Religion vs Philosophy
Religion is based on God’s Dispensation for the Messiah and His revelation through the means of religion and it also includes religious practices, and a life of faith and prayer. In contrast philosophy is more or less the pursuit of higher knowledge or truth and a general awareness about life. Philosophy takes a critical and analytical viewpoint towards belief systems, because its approach is rational and seeks to prove and justify everything in existence. Religion is supported by followers who are believers and usually have adopted their belief from their parents in a traditional way and haven’t been seekers of truth themselves. However, true believers are those who accept other people’s beliefs as their own and don’t want to be fanatics or hostile towards other beliefs. With philosophy there is no such antagonism and there is more respect towards other philosophies as they all have commonalities that are generally accepted without serious objections and malevolence.
The content of a religious belief has an impact on our life because it conveys profound values and principles which are general guidelines for a religious life. Morality and ethics are closely related to a religious lifestyle. A lot of people distinguish between religion and church, because they think church is only an institution and they see priests not necessarily as God’s representatives. The issue with christian denominations is that the pluralism of faiths contradicts its own nature that brings division instead of unity by creating antagonism and separatism. Claims that” I am the only one who is right '' and have the monopoly on truth do not help, but instead bring disunity and hostility. The fact that there are more than 400 different denominations within Christianity shows that the concept of religion is extremely subjective, strict and controversial as far as “religious correctness’’ is concerned. Jesus Christ’s thorough teachings and love concept should serve as a catalyst that would bring unity and integration among all christian denominations. However, even though there is a willingness to converge and follow the same direction, there is a long way to go to achieve harmony and cooperation by today’s standards of a mutual endeavour. What should be learned from philosophy is the effort to express critical views without polemic and confrontation, but in respect towards other approaches to life and the theory of reality as well as ontology.
Religion is quite knowledgeable about the situation in the world and has an answer for it. It is trying to explain why the world experiences conflict and war, immorality and suffering as well as unhappiness and despair. According to the Holy Scriptures the sin came into the world through the Original Sin or Fall of Man, a deviation that occurred in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of Human History. It is difficult to deny or dispute such truth since what happened afterwards shows exactly the contemporary miserable situation of the world. Adam and Eve failed to follow God’s Commandment (Genesis 2:17)))) and as a result were expelled from Paradise and were separated from God and continued living in alienation from Him. This failure is visible in their failed parenthood which led to bad education, self-centred love instead of true love, and as a consequence the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. This Biblical account is not a fantasy or utopia: it’s real, visible and touches upon each one of us, as members of a society from time immemorial. Jesus Christ, the Messiah, came actually to restore Adam’s failure and is therefore called, the second Adam. The mystery is we don't have clear evidence about the result! Theologians offer different and often controversial opinions about this.
It’s wrong to believe that Religion and Philosophy cannot co-exist, because they have a different concept of the ultimate character of reality and their image of God’s existence. Actually they are mutually inclusive as far as the pursuit of wisdom is concerned, which is a commonplace in their teachings, and if they differ in other concerns, this is their way to seek for awareness and truth. In religion revelation, worshipping and prayer practice are a source of spiritual experience and the pursuit of truth, while philosophy is using the path of intellectual research and rational reasoning in their search for truth. Philosophy by its own nature is not concerned with the existence of God or his essence and its purpose is not to attack religion, but there is a connecting point between them which is their awareness about morality and ethics. More than anything, I believe, that the connecting link between religion and philosophy is their pursuit for a higher perception and wisdom.“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Albert Einstein
In conclusion, ever since the beginning and in the long course of history there have emerged a large list of religious philosophers like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and Leibniz along with Hegel, it proves the connection that exists between those two concepts of thought and insight. Their common link is moral values and ethics which are core elements in education and spiritual growth as well as the pursuit of maturity and integrity of character. Unless we stress those spiritual and moral core values in our education systems, there is no hope to create a sublime higher education that puts human character and integrity at the centre of their value system. It is then a matter of higher priority for our world community to work together in order to achieve the goal of a holistic educational system and approach for the sake of a sound and value oriented society for the generations to come.
