Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 213
SECULAR VIEWPOINTS EXAMINED religions. Monotheistic societies do slowly degenerate into the polytheistic ones; the opposite never occurs. . I. T is extremely difficult for pious people to bequeath their piety to subsequent generations for a long time. . Seldom does it happen that the righteousness of the forefathers runs deep and long into the following generations. A vast majority of the first generation, ushered into light, never returns to the previous state of darkness. . Faith however, gradually weakens over successive generations. It does not happen overnight. It is a long slow process of decadence set in after the demise of a prophet which ultimately erodes the hard-earned belief in the Unity of God. Whenever belief dwindles, superstitions begin to encroach and take over. Firm faith in a single Omnipotent. God splinters into fragments of a shattered image of. Godhead. Oracles begin to be concocted from temple to temple and a dishonest religious clergy feels free to deceive the common masses. . Without exception, all religions emphasize the role of morality in human affairs. They may differ in other features, but not with regard to their stress on morality. It is a universal trend found everywhere in all ages. To accuse religion of siding with the rich and the powerful, may be justified to some extent only in the context of a decadent age. In the light of the early history of religion as it is unfolded with the advent of a prophet, this accusation is simply not entertainable. Morality as taught by the prophets, always works on the side of justice and fair play, waging a noble war against immorality and the exploitation of the weak and the destitute. It always strengthens the hands of the oppressed against the oppressor and those of the hunted against the hunter. . Where on earth did religious morality ever support the cause of the exploiter against the exploited? Search the 209