The interior of the Cupola of the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle in Italy.
Aloysius Kayiwa
IS RELIGION BAD?
Protestants and evangelicals claim that one does not need religion because of their false notion that religion is nothing but false system. The question is: What teaches you to be spiritual? Surely religion!
Devoid of all Biblical and theological training, the reason why these Protestants say this is because they do not know the meaning of the term Religion. The word comes from a Latin Word “religiere” which means “to bind”
An ancient writer Lactantius said: “We are tied to God and bound to Him by the bond of piety, and it is from this that religion has received its name.”
Religion implies the following;
the recognition of a Divine Personality in and behind the forces of nature,the Lord and Ruler of the World, God;
the conviction that the mysterious, supernatural being has control over the lives and destinies of men, who are therefore, dependent on Him;
the persuasion on the part of man that he can bring himself into friendly, beneficent communion with the Godhead on whom he feels he depends;
the performance of certain acts of homage meant to bring him divine help, peace and happiness.
FROM ALL THIS, RELIGION MAY BE DEFINED AS THE VOLUNTARY SUBJECTION OF ONESELF TO GOD, THAT IS TO THE FREE,SUPERNATURAL BEING ON WHOM MAN IS CONSCIOUS OF BEING DEPENDENT,OF WHOSE POWERFUL HELP HE FEELS THE NEED AND WHOM HE RECOGNIZES THE SOURCE OF HIS PERFECTION AND HAPPINESS.
According to St.Thomas Aquinas, religion is a virtue which prompts man to render to God the worship and reverence that is His by right. Objectively, religion is the voluntary acknowledgement of man’s dependence on God through acts of homage.
The conception of a personal deity is necessary for religion. Imagination is stirred by the recognition of the unseen world.
The longing for communion with God arises from man’s need for divine help.
Hope is engendered by the possibility of obtaining communion with God.
Thankfulness is prompted by the obtaining of benefits in answer to prayer.
Awe results from knowledge of God’s immense power and wisdom.
Fear, sorrow and the desire for reconciliation arise from consciousness of having offended God and deserved punishment. Love of God springs from the contemplation of his goodness and excellence.
Again from all this, RELIGION IMPLIES FAITH OR BELIEF. Correct views concerning the existence of a personal God, divine providence and retribution, the immortality of the soul, free will and moral responsibility are of vital importance to right religion. But in Christianity which is a SUPERNATURAL religion, these fundamental beliefs are supplemented and complemented by a larger knowledge of God and of His purposes in regard to man. Christians know God has spoken to men, telling them that they are destined for filial communion with Him through the life of grace and that this has been brought within their reach through the Incarnation and Redemption.
DOGMA AND RELIGION
Today, Protestants and evangelicals talk of religion without DOGMAS; but any thinking man must recognize that RIGHT BELIEF is essential to religion and that RIGHT BELIEF IMPLIES DOGMAS. Christian dogmas are not intellectual puzzles. They have the practical purpose of en-lighting man on the whole range of his religious and ethical duties, on the right fulfillment of which his supernatural perfection depends.
WHAT ABOUT FALSE RELIGION?
Many people look on religion as a source of pleasure for themselves, they even derive gentle entertainment fro it. For them it is no more than a past time, a hobby or a luxury. When they feel like it, they practice it, when they do not, they neglect it. Often they flirt from one religion to another to satisfy their peculiar desire for this type of entertainment and fascination. This is perversion of religion. This is an abuse of religion akin to that practiced by those who only seek what they can make it of religion by commercializing it and turning it into a racket. We see this in numerous new religious movements like Jehovah’s Witnesses, Pentecostal sects, Happy Science and others.
SO IS RELIGION BAD?
No! Religion is a duty. It is a virtue. Irreligion is a vice! God and pure religion cannot be separated because as St. James said “In the sight of God, our Father, pure and blameless RELIGION lies in helping the orphans and widows in their need and keeping oneself from the world’s corruption” (Jm 1:27).Being religious or having a religious spirit is not bad.
In fact the religious spirit is what drove St. Paul to defend his faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 25:19).And those who do not respect religion are among those who were called by St. Paul as unrighteous.
“The Law is not for the righteous, but for the lawless and for the wicked and sinful, for those who do not respect God and RELIGION, for those who kill their parents, for murderers…” (1 Tim 1:9).
Therefore these Protestants and evangelicals do not respect God and religion when they say that Religion is bad. They don’t respect God because they don’t respect His established Church (Mt. 16:18). They don’t respect religion because they believe that religion is nothing but just a false system of belief. This is however entirely different in the eyes of God. As i said already, God and pure religion cannot be separated because as St. James said “In the sight of God, our Father, pure and blameless RELIGION lies in helping the orphans and widows in their need and keeping oneself from the world’s corruption” (Jm 1:27). That’s what true and pure religion is in the sight of God.
No man can be good without Religion. That is why you see evil men persecute right religion and to suppress it because it opposes their designs. That is why we see atheists and fundamentalists try to fight the Catholic Church because it opposes their evil designs of abortion, homosexuality, illicit sex, consumerism, dissenting theologians, divorce and more. But we refuse to turn the wine of Catholicism into the water of religious humanism. Call us wimpy, yeah! That is okay! Religion is concerned with what is right and not merely with what is pleasant, useful, fashionable or consoling.