It happened again. Romanian Orthodox Christians (and others around the world) have observed the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God, while devoting themselves to an abundance of red wine, lamb chops, sausages, hard-boiled eggs, shepherd’s pie and more. According to the Romanian Emergency Services, there were 15% more cases of alcoholic coma and food indigestion during the Holy Night than on any regular night. Oh well, alcoholic coma is a way to celebrate faith, right?
We are all aware of people’s need to believe into supernatural agents in order to explain the unknown and uncertain aspects of their lives, rather than search for answers elsewhere, like science. Science is an inconvenient truth. We also acknowledge some people’s need of paternal figure or tooth fairies wish granters, as we all have regression moments. It’s understandable. We also nod in agreement when comes to religion’s role into trading hope and ease off the death anxiety. We even understand when others motivate wars by using religion as leverage. We also try to explain honor killings in the name of god, and psychologists spend million of dollars trying to sort out things in the lab by studying group cohesion, god center in the brain, the benefits of praying, or altruism from a religious perspective.
Unfortunately for us, the secular people, Joseph Bulbulia and Andrew Mahoney, of Wellington University in New Zealand, came up with the Hand Grenade Experiment which concluded, that Christianity can trigger altruistic sacrifice, for whatever reason, for fellow Christians. While the secular did not. Yes, religion does seem to be a powerful tool for generating group cohesion. Similarly, Ali Ahmed at Växjö University in Sweden studied if religious students were more co-operative than the secular students. They were. Religion can, it seems, change behavior, into more positive traits. But this is not a pro-religious piece. Far from it.
It doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone that Christmas and Easter have been converted and transformed into the cheapest and most commercial celebrations on the religious calendar.
What they represent nowadays are the symbols of a pagan and consumerism driven society. Religious or not, we live in an “homo oeconomicus” era. “Thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s goods” can be translated into “it is economically stimulating and efficient if you do so”.
Religion, pretty much like political appurtenance, is unfortunately an inherited custom that is handed over like a rite of passage from parents to their children. After the 1989 revolution, in an attempt to spite communism, to reject the neo-communists and to feel like we are belonging somewhere in Europe, many people turned once more towards God and Church. But it didn't imply they embraced or turned to an authentic approach to faith.
However, if Christianity doesn’t reshuffle and rethink its dogmas and approach to faith, it will naturally disappear without the “help” of the secular people, in spite of Tony Blair’s gloomy prediction that atheism is the threat within. Andre Scrima, a Romanian theologian who lived at Deir El Harf monastery, Lebanon, between 1968 and 1989 said that “Christianity will have no future if it doesn’t become authentic again, outside the institutions”. Scrima was right: change can be brought about by evolution or revolution. Christianity has witnessed none.
All systems and organizations are man-made for the benefits of people and are eventually fallible. When they cease to be beneficial or start to become detrimental it's time to think about letting them fade away or actively tossing them out. You cannot move on, if you don’t let go.
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