‘God Is a Concept by Which We Measure Our Pain’

Nobody is addressing religion as a problem, but we must.

I must admit that I wish I had written these words myself… So simple, yet they encompass so much with just a few words.

For those who might not be aware, before any stones are cast my way — yes, I’m evoking this — these words belong to the legendary John Lennon and this timeless song, “God.”

In the current times we’re living in, much has been said about war, politics, and the revisiting of history — an often overlooked subject that society tends to take for granted yet misuses when it’s needed most.

Much is said, but religion, a contentious issue, is strangely absent from many discussions, often due to the fear of sparking backlash with our words.

And while religion isn’t the central theme of our world’s current events, it occupies a prominent place in our collective consciousness, largely unexplored in the discourses we keep reading.

It’s perplexing to seek religious understanding in a technologically advanced world, yet one where our thinking often remains trapped in narrow medieval perspectives reminiscent of what we call the “Dark Ages.” The Enlightenment came and went, but true enlightenment still eludes many.

Certainly, the ongoing terrible conflict is primarily political. Still, the ideological war being fought on social media, various television networks, and in the pages of newspapers — between those who support a cause and those who oppose it — always carries religious underpinnings.

Could we please then discuss this?

I often find myself yearning for a world without religion.

Let me be candid, though; there are aspects of spirituality and faith that hold genuine beauty, but religious extremism has tarnished these concepts.

At other times, I even wish for collective amnesia to wipe away our histories — my ancestors’, your ancestors,’ all of our past stories — so we could start afresh together, without religion, without divisions, without distinctions between “my God” and “your God,” “my prophet” and “your prophet.”

I deeply longed for a world where the marriage of science and philosophy had led us to grasp the wisdom in Lennon’s words that our recurring quest for the transcendent is merely an invention — a means to break free and attribute significance to our fragile existence.

Finally, we might grasp what Lennon wisely conveyed: “God is a concept by which we measure our pain.” Humans created gods to find meaning in their existence, but this understanding remains elusive for many.

It should be simple. If those who believe in a common divinity understood that this supposed Creator made us all equal, then… there would be no chosen people, no promised lands, and no God exclusively for one group.

Why look for divisions based on a doubtful history and assert that one group and their God are superior while the rest are condemned to nothingness? Because if one land has been given to some but not granted to others, some are more deserved than others… Can we all please see how morally wrong this is? And I deeply apologize to any religious person offended by my words; trust me, your fanatism profoundly offends me as well.

Even if you entertain the notion that a single being — always a man, strangely — created everything and designated a Promised Land for a specific group, it reveals a disturbing sense of superiority over those outside that group. Such beliefs are morally wrong, perpetuating sexism, xenophobia, and inhuman values.

I will never comprehend how history, especially religious history, is used to justify atrocities and genocides.

It’s a sad, unjust, and terrible practice that I’ve witnessed recently… I think we all have. Some arguments can even go in both directions. Take this one for example that a reader dropped in of my articles:

I guess if it was your child or family dead by a terrorist attack by people who openly said they want to destroy your country, you would turn the other cheek……

I can’t fathom how fundamental values like “killing children is wrong” are now being questioned, with people asking, “Which children?”

But does it really matter?

Killing should never happen, period. Didn’t the historical figure Moses, for those who believe, proclaim one of the Ten Commandments as “Thou shalt not kill”? Is only religion significant when it defends only your argument?

(That’s sick)

I’m not taking sides; I’m not singling out Jews, Christians, or Muslims. You see, the ironic part is that when discussing figures like Abraham or Moses, it could apply to any of these three religions — the three afflictions of humanity, the three scourges that have sown destruction, death, and division in the name of civilization, morality, and religious superiority.

I can’t comprehend how anyone today still believes in God.

It baffles me!

I think this sentiment is shared by many Europeans who have distanced themselves from religion, which is a positive development in humanity. However, in other parts of the world, this sentiment isn’t as widespread, including in the supposedly advanced USA, where they inscribe “God” on their currency! It would be comical if it weren’t so serious and with such tremendous implications.

