Religion and morality

Rian van Heerden has been well known for causing some controversy within the peevish Afrikaner community throughout his broadcasting career. With his TV show, “Rian”, and his many incarnations as radio presenter he has never been afraid to tackle historically taboo subjects. Ironically he even found a home for a couple of years at a radio station in the conservative heartland of Bloemfontein. Though no one can deny that the content of his media contributions have ruffled some feathers, I think many would agree that the true reason many people are predisposed to take offence to his opinions is the fact that he happens to be gay. I remember that it was a big sensation, and to some even a shock, when he came out of the proverbial closet a few years ago.

In one of his more recent shows he interviewed a preacher who had to keep his homosexuality a secret for most of his career for the very justified fear of being ostracized by the church, community and ultimately the God he believes in. He told of his life-long struggle with the idea of being different and the guilt instilled upon him by years of religious indoctrination. I can’t recall the preacher’s name now and a local internet doesn’t seem to yield any fruits.

A few days after this show was aired I had a conversation with someone who brought up the subject of homosexuality. I was apprehensive to venture down this path with him because I knew how easily upset devout members of that bastion of Calvinist doctrine, the Dutch Reformed church, could get. A leisurely stroll on this path could easily lead to a maze of thorny bushes from which there is no escape without blood being drawn. But after a moment’s contemplation and subsequent failure of my better instincts I couldn’t resist being drawn into the conversation. The main premise of his argument was that homosexuality is wrong. I however wanted to know why exactly it is that being attracted to someone of the same sex is wrong, as being gay is no threat to society, world peace or the economy. This apparently doesn’t hold any water, as I would soon find out that the reason it is wrong is because the Bible says it’s wrong. End of story. None of my explanations that the Bible for example - among many other things - also says that women should be banished from the tribe for the duration of their menstrual cycles, could convince him.

This made me think about what guides religious peoples’ moral compass. What exactly is their concept of right and wrong? After a while I had a light bulb moment and it dawned on me; anything God instructs them to do is right and good, and everything He forbids is wrong and evil. The way in which something would affect the lives of individuals or society at large has no place in the equation. The word of God is the ultimate moral guidebook. A simple example of this is His instruction to us to go forth and multiply and inhabit all the earth. No matter the effects of overpopulation and famine. And if one day you heard a voice calling you from a bush telling you to go and eliminate the infidels of another sovereign nation you wouldn’t have to think twice about the moral implications of your actions as it was an instruction from on high.

From all the conflicting do’s and don’ts contained in the pages of holy writ we can also deduce that divine proclamation is subject to change, depending on what mood the prime mover might have been in that day. The Ten Commandments, that form the bedrock for Christian morality, was supposedly brought down mount Sinai by Moses during the Israelites’ desert traversing. Posing as divine law, it was in actual fact nothing more than a pragmatic way to govern a primitive society. People may have revolted against it en masse if they hadn’t thought it would be punishable by some supernatural calamity. Here religion proved useful in guiding and controlling the flock.

Today people still cling to these and other largely redundant holy and unquestionable edicts. Some pose a greater risk than others, but that is a topic for another time. We can and do come up with better ways to live our lives by employing reason and compassion. The complete disconnect between religious morality and actual morality (the effect on society – good and bad in THIS world) is the reason why the separation between church and state is so very important. We no longer have to live in the shackles of superstition.