Why We Need to Overcome the Religious Phase of Human Development

Why We Need to Overcome the Religious Phase of Human Development

The Old Testament reads: “As the people of Israel passed through the wilderness and drew near the land promised to their ancestors (Gen. 15:18-21), God commanded them to slaughter the Canaanites who dwelt there. “You must destroy them totally,” God demanded “make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.”(Deut.:2)

The Catholic Pope Urban in 1095 called for a crusade to Liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims. The Catholic Inquisition, sought to eliminate other religions and non-believers, known as heretics. https://www.britannica.com/topic/inquisition

The Christian doctrine of the Evangelical movement has three possible fates for non-believers. They will go to hell for all eternity, or they will be purified and, convert, or they “will be destroyed by God”. https://mail.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/ert/evangelical_runia.pdf

Such ideas have been printed, published, and promoted for over two thousand years and have in part been responsible for division, discrimination, oppression, and death on a massive scale.

Today 2024, the Israeli Prime Minister cited biblical references in justifying Israel's sole right to the land of Palestine and their war of annihilation in Gaza. The Israeli Defense Minister called the Palestinians "human animals".

The Thirty Years Religious War in Germany, 1618-48, killed one-third of Germany’s population leaving some 5-8 million dead.

In 1099 the Crusaders carried out a massacre of Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem. The Inquisition which lasted some 400 years sought to eliminate heretics, those who had other religions. Heretics were imprisoned, executed, or burned at the stake if they did not convert to Catholicism, and their property was confiscated.

Religious conflict has been a worldwide reality—Buddhist vs. Muslim, Catholic vs. Jews and Muslims, Protestants vs. Catholics, Hindu vs. Muslim, and so on through the ages. For thousands of years, religions have played a role in oppression and war.


Can humanity move beyond this phase of development and recognize that we are more similar than different?
Is it time yet to consider all of humanity equally worthy?
When will it be time for cooperation not competition and war?
Are we able to leave the Gods behind and step into a new phase of human development?


Date 9/11/2024
Nayvin Gordon, gordonnayvin [at] yahoo.com

Gordon writes about politics and health, and his articles have appeared in: The Mercury News, Counterpunch, Z magazine, Countercurrents, Scoop Independent News, Anderson Valley Advertiser, Socialist Viewpoint, Multiracial Unity Blog, Scientific American, The Oakland Tribune, The Journal of Family Practice, American Family Physician and Dissident Voice, and LA Progressive