The Irony Of Religion

We attended an Iglesia ni Cristo(INC) gathering at Marikina Sports Complex upon the invitation of our relatives who were members of said religion. The gathering was themed "Evangelization" as projected on large screens around the place. A quick glance at the crowd revealed that the attendees were  mixture of INC members and those belonging to other religions as each group can easily be distinguished on how they were dressed. Unlike the INC members who wore at least semi-formal dress, those who belong to other religions like us wore shirts and jeans.

I have no idea what the gathering is all about, but I was kinda hoping that it was some kind of a party overflowing with food and drinks.

I was mistaken.



The event started with a nice song rendered by the choir followed by a prayer by one of the leaders of INC which, if I understood it correctly, was supposed to be a prayer of enlightenment.

Then came the talk.

As the preaching progressed, it became clear to me that the purpose of the gathering was to convince the non INC members that, "we are the true religion and yours are false, so better join us if you want to be saved," kind of talk.

Passages from the bible were read to support their claim. 

When the talk ended and as we were pushing ourselves with the crowd toward the exit, I had this feeling of gratefulness of being a Catholic. 

The Catholic Church is not a perfect religion precisely because it is a religion of sinners. However, I have not heard the Catholic church claiming to be the only one true religion even though it can trace its roots way back to the time of Jesus' disciples. I was only told about the joy, beauty and blessings that proceeds from faithfully living the Catholic doctrines, belief and teachings the veracity of which I was able to test by actually practicing them in my life. 

I have nothing against the INC as a church. But their claim of being the ONLY one true religion casts doubt as to the basis of their truth. Any entity, person or religion that has a sole claim of the absolute truth to the exclusion of others is in itself a proof of state of delusion or gravely mistaken belief on the part of the person claiming the same. It is a "one-upmanship" mentality that makes oneself vulnerable to sin of pride.

The underlying foundation of most of religions is love. However, the people who were handed the stewardship over the faithful, more often than not, fall prey to the human tendency of pride arising out of the feeling of the need to be superior over another and exclusive egoistic claim of the only truth. This twisted belief and claim of being the one true religion gave birth to religious fanaticism which brought about hatred causing deaths and harm to people belonging to different faiths. 

This is the irony of religion. Religions teach the faithfuls to love one another and admonish their followers to live in peace and understanding. However, history has taught us that religion became the reason of great hate between people belonging to different faiths that often resulted in unimaginable cruel deaths, sufferings and destruction caused by bitter wars and persecutions between warring religions. 

As a matter of fact, I am more skeptical about the preacher and his teachings than the religion itself. Hearing a preacher's claim to the sole and exclusive truth of being the one true religion always reminds me of the following passages in the bible, thus:

Jesus said to them in reply, “See that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many.  Mathew 24:4-5

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them." Mathew 7:15-20

“Either declare the tree good and its fruit is good, or declare the tree rotten and its fruit is rotten, for a tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you say good things when you are evil? For from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. A good person brings forth good out of a store of goodness, but an evil person brings forth evil out of a store of evil."  Matthew 12:33-35

I did not choose the religion I belong to. It so happened that it was the religion of my parents. But as I grew up and developed my own independent thinking and ideas, I was able to see and appreciate the grace, beauty and blessings that come with the practice of the religion I was born with.

I firmly believe that a person can truly grow and become great human being in any religion he was born with by practicing the fundamental virtues of that particular religion. 

I believe that religion is given to every person as an act of grace from God. 

I believe that all the religions that have passed the test of time have the grain of truth in them which is not readily recognized and oftentimes twisted by misinterpretation given the human proclivity to commit error and tendency to readily answer the call of the ego. Hence, that underlying truth is hard to recognize when the leaders twist the virtues of their religion to advance their selfish and egoistic objectives.

It would seem that the the remedy for this problem is easy by living the golden rule, "Do not do unto others what you do not want others do unto you." 

I just wish it would be that easy.

But maybe, instead of trying to solve conflicts and misunderstanding in a worldwide scale, we might make significant breakthrough in our desire to live in peace and harmony by practicing tolerance with people of different faiths living within our immediate vicinity. Then maybe, we do not only imagine peace as the Beatles put it in a song, but actually live in it whatever community we belong.