The questioning of the relevance of religion in the present times suggests a fundamental difference in present human condition from the human condition in the past. It appears to some thinkers that achievements of man in the field of Science, technology and social sciences have undermined the basis or foundation of religion. Since man now knows the causes of erstwhile fatal diseases like the tuberculosis and malaria, he no longer attributes these to the curse of gods. Nor does he consider them incurable.
His capacity to fly in the air has shattered the belief in flying gods of Greece and India. Anthropology, sociology and psychology have unravelled the process of evolution of customs, mores, ancestor-worship and even religious practices. Many phenomena of nature are amenable to rational explanation. Belief in the supernatural has, therefore, declined in most parts of the world.
Man is weak and incomplete. God is a symbol of completeness. In his quest for completeness man seeks inspiration and divine guidance from God. He embraces the path of self improvement guided and reinforced by the godly men who have achieved glory in art, science and sports, buoyed up by their unshaken faith in God. Man is weak, God is omnipotent. Man seeks divine help to overcome his weakness. A student appearing in the examinations feels nervous. He fears that his memory may not fail him at the crucial juncture.
He prays to God to enhance and preserve his memory so that he can reproduce on the answer book whatever he has learned or memorised. Many students would go to temple to seek blessing of God for good performance in the examination. We do not foresee any discontinuation of examinations and competitions in near future. God and religion are likely to remain very much relevant to people facing agonising uncertainties and seeking divine help to endure or overcome these uncertainties.
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Some philosopher of antiquity is reported to have stated, “let us invent God even if He does not exist’. For most mortals who are not gifted with a strong conscience to do the right things, God’s authority and threat is necessary to prevent them from evil deeds. They are threat-ened with hellfire after death if they commit thefts, rape or frauds. Moral maxims in most communities are interspersed with reference to God or scriptures to enhance their credibility among the masses.
Sensibilities of many will be revolted by the idea of invention of God as they firmly believe that God existed before creation and will remain even after the entire human civilization is destroyed.
Without contradicting the beliefs of such people, we can work out the idea of an invented God for the edification of agnostics and atheists. An analogy will help our deliberation. Numerals were invented by man to help his operations in the rearing of cattle and later in commercial transactions. In course of time, mathematics and other natural sciences developed which put numerals to various uses and invented the wheel, machines, electricity, computers, aircrafts and spaceships. If an invention like the numerals, rightly and imaginatively used can give us wonderful gadgets and machines which have changed our life style completely, invention of God if creatively used by humanist social scientists can root out many social evils and promote love and harmony between different communities and nations. If all human beings are created by one God, they have their common origin as a permanent bond to love one another.
If God keeps detailed account of man’s good and bad deeds, during this worldly life and rewards and punishes him in next life on the basis of his performance in this life, man will be motivated to do well and abjure evil. Many men can postpone immediate gratification of desires in order to attain happiness and prosperity at a later date. A belief in ultimate divine justice will inspire many to resist immediate temptations and to persist in the pursuit of the good in the hope of ultimate reward in the next life. Lesser mortals will be afraid of annoying the divine power and will desist from evil for fear of punishment in the life after death.
The majority of mankind is engaged in the business of improving its economic condition for survival or for obtaining necessities of life. Others are trying to better their already secured existence. There are a minority of men, but a very important and significant minority, who re engaged in the search for ultimate reality or in the overhauling of the existing social and political systems to bring about a more equitable, just and decent social existence. Religion is their chief motivation in life.
Many 19th century thinkers, the most notable among them being Karl Marx, termed belief, in God as irrational and tried to uproot man’s feelings of dependence on God.
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Marx called religion as opium of the masses responsible for making the masses complacent and preventing them from making systematic and energetic efforts to improve their material conditions. Working classes have since the time of Marx improved their conditions considerably through struggle, agitation and collective bargaining. Religious beliefs among the masses however have not died down. There has been a resurgence of religious feelings in Poland, Czechoslovakia and many East European nations who have abjured communism recently.
Man being weak, inadequate and helpless needs the support of some omnipotent, self sufficient and efficacious agency to console and support him in many emotional, health related and financial crises of life. Communist welfare states claim to do this job. They have had only limited efficacy in attending to man’s perennial problems. Man, therefore, looks towards some higher, supernatural and all powerful agency to reassure him and reinforce his faith in worth wholeness of life. Religion and God fulfil these needs. So long as man remains what he is-a helpless being in the hands of unpredictable circumstances-his dependence on a belief system or a religion with or without God will always continue.
Any activity or system which binds man to his community has a functional utility. Seasonal and harvest festivities and the attendant rituals promote amity among people. They have, therefore, functional significance. In most rural areas and even the urban areas festivals such as Baisakhi (on the 1st day of the lunar Hindu month Baisakhi) which heralds the harvesting season, is celebrated with great gusto. Religious rituals and festivals, since their inception, have forged bonds within the communities and have therefore acquired functional utility. Dussehra Festival celebrates lord Rama’s victory over Ravana. Most people in the Northern India participate in Dussehra rituals and festivities with great enthusiasm. The festival provides people opportunity to come together and join in watching the enactment of Rama’s life events and deriving inspiration from them to improve their own life. Since religious festivals such as Dussehra in the North, Kali Pooja in the East, and Ganesh Chaturthi in the West and Pongola in the South continue to enthuse people and effect their lives even today, religion remains very much relevant in the foreseeable future.