From the Author of SC&A: A Brief Word on Religion
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Judaism, Christianity and Islam (as well as most every other religion) each have texts they consider sacred. Each religion has it’s laws, customs, traditions and one form or another of ethereal spirituality and/or supernatural beliefs.
None of that matters.
What does matter is behavior. To be more precise, behavior is the result of the interpretation of those texts.
When religious understanding elicits good and elevating behavior then the interpretation of those sacred texts will have a positive influence on mankind. If religious understanding elicits bad behavior from it’s adherents then that religion has a negative influence on mankind.
The sacred texts of virtually every religion have both savory and unsavory passages. We choose how to interpret those passages. We can choose to regard the more unsavory of passages as more influential or we can choose to make the elevated passages our focus. We can find a way to make those unsavory passages reflective of a certain time and point in history or we can choose to make those passages the foundation of our religious beliefs.