The Science Behind Religion
I forget how we got onto the topic - I think Tran asked Leon something about religion - and then I started to question Leon about religion. After calming Juan from his mental breakdown, me and Anna came back to the room and did some work. However, Leon and I went on talking to each other for a good hour or two about God and religion. We discussed what was said in home group yesterday and about “qualifications.” The most interesting claim that he made was how God’s existence was an objective truth. And usually, concerning these kinds of topics, I can connect their claim to their examples, but I couldn’t really do it this time.
The examples used were just so strange - especially the one that considered psychopaths’ morality a minority ideology. I mean they are, but that doesn’t mean that their morality cannot be taken into account either. I agree that there is a disconnect between their way of thinking and the norm, but to put them in the wrong and ourselves in the right, just because they’re a minority population, doesn’t make total sense to me. To me, morality is something created by society. And although there are people who do bad things in the world, I ultimately believe that that was a mindset that they had adopted growing up and that they don’t know any other way to behave. People still have choice and free will in their life to do whatever they want, but if they aren’t given a moral code in the first place, how are they supposed to enact on it?
Perhaps I’m viewing this situation at the wrong angle, but I have no intentions of involving myself deeply in religion either. I believe that there is an existence higher than my own. Whether that existence is God, Buddha, or another sacred entity, I don’t exactly know - I’ll just accept their existence because I do believe in that. That’s why I don’t think Leon’s scientific approach to religion will help further my beliefs in a God, or even motivate me to learn about why religion matters to other people. I still feel like religion is more of a lifestyle than anything. It doesn’t really matter how many accounts I hear people go through or their life’s revelation. Religion, I feel, is something that people have to experience on their own and truly immerse themselves. But I’m not an expert in religion.
