God And Religion Are Not A Figment Of Our Imagination

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam 4 April 2024 The Atheists Will Argue That God And Religion Are The Most Fantastic Fictions Invented By Man To Achieve All That Was Achieved Through Religion. However, The Believers Know That The Moral Rules Would Not Have Taken Several Millennia To Become Normative If This Were So. The Rationale Would Have Been Provided Right In The Beginning. ----- (Representative Photo) ------ Undoubtedly, every major religion and all the scriptures are primarily about teaching men to live moral lives. They are about what mankind could not have known by themselves, which is why the Quran says in verse 96:5, “Taught man that which he knew not”. Arabia, once a fragmented tribal society of little consequence, experienced a profound transformation with the emergence of Islam as a unifying force. In a remarkably concise 80-year span, it ascended to become the preeminent power on earth, surpassing the Roman Empire at its zenith. This swift rise of the Muslims, achieving in about 80 years what took the Romans a millennium to accomplish, highlights the transformative power of religion. The Romans, with their multitude of cults and mystery religions, faced a challenge as the Roman Empire expanded. A need arose for a unified belief system to bind the entire population. With its cohesive belief system and hierarchical church structure, Christianity offered a solution. It could unite the empire religiously and empower the emperor with more control over the population. Emperor Constantine I (r. 306-337) embraced Christianity after his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312, which he attributed to the Christian God. His alignment with this burgeoning faith not only consolidated his power but also united the empire under a single religion, underscoring the social and political impact of religion. It is undeniable that religion has played a crucial role in fostering cooperation among large groups of people. This cooperation is based on the shared moral values that religion instils, creating a sense of unity and common purpose. From the history of modern man, which began an estimated seventy thousand years ago with the “Cognitive Revolution,” we know that he was surrounded by other species of humans that were numerically and physically much stronger. The modern man could have survived only through cooperation among his kind. A common religion with shared values was sorely needed to build their trust. We also know that modern man was at constant war with the other species of humans until they completely genocided every other species about ten thousand years ago. The enemy kept them united by a common religion until ten thousand years ago. Once the enemy was annihilated, the modern man broke up into several sects/religions from envy of one another and began to fight among themselves. Sixty thousand years of being united by a common religion made everyone internalise the moral values that helped them build cooperation and preserve their group. These moral values became second nature to man and survive to this day among all people, irrespective of their religion and even if they are atheists. Therefore, the moral values from religion are as old as the appearance of modern man. The atheists will agree with all of the above but argue that religion is man-made. That begs the question - why have all the subjects of human endeavour, such as philosophy, literature, and psychology, failed to contribute a single original moral precept? Moral Philosophy is about developing theories of ethics/morality to explain why people follow moral rules. Still, none of these theories have helped generate any new moral rule, nor can they do so. Moral philosophy only studies what exists and what properties and relations can be attributed to it. None of it is about creating anything new. Religious morality, on the other hand, is prescriptive and focuses on the moral duties and obligations that individuals have to follow without explaining why. It lays down the rules. The earliest moral rules from religion are a list of dos and don’ts, and only the later religions provide a rationale. The evidence, therefore, is that: 1. The earliest religions laid down the rules without giving the rationale because the rationale was not apparent and even counter-intuitive. These rules are counter-intuitive because man is, by his basic instincts for self-preservation, greedy, niggardly, impatient, ungrateful, contentious, acquisitive, envious, jealous, fearful, and suspicious. The moral virtues of recognizing the rights of others even at cost to self, therefore, have to be learned. Even once learnt, these are easily disregarded unless there is an unacceptable price for breaking the rules. 2. Later religions could provide limited rationale because, after centuries of practising the rules as a religious duty, the benefits to the individual and society were becoming evident and the people could now understand the why part. 3. Moral Philosophy took this process a step further, examined the prevailing moral rules, developed theories of ethics/morality to explain them, and helped to make them normative. In other words, philosophy provides a rational explanation for following the moral rules. Moral rules, because they initially made no rational sense and were counterintuitive, had of necessity, to be laid down by a higher authority (God) for them to be followed as a religious duty and have come only from religion. Many millennia later, philosophy helped the moral rules of religion become normative which formed the basis of secular laws. Now armed with the rational basis for the moral rules and the fact that the rules are accepted by all without question, although largely flouted, the atheists ask, “Couldn't mankind have developed these on their own”? If they could, there was no need for religion and God. We, however, know how great a role religion has played throughout human history in all of mankind’s most outstanding achievements. Without religion, mankind could not have taken a step toward civilizational growth. On the contrary, modern man would have quickly become extinct, faced with their formidable enemies. The atheists will argue that God and Religion are the most fantastic fictions invented by man to achieve all that was achieved through religion. However, the believers know that the moral rules would not have taken several millennia to become normative if this were so. The rationale would have been provided right in the beginning. This subject has been covered in detail over the last decade in my following articles: 1. Religion as a Civilizing Influence 2. Science and Religion 3. The Progression from Religious Morality to Secular Laws and the Danger of Regression of Religious Morality into Bestiality 4. The “Natural Law of Morality” Has Come From Religion The Contribution of Atheists to Moral Philosophy and the Practice of Morality The need for repetition is because atheists keep repeating their old arguments. ----- A frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an Engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur and is an independent IT consultant after having served in both the Public and Private sector in responsible positions for over three decades. He has spent years studying Quran in-depth and made seminal contributions to its interpretation. 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