Is It Fair to Blame Religion For the Ills of Society?

by Seidu Malik

For thousands of years, society has held religion in the highest esteem due it impeccable teachings and the moral upbringing of its followers that produced outstanding individuals like Prophet Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ and Muhammad just to mention a few. Our world as we know it today: its culture, politics, calendar and society in general have been influenced by our past religious affiliations.

 It is worthy of note that those claiming to follow religion in the past and the present have produced both good and bad results in society and have often given rise to an unfair criticism of religion itself. Undoubtedly, religious followers are supposed to know better when it comes to producing societal ills.  But the question is, can religion be immune from abuse or misuse as happened in other natural systems or processes, and is it fair to heap the blame of abuse solely on religion?

These questions are difficult to comprehend without a better understanding of human nature. The Quran in chapter 95 verse 5 emphatically states “surely, We have created man in the best make” to prove the point that each and every one of us is endowed with the best natural qualities and powers, the proper use of which can make an individual or society progress towards goodness. On the other hand if the person abuses his or her God-given talent, the Quran says “then if he does evil deeds, We degrade him as the lowest of the low” (95:6). These and other verses of the Quran makes it clear that human beings have been created as a free agent with a capacity to become angelic or even higher, or fall into the depths of an evil abyss depending on how he or she makes use of that God-given talent.

It is important to note that this natural law of God is not only confined to the institution of religion but permeates throughout our society including our work place, and even our scientific and technological achievements. On a personal level, many of us right from an early childhood to adulthood has misused our natural talent to taunt someone or hurt someone’s feelings. How often do we see individuals and corporations trying to abuse the welfare or the tax system? On a national scale, some advanced and developing countries in the world have atomic weapons with the destructive potential to wipe out the entire human race. Is this not an abuse of uranium from nature that could have been used to generate electricity? 

The point I am trying to drive home is that abuse of natural systems or society is rampant in our daily lives and since religion is part of the society or natural order it is not immune from abuse. It is rather unfortunate that men and women who claim to be religious and should know better are themselves part of the problem, making many people wary of religion as a true source of guidance for mankind.

Since human beings have been given free will in God’s creation, our actions are bound to produce two outcomes: good and bad. This depends on how we exercise our natural given talent in our day-to-day activities, which does not alter religious law.

Remember that thousands, if not millions, of innocent lives have perished under non-religious rule in the world like the Communist Soviet Regime all due to our natural propensity for abuse to grab power. As much as I despise the terrorist organization for their defamation of Islam, they have been granted free will according to God’s law, and thereby continue to abuse the tenants of his religion. They have strayed away from the true Islamic teaching of peace and love for human beings into indiscriminate killings of innocent lives without regard to race and religion.

 Science and technology has revolutionized the world and has made our life very easy but we don’t blame it for products such as the most destructive weapons on earth. In the same way, we should not blame religion for all the troubles in the world but should focus on the individuals making those troubles by misusing their God-given talent.

 In a nutshell, each one of us has the propensity to do good or bad in society irrespective of our religious, political or racial background. It is our natural make up and free will that has made it so. Therefore we should refrain from blaming the religion as the problem instead of the individual or organization that conducts abuse.