Cosmopolitan Religion

Together with philosophy and the sciences, religion takes an important place in the theoretical activity of humankind: In the course of his life, every human being asks fundamental questions about existence, as Jean Piaget, the pioneer of developmental psychology, has scientifically explained. Even the adolescent human being begins to ask questions about God, the meaning of life or its end. Throughout history, various answers have been given to these questions. Some of these answers have been found through the use of reason, which is the philosophical principles. Others are based on historical documents, which are regarded as the direct expression of a being superior to humankind. These are the various religious principles or beliefs.

The task of this section will not be to judge or compare religions. It is to show how religions can also help humanity to make the necessary paradigm shift by supporting a vision which is not fanatical and sectarian, but open and tolerant regarding the meaning of human life.

Religion is no "opium of the people", as Karl Marx erroneously claimed in his work "Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie" (1843-44), because it corresponds to a deep existential need of every human being, as the young Hegel had already understood on the traces of Kant’s philosophy of religion. It is true that religion can be misused by power to curb people’s demands for a dignified life and offer them salvation in a hypothetical future life. Nevertheless, it should always be remembered that religious books are written by people.

Therefore, it is not in any God’s hands, but in ours, whether faith offers forgiveness and salvation or whether it offers hypocrisy and oppression. There are also religions that do not foresee a future life or do not know the concept of salvation in the afterworld. Therefore, one needs to be careful and distinguish the concept of religion from the use of it that can make it a political power in a particular people and in a particular historical period.

COSMOPOLITAN RELIGION - ROOMS AND INTERPRETATION

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