History has answers

Our question is why is there religion at all. Not many of you wanted to respond, maybe because it is one glorious and scary and dicey question to begin with.

Whether one considers oneself to be religious or non religious, it would seem to be helpful to know why this religion stuff exists to begin with. If we don't have some clear understanding of the various reasons that religion exists, of the various and even contradictory purposes that it serves, then how can we be religious with any intelligent self consciousness?

Part of one response to my previous blog, included the phrase, history has the answers.

Indeed, we can reflect on the history of the people's of the world and our own personal history and then discover one of the uses, the purposes of religion. Clearly, religion is used to control and oppress people.

Walter Brueggeman is a great biblical scholar, dynamic speaker and prolific author. He wrote a short piece about Joseph, Pharaoh and power. He reminded us, that Joseph used his powers of interpreting dreams not only to save his own skin, but to help Pharaoh. From Pharoah's dreams,Joseph had understood that there would be seven years of plenty followerd by seven years of famine. So Joseph stored up the grain in the good years and when famine struck, he brought under Pharaoh's power all the land and people of Egypt.Buy low--sell high. Genesis 47 says that "...as for the people, he made slaves of them from one end of Egypt to the other.Only the land of the priests he did not buy;for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh." Joseph who himself had been enslaved now becomes the enslaver--his actions are despicable, but he was just being a savvy businessman and a good Egyptian.

In the midst of this human and economic crisis, the priests were allowed to keep their land. Even then, said Brueggeman, the empire needed priests to bless its power and control over others.(Are we 21st century religous types guilty of blessing modern day empires/systems of oppression?)

When I was traveling in Russia, some of this was clear. The church during the Romanov dynasty was expected to bless the Tsar's wars, just like the state churches throughout Europe were expected to support their nation's rulers. That is part of the sad history of the West.

We remember other histories. The crusaders go into battle screaming God Wills It. In the movie El Cid, the Spanish battle the Moors and the battle cry is `For God, For King,For country.' The Klan lynch and burned Negroes defending white Christian civilization. The Catholic Church massacred the Albigensian Christians. Parents over children. Men have oppressed women. The priests/pastors/charismatic leaders have exploited the followers. The Tutsis over the Hutus. The Aztecs over the local tribes. And on and on it goes. People have shaped, created, exploited religion to justify their exploitation of others.

This is one of the reasons we do have religion. Pharoah and all his friends and fellow travelers find it quite useful to appear to have God on there side. Well,at least, that is what the Bible says.