Is the essence of religion guilt or love?

I very rarely go through the magazines distributed with newspapers, and consequently I never read or flipped through Phase. I came to know about it when Ms Velislava Hillman, its managing editor, kindly invited me to write a piece about God and religion for the magazine. Now I know that Phase magazine is a youth bi-monthly publication distributed with the Times on Saturday. Phase had published an opinion piece on “No God?”written by a young person, Gordon Camilleri. My piece entitled A love affair called God found its place in the October 31 edition of Phase.

I would like to get a discussion going on about this subject; and what better place there is for such a thing than this blog?

The essence of religion is love

“The essence of religion is guilt,” according to Mr. Camilleri.

Definitely not true, at least as far as Christianity is concerned. The essence of Christianity is love – the feeling of love that is meant to enhance the joy of living. Christianity is a love affair between God and humans. It is the celebration of living and giving. It is a concrete statement that this love affair is so strong and deeply rooted that not even death can extinguish it. This love affair is intentioned to last forever.

The foundation rock of Christianity is the realisation that God loves us. This God – described in the Bible both as Father and as Mother - is Love. God is crazy in love with us, is close to us and cares for us. God knows each one of us by name and, as Isaiah wrote, our name is tattooed on the palm of God’s hand. God accompanies us in our life journey: encouraging us, healing us, crying with us, laughing with us.

This is the religion communicated through Jesus Christ. This God/Man experienced our humanity, warts and all. He who is so powerful that can hold the whole universe in the palm of his hand became weak for us. He was not able to carry His own cross. Were it not for the help from a weak human being He would have stopped half way. He understands and empathises with our weakness. He also experienced joy and sadness, love and betrayal, laughter and tears, triumph and defeat, merriment and solitude. He died for us but He also rose from the death for us. His victory can now be our victory.

It is true though that our preaching and catechism have instilled in many people a mistaken image of God. Instead of a loving and forgiving God, we preach a vindictive one. Even Shylock would look as a generous guy when compared to the God some preach.

The hardship that sin brings

Camilleri also wrote that the feeling of guilt, that according to him is instilled by religion, is meant to nullify the pleasure of sin.

The road to happiness seems to be sin, according to this gentleman! Are you feeling down? No problem Camilleri will find a sin for you to raise your spirits. Are you depressed? Forget your psychiatrist or psychologist; phone Camilleri. Following a short session, he will give you a recipe for sinning. There is nothing like a couple of sins for breakfast and one after lunch to get you better. If need be, he would suggest something to do before dinner.

Sin is not the road to happiness. It promises everything – pleasure, fame, riches - but in the long term it delivers only pain and frustration. It cannot do otherwise. Sin alienates us from the root of our existence – God – and therefore alienates us from ourselves.

Look at the ills and woes present in the world around us. Cannot we easily point a finger towards sin as their cause or origin? Is not the present financial crisis the result of the sin of greed? Moreover, the crisis that is making so many families suffer isn’t it many times due to the sin of infidelity? Ask all the victims of crime what they think of the sins that were perpetrated against them? Is not poverty the result of the sin of the existence of unjust economic structures and bad distribution of wealth? Isn’t it an obscene sin that a score of persons have more wealth than dozens of countries put together?

Will the world be a better place if the Commandments are eliminated or will it become a worse place? Has anyone ever been harmed because of fulfilling the Commandments?

Religion and human dignity

Camilleri also says that “religion is an insult to human dignity.” This is a nice quip indeed!

Christianity preaches that men and women are created in the image and likeness of God. Has anyone ever trust upon men or women a greater dignity than the fact that they are an image, nay children, of God? Christianity enhances human dignity more than any philosophy or political ideology.

Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of Great Britain recently said that God is needed in the public sphere so that the Christian religion and other religions can make their contribution to real development.

Blair’s comments proves what experience has shown all along: the more time one has for God the more one finds time for others as Love begets love.