The term religion can refer to a whole bucket of props, ideas and activities. A great number of modern folk shrug off many of the ideas and activities as mere superstition. The baseball player who makes a sign of the cross and pulls on the bill of his cap exactly three times before stepping into the batter's box is behaving superstitiously.
Of course, if the batter knows he is behaving superstitiously, but he does it anyways because it makes him feel more confident and perhaps it helps him to concentrate, that's one thing. He's not hurting anyone or acting out of ignorance.
For many years I drove an old pickup truck with a small Buddha statuette glued in front of the speedometer. I made it back and forth across the country time and again safely. Just as I realize that my safe driving record was not due to the supernatural influence of a Buddha trinket, or to any related good car-karma, but to my own mindful behavior coupled with a set of random events that never came up triple-lemons, perhaps the ball player knows his ritual is all about his own behavior. Rituals and reminders may influence our thinking and put us on the path to a higher probability of good things happening.
A Buddha statuette and religious artifacts and rituals have the ability to direct the focus of our attention. Through the changed focus of attention, they may influence thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Maybe the "higher power" thing in twelve-step programs likewise helps a person direct their attention from their impulsive desire to obtain and drink alcohol onto other things, such as family and community concerns. In a sense, they shift their locus of control from their ego to their superego. (Yada yada yada.)
Placebos and prayer might also succeed to a small degree by how they direct a person's attention. Which would be away from worrisome thoughts to more hopeful. Placebos may not be a true treatment, but it appears they can help, at least, in part, by altering expectations and motivations. Same with prayer.
Taking something that helps people away from them, doesn't make sense. But then again, maybe instead of sugar pills and prayers to invisible entities, people could find other means of constructively altering their focus of attention and thought patterns.
Religion, it must be repeatedly emphasized, consists of a whole bucket of props, ideas and activities. While the bucket may contain some helpful ideas and activities, many items in the bucket may actually cause minor harm. Or worse.
Imagine a child who habitually beats up on his brother. Parents "A" reach into their religion bucket and inform that child he must behave because good children follow the example of Jesus and will go to heaven after they die. Will these thoughts influence the child's behavior? If they don't, should the parents then raise the threat of an afterlife in hell?
Parents "B" attempt to school their misbehaving child in the golden rule. Don't hit your brother; would you like it if someone were to treat you that way? If that doesn't work, perhaps they'll introduce the threat of lost privileges.
Notice that parents "A" use ideas (heaven and hell) that don't correspond to our everyday reality.
The term schizophrenia literally means a "split mind." Individuals suffering from schizophrenia are described as being split from reality. They hear, see, sense, and believe in things that aren't in the outside, shared world. Interestingly, a great number of schizophrenics have religiously-themed delusions.
While informal forms of cognitive therapy, such as religions entail, can be helpful, the opposite is undoubtedly true. Within the religion bucket there tends to be a great deal of outdated and potentially dangerous stuff. There is a great deal of material that makes assertions about an invisible world filled with fantastic agents and forces. In at least a small way, religions encourage a split from reality. And that is why I believe we should look elsewhere for means of directing our thoughts, feelings and behavior toward the better.
Tags: Freethought Musings, psychotherapy, religion
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