This post on The Daily Dish, on religion as theater, has got me thinking: All the talk these days of faith versus reason, of religion versus science, seem to me to be misplaced. A lot of this stems from what I think is a misplaced emphasis on religion as “blind faith”. Perhaps we would do better to think of religion as “shared stories” (or better yet, “shared experiences”), for every religious community has a particular narrative about the human condition.
To the “non-believers”, the “outsiders”, it is the “story” that matters—whether the content is “true” or “false”, “historical” or “mythological”, “revealed” or “constructed”. Hence arguments about whether Genesis can literally be true or whether Rāma actually had a bridge built to Laṅkā.
To the “believers”, the “faithful”, the “insiders”, it is the “shared” part that matters—the fact that these stories resonate not just with one person but with an entire community; the fact that this resonance has held true for this community over time (even if, and possible especially if, it has resonated with different concerns at different times); and the fact that these stories will continue to be shared with the community to come, if the current generation does its job right. In fact, I think that this “shared” aspect is so important that the “stories” themselves gradually change over time, emphasizing certain things and downplaying others—but always in a way that allows them to be shared and accepted by the majority of the community.
To the “Truthseeker”, both aspects matter equally—if it is false, then it is not worth pursuing; if it cannot be shared, in at least some dilute form, then it cannot be a goal towards which one can guide others, around which a community can be built.
