Do organized religions lead to social divisions?
I believe that a specific belief system or collection of ideas does not typically cause a division in society unless the belief system includes the idea that any idea, contrary to the belief, has eternal consequences. This key ingredient is conducive to division even if the belief system claims as a major tenet the idea of unconditional love and acceptance. I believe fear and pride to be the primary causes of division among believers and non believers.
Fear because people are under the impression that if they interact with others outside of their creed there is the potential for the non believers actions and beliefs to impact that of the believers. Whether it be parents worried about their children’s friends or whether it be the parents concern with their own friends the idea that others can affect their own beliefs and behavior and consequently lead to eternal damnation is motivation enough for most people. After all eternity is a long time and risking consequences of that magnitude are motivation enough for most people to not risk interaction with non believers. Terms such as Bad Influence, Bad Apple and quotes such as One bad apple spoils the whole bunch, You become who you hang out with, and He isn’t a bad kid; he just fell in with the wrong crowd are examples of this fear influenced mindset.
Pride because in the believers mind they are in possession of ultimate knowledge and truth which gives the believer salvation, heaven, exaltation or any of many similar terms while on the flip side those that don’t posses the truth are to be damned to a fiery hell. All of those in possession of this professed knowledge are grateful that god has chosen to expose them to the saving truth and further god has testified to them of the truth of their belief. Many times when believers will gather they will give thanks for being part of gods chosen people. In the mind of some of the believers this possession of truth elevates them above the eternal standing of the non believers after all they are worthy of heaven while the non believers are not. In addition to promises of heaven for those that adhere to the tenets of the belief the believers feel they are more favored of god in this life that is they are more likely to be taken care of by god and blessed. If something bad happens its because god is punishing the less worthy non believers for their damning behavior.
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