing times and the continuing struggle for justice. But if we pass a strainer through the
world's religions to lift out their conclusions about reality and how life should be lived, those

conclusions begin to look like the winnowed wisdom of the human race.” (Smith, 1991)

As is reflected in the quote above, religion contains many outdated precepts and ideas, but the

essential spiritual teachings found within have guided the human race for thousands of years. Think of

what humanity could accomplish! We could get rid of intolerance toward homosexuals and keep the

idea that homicide is wrong. We could throw away the caste system found in India without losing the

foundations of Hinduism. We could leave behind anti-Semitism and recognize that both Jews and

Muslims share a common thread in the fact that they share human life. Religion has the potential to be

beautiful, but it must be reformed to truly be so. Otherwise, society doesn't, and will not, need it.

What we require is tolerance, religious freedom, and a renewed movement for the separation of

church and state. I'm not calling for the insane and inane destruction of religion, but a realization that

religion has a place wholly apart from government. As the Dalai Lama himself said, “there are some

people who want to ban religion. But religion is useful, it is connected to the human being, to bettering

the human being, to producing more compassionate human beings." Religion can do this, but

government should help it do so by truly separating from it. Religions have no place in the governing

of people and only cause more strife, tension, pain, intolerance, and destruction by interfering. That is

what I came to say. Thank you.

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