Suddenly, in the twenty-first century, religion has become a
political power. It affects us all, whether we're religious or not.
If we're not in danger of being blown up by a suicide bomber we've
got leaders to whom God speaks, ordering them to start a war. We're
beset by people who demand that we give ourselves to Jesus while
they smugly assure us of their own superiority and inherent
goodness. We're surrounded by those who noisily reject science
while making full use of the benefits science brings; by the
'spiritual' ones; the ones who believe in magic; and there's the
militant atheists berating us all for our stupidity. We wouldn't
object to what people believed if only they'd keep it to
themselves. We want to make up our own minds about what we believe,
but it's difficult to do this. Everyone has to face the dilemma
that we all die but no one knows for certain what death actually
is. Is it the end of our identity or a doorway to another life?
Whichever we choose, our choice is a fantasy that determines the
purpose of our life. If death is the end of our identity, we have
to make this life satisfactory, whatever 'satisfactory' might mean
to us. If it is a doorway to another life, what are the standards
we have to reach to go to that better life? All religions promise
to overcome death, but there's no set of religious or philosophical
beliefs that ensures that our life is always happy and secure.
Moreover, for many of us, what we were taught about a religion
severely diminished our self-confidence and left us with a constant
debilitating feeling of guilt and shame. Through all this turmoil
comes the calm, clear voice of eminent psychologist Dorothy Rowe.
She separates the political from the personal, the power-seeking
from the compassionate. She shows how, if we use our beliefs as a
defence against our feelings of worthlessness, we feel compelled to
force our beliefs on to other people by coercion or aggression.
However, it is possible to create a set of beliefs, expressed in
the religious or philosophical metaphors most meaningful to us,
which allow us to live at peace with ourselves and other people, to
feel strong in ourselves without having to remain a child forever
dependent on some supernatural power, and to face life with courage
and optimism.
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