Our God — Page 160
160 sense it is impossible to break away from religion. You can break away from Islam. You can break away from Christianity. You can break away from Hinduism. You can break away from Buddhism. You can break away from every other known revealed religion, but you cannot completely break away from religion. You will have to adopt a religion, even if invented by yourself. You will either believe in God or deny Him. If you believe in Him, you will have to acknowledge some attributes for Him. If you deny Him, you will have to postulate some doctrine concerning the genesis of this universe and beginning of life. You will have to adopt a code of conduct in dealings with friends, foes, relatives, non-relatives, husbands, wives, servants, masters, kings, the public, etc. Such doctrines and codes of conduct, or way of life, will constitute your religion. In short, religion is inseparably linked with life and no one can break out of the confines of religion. When someone is labelled ‘pagan’, it implies only that he is not following any of the known revealed religions, but has invented his own religion. Otherwise, no one can really be without a religion. Obviously, when it is impossible to break out of the confines of religion, the suggestion—that because religion creates strife and narrow-mindedness one should break away from it—becomes absurd and ridiculous, and unbecoming of a sensible person. If by that, one implies breaking away from a known revealed religion, it would be ignorance. We are not speaking of a particular religion, rather religion in general causing war. If a particular religion does lead to conflict and breach of peace, we do not advocate it. We assert only that it is incorrect that religion is the cause of conflict and war, and even if it is, we cannot break away from it. Therefore, the suggestion of breaking away from religion is absurd.