Is Education the faithful enemy of Religion?

When we look back through the history of mankind and add up all the lives lost due to the disagreement on a common God what conclusions can be drawn? All the way back to BC. From the crusades through the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to todays war on terror, religious violence dominates the history books that our children learn about at school.

But what have we learned from the history books and how has what we have learned changed the way we look upon religion nowadays? Does faith still hold the same special aura as it did 50, 30 even 20 years ago? Or has religion merely changed over the decades, from a religion of creation, holyness and faith to a religion of society, ideology and social coexistance? I suppose all these questions lead to a more fundamental question, what actually is religion in the modern age?

When i think of religious violence and wars that have started on the basis of religious fanaticism the one thing I can never get over is this. Surely there is no religion, on earth, that condones the killing of innocent people. People who merely have a differing belief system or opinion on a subject. Any subject. This cannot be what faith stands for. Religious faith is a source of strength for those who need it. A wondrous belief in good and kindness. Although I realise it would be a mistake to assume religious faith has eveolved in the same cultural way accross the world.

I am a student of biology. I have grown up learning about the origin of species, evolution and survival of the fittest. Everything that we have discovered over the last 100 years in the field of science has

taught me that not only can all the significant biblical events be explained by science and natural occuring events, the sheer beauty and wonder of these biological phenomena would be a crime to disregard! How wonderful is the biological world we live in?! The pure magic of the animal kingdom alone makes me question our dedication to the Holy stories across the world and all the pain it has caused. 

What I have noticed is that I am not alone in this belief. The millennials and the centennials (Generation Z) in large part are moving away from religion. The young people of today are moving away from religion and more towards a wonderment of the universe, a spiritual faith rather than a religious faith. Older generations didnt have the same access to information as the later generations had. Thus allowing them the ability to create and build their own belief systems and so might have fallen into Christianity by default. Much like in the poorer, troubled regions of the middle east now where young people are not exposed to different facets of life. They are not educated or able to access social forums, be it on the internet or through other mediums and thus they will not be able to develop their own belief systems. They are not exposed to another point of view, marginalising their thought process and isolating their mind.

So in the end it boils down to education. The enemy of religion.


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