I recall my astonishment when I lived in Brazil for seven months in 2010 and encountered 19-year-olds deeply immersed in Christianity, Jesus, the Bible, saints, and the obscurantism that religious fanaticism can bring… “How can they be this closed mind?” I kept thinking during all my time there.

Let me clarify that I, too, was born into a religious doctrine; I was raised Catholic, even if it wasn’t my choice. But, much like I believed in Santa Claus as a child, as I grew older, I realized these stories were mere fantasies. To my disappointment, I discovered that most people still believe in far more intricate and often cruel tales under the banner of their God… at least Santa is way better than your God.

Yet, remarkably, few directly address religion, but when it’s needed, they often treat the Bible, Quran, or Torah as reliable documents for reference.

We are all driving cars, flying in planes, and communicating through the internet, but yet, our minds haven’t evolved that much since the Middle Ages.

While we study science, evolution, Charles Darwin, and the Big Bang theory in school, the same children attend churches where they hear about creation in seven days, a God who hasn’t intervened since, and stories of an Eve and an Adam expelled from an eternal Eden. These stories unfairly brand women as the culprits who ruined paradise, a label that persists even in today’s society.

And let’s not forget the horrors and atrocities detailed in the Bible or the Old Testament.

How can anyone from these monotheistic religions follow a narrative stemming from Abraham, a delusional man who was willing to offer his only son in the name of a merciless and Machiavellian God?

How is it possible that this God killed innocent children in Sodom and Gomorrah, destroying everyone in the cities and claiming there were no innocents left?

A sad world still entrenched in medieval ideas.

I’m now leaving quotes roughly translated from my favorite author, and Nobel Literature José Saramago:

“Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus, he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities — and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. To this day, no one has been able to fully understand why she was punished in this way for simply wanting to know what was happening behind her. It’s possible that the Lord wished to punish curiosity as if it were a mortal sin, but that doesn’t say much in favor of his intelligence, just as what happened with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If Eve hadn’t given the fruit to Adam, if he hadn’t eaten it, they would still be in the Garden of Eden, however boring it might have been.

On their return, as they were aging, they paused for a moment on the path where Abraham had spoken with the Lord. And there, falling down, Cain said, ‘I have a thought that won’t leave me.’ ‘What thought?’ asked Abraham. ‘I think there were innocents in Sodom and the other cities that were burned. If there were, the Lord would have kept the promise he made to spare their lives.’ ‘The children,’ said Cain, ‘those children were innocent.’ ‘My God,’ murmured Abraham, and his voice was like a groan, ‘yes, He may be your God, but He was not theirs.’ Caim, p.101,102.

“What needs to be done is to sound the alarm to the world to say that what is happening in Palestine is a crime we can stop. We can compare it to what happened in Auschwitz. It is the same, although we keep in mind the differences in time and place.” José Saramago, La Jornada, March 26, 2002.

“What is happening in Israel against the Palestinians is a crime against humanity. The Palestinians are victims of crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli government with the applause of its people.” José Saramago, BBC Mundo, March 30, 2002.

“I await the day when the politicians and military personnel of Israel responsible for the genocide that the Palestinian people have been victims of for the last 60 years are brought before an international tribunal. Because, as I wrote a few months ago, ‘as long as there is a living Palestinian, the Holocaust will continue.’” La Repubblica, July 3, 2007.”

PS: can we just stop to appreciate beautiful things still happening in our world? This was released today… artificial intelligence doesn’t have to be that bad.

This is it. This is beautiful when the best of humanity works in such amazing things, like this new pearl:

Hello, I’m Araci, a female writer from Portugal. I like to write about my country, Portugal. But I also enjoy politics, economics, and issues concerning the climate crisis I’m witnessing in my life and where I live.

If you have enjoyed this article, maybe you would like to buy me a “coffee” here: https://ko-fi.com/joanaaraci.