We each long for community from deep within. The unspoken goal of organized religion, growing out of that longing, is for us to come together to confirm our group and individual suspension of disbelief in the tenets and beliefs of the supernatural that underlie all religions.
Anthropologists would say that Homo sapiens is a social being.
To the extent that spirituality wells intrinsically within each of us it’s also true that organized religion is intrinsically social and communal and as such the social and communal interaction within the group of believers supports the individual expressions of spirituality based on their shared beliefs.
Through the medium of organized religion we affirm each other’s belief system especially as we come together periodically to engage and participate in group ritual, whether it is the periodic prayers of Muslims throughout the day, the Catholic Mass or the Martens of Protestants.
Recitation of the rosary for Catholics can be either an individual or a group exercise, a uniquely Catholic mantra the repetitive recitation of which either as a solitary or social exercise leads to what some might call a mind numbing experience of emptying one’s consciousness. In that sense an inner peace develops as the continuous repetitiogn of the same words over and over causes them to lose any intellectual meaning but by blocking out the random and fleeting thoughts that tend to transit through our minds this mind numbing experience does indeed lead to inner peace and tranquility.
The celebration of the Mass is another communal event where people come together to recite ritual prayers in a ceremony led by a priest. The theology of the Mass is such that the celebrant purportedly stands in the place of Jesus during this reenactment of the Last Supper.
Wars have been fought over issues such as Transubstantiation versus Consubstantiation, whether Christ really becomes present through the Consecration of the Mass or whether the whole ritual is merely an act done to commentate his life and last Passover meal.
Group identity is crucial to all religions and the group is tightly controlled and herded together by its spiritual leaders. History shows us that wars have been and continue to be fought by fanatics over perceived religious differences.
The obverse side of group identity and cohesiveness is the exclusion and frequently the denigration of non group members … nonbelievers. Jesus preached inclusiveness; the church that developed in his name and after his death became over the years both exclusive and hostile, battling other religious groups as well as individuals through crusades and the inquisition. This loving god who Jesus represented had untold atrocities carried out in his name and ostensibly on his behalf. Today Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims battle to the death with similar atrocities committed on the name of their group and Allah their god.
The various churches of Jesus have not fared much better from the Reformation through current day Evangelicals: strong cohesive group identity and if not hostility, palpable distrust and dislike of competing religions.
It is factually correct that our intrinsic longing for community has over the centuries brought billions of people together in various self selected religious groups, groups that have focused hate and on occasion unspeakable pain and suffering on other groups or individuals of differing theological beliefs… all in the name of their god.