How to answer the argument "Religion is slavery"?

[jdcatholic09]

Hi guys.

I read a blog post with the title “10 reasons why you should never havea religion”. One of the points there was religion is slavery (particularly attacking the Cathoic Church). Assuming someone uses that argument to me, how do I answer or respond to it?

 

[ivebeenshown]

To be enslaved is to be positioned to serve against one’s will. People choose freely to adhere to religion (in most cases. Cults and extremist religions, maybe not.)

 

[Linux]

To be enslaved is to be positioned to serve against one’s will. People choose freely to adhere to religion (in most cases. Cults and extremist religions, maybe not.)

How about brainwashing. A person has been lead to believe what is false to profit the deceiver, and his or her life is enslaved within the limitations of those flase-hoods (impeding critical reasoning) for fear of hell. You can make people do horrible irrational things that they would have otherwise never done if they feel threatened by divine judgement. People get their hands cut off because people think that is Gods will against thieves.

I think it can be argued that this is a form of psychological slavery. But this would only be the case if a religion is indeed false and is the work of a deceiver. Simply saying that a religion implies moral restrictions is not evidence of slavery.

 

[Holly3278]

Those who are living a life of sin are living a life of slavery to sin. Personally, I’d rather be a slave of God than a slave of sin. That is not to say that I am a slave of God though. I am His friend and I am His servant. Still, if someone were to call me God’s slave, I would have no problem with that. Sorry if I wasn’t of much help.

 

[CarlM86]

Religion is voluntary. Slavery isn’t.

 

[Joe_5859]

Those who are living a life of sin are living a life of slavery to sin. Personally, I’d rather be a slave of God than a slave of sin. That is not to say that I am a slave of God though. I am His friend and I am His servant. Still, if someone were to call me God’s slave, I would have no problem with that. Sorry if I wasn’t of much help.

The real slavery is the slavery of sin.

 

[Robyn_p]

Is it slavery to have a car, a map, and knowledge of where you going and the rules of the road?? Are you more free when you have absolutely no idea where your going or anyway to get there?? No. You may not have to follow the speed limit, but that hardly makes you more free than the person in a car with a GPS!! That’s what religion is. It’s our car and our map.

And if you find the car made by the manufacturer to specifically get you to where you need to go the fastest and safest way, why would you want to stumble around aimlessly?

 

[jwinch2]

From the Catholic perspective, freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want to do. It is the ability to live as we ought, according to God’s will. We tend to think that rules and requirements make us less free. In some cases, this is accurate. Unjust laws, or the unjust application of them, can and do limit freedom. However, when the laws are just and when they are applied properly and justly, the opposite of conventional wisdom is true, in that laws and rules actually serve to enhance freedom rather than limit it. God’s laws have the benefit of being perfect which means that the teachings of the Church rest on a solid foundation of revealed truth, provided they are interpreted and applied correctly. The laws that we make up? Not so much.

Here is an example: First, take a person who hears beautiful music in their head and sit them down behind a piano when they do not know how to play one. They are not free to express themselves on the piano because they have not mastered the necessary skills to do so. They have not sacrificed, studied, worked, etc, to achieve that level of skill and knowledge. Next, take a world class jazz pianist. He/she has studied and practiced for many years. She/he knows the rules of musical theory, proper technique, etc. Initially, these rules might have seemed constrictive and they might have felt that they were limiting their expression in improvisation, which is a huge part of jazz music. However, over time they come to see how this level of mastery of one’s self allows for expression on the piano with great freedom. Whatever they hear and desire to play, they can. Any piece of music they pick up and wish to play, they can. For the expert, the training, rules, and requirements necessary to become a virtuoso pianist have made them free in a way that the other person will never know.

In a similar way, when we do not master our own desires for sin, money, prestige, etc. we become slaves to that desire. This is the goal of the spiritual life. This is where God’s laws and the teachings of the Church come in. If we follow them, we are able to master our desires and we become free to be the person we were meant to be. We remain in the world, but we are not of the world. That, is true freedom.

 

[Waiting]

Hi guys.

I read a blog post with the title “10 reasons why you should never havea religion”. One of the points there was religion is slavery (particularly attacking the Cathoic Church). Assuming someone uses that argument to me, how do I answer or respond to it?

Is the slave master willing to suffer and die for the good of his slaves? God sent His own Son to do that for us. If that makes me a slave, then I most willingly and happily accept that label.

 

[3DOCTORS]

I would question the very premise of an argument that is based on such a broad assumption, perhaps refers for support to the worst case scenario, and is just . . . flawed. I would make the person come up with specific objections rather than sweeping generalizations, then address those one by one. :twocents:

 

[ManOnFire]

How is free will delayed gratification and following a set of life’s rules slavery? Consider the converse: an aimless life of addiction to the basic instincts for pleasure and money sounds much more like slavery.

 

[RocketRM]

Well if Catholicism is slavery, all I can say is “what a sweet form of slavery!”

Sure beats the opposite which is being a slave to the material world (technology, consumerism, etc.)

 

[CaptBell800]

Accepting any idea as being true can be compared to slavery, in this regard. Once you accept something as true, you behave accordingly. One can call this “slavery”, but that is ridiculous. Any ideological belief would then be slavery. Religion, liberalism, leftism, conservatism, materialism, atheism, utilitarianism, et.

 

[meltzerboy]

Hi guys.

I read a blog post with the title “10 reasons why you should never havea religion”. One of the points there was religion is slavery (particularly attacking the Cathoic Church). Assuming someone uses that argument to me, how do I answer or respond to it?

There is no freedom without the Law, without the moral responsibility to practice one’s freedom wisely. The holiday of Passover, which celebrates the freedom from bondage, is followed by that of Shavuot, during which the Jewish people received the Torah, teaching them what the moral responsibility of freedom means.

 

[Theophorus]

Hi guys.

I read a blog post with the title “10 reasons why you should never havea religion”. One of the points there was religion is slavery (particularly attacking the Cathoic Church). Assuming someone uses that argument to me, how do I answer or respond to it?

Can you elaborate on the argument presented please, as I’m struggling to see what they could base such a premise on, unless they are refering to particular cults and belief systems excluding Catholicism,

As I’m sure you know Catholicism is about giving humanity the freedom of the Children of God, but this liberty is not licence(Even reasonable atheists would agree that freedom is not doing whatever you want whenever you want at any cost thats anarchy). Just as language has rules to allow us to freely communicate, to share thoughts, complex feelings and improve our selves, so to Catholicism has God given rules that humanity might live up to its potential and, as other have said, avoid the slavery of sin and addiction. As our great pope emeritus Benedict XVI once said, echoing the fathers and the bible, “Law is the condition of Love”.

 

[R_C]

There is no freedom without the Law, without the moral responsibility to practice one’s freedom wisely.QUOTE]

Even further, freedom does not and could not mean the absence of justice (and consequently of us being responsible before that justice). Ultimately, as Christ stated: a man cannot serve two masters, and he who is not for God is against God.

What is religion? Religion is how we relate to God. Atheism is no less a religion than Catholicism. To hate religion is to state that man should not ask itself at all how to relate to God, ignoring Him entirely. But, as someone once wrote, to remove God from the picture is not to worship nothing, but rather, to worship anything Thus, whether we agree or not, whether we see it or not, if we reject religion, we are rejecting subjection to a Creatior to become subject to creation and creatures, a sad slavery, given that the Creator obviously willed that we be free, while creatures seem to long for the opposite…

 

[aspirant]

From the Catholic perspective, freedom is not the ability to do whatever we want to do. It is the ability to live as we ought, according to God’s will. We tend to think that rules and requirements make us less free. In some cases, this is accurate. Unjust laws, or the unjust application of them, can and do limit freedom. However, when the laws are just and when they are applied properly and justly, the opposite of conventional wisdom is true, in that laws and rules actually serve to enhance freedom rather than limit it. God’s laws have the benefit of being perfect which means that the teachings of the Church rest on a solid foundation of revealed truth, provided they are interpreted and applied correctly. The laws that we make up? Not so much.

Here is an example: First, take a person who hears beautiful music in their head and sit them down behind a piano when they do not know how to play one. They are not free to express themselves on the piano because they have not mastered the necessary skills to do so. They have not sacrificed, studied, worked, etc, to achieve that level of skill and knowledge. Next, take a world class jazz pianist. He/she has studied and practiced for many years. She/he knows the rules of musical theory, proper technique, etc. Initially, these rules might have seemed constrictive and they might have felt that they were limiting their expression in improvisation, which is a huge part of jazz music. However, over time they come to see how this level of mastery of one’s self allows for expression on the piano with great freedom. Whatever they hear and desire to play, they can. Any piece of music they pick up and wish to play, they can. For the expert, the training, rules, and requirements necessary to become a virtuoso pianist have made them free in a way that the other person will never know.

In a similar way, when we do not master our own desires for sin, money, prestige, etc. we become slaves to that desire. This is the goal of the spiritual life. This is where God’s laws and the teachings of the Church come in. If we follow them, we are able to master our desires and we become free to be the person we were meant to be. We remain in the world, but we are not of the world. That, is true freedom.

Great post. For more on that, I would recommend Servais Pinckaers’ The Sources of Christian Ethics, chapters 14-15.

For more on the original topic, I would also recommend