A Contagious Malady: The Human Quest for Truth through Religion

Abstract

A unique characteristic of mankind is rationality, an element which distinguishes man from animals, and which enables man to think intelligently and reach conclusions. It manifests itself in human cognitive potency and gives room for diverse views among men on the objects of knowledge and beliefs – both of which are efforts to pin down truth. This paper, therefore, seeks to discuss the problems associated with man's efforts to pin down truth through religion and to hold a thesis that religion is a “contagious madness” which has created chaos instead of happiness, confusion instead of truth, and disunity and polarity instead of peaceful co-existence and harmony among all persons in the world. This is what I choose to call the general psychosis of mankind. The phrase “contagious malady” is used here not in the sense of medical science, but figuratively to show the effect of religion on man and the society in which he lives. Perhaps, my views concerning religion, as expressed in this paper, represent my own share of the global madness. It is expected that contrary or even complementary views will be expressed by individual critics or admirers of my views respectively, to exhibit their own portions of the general psychosis among human race. However, our task here is not to destroy religious truth a la Marx or Feuerbach, but to create an awareness needed to foster tolerance among different religious beliefs in the society. The need for religious tolerance in the world becomes imperative in the face of religious insurgences and problems all over the world. These problems are so enormous that they, at times, assume political, social and economic dimensions. Therefore, medication for the epidemic must not exclude consideration of the purpose of man and his religion. LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 5 2008: pp. 367-378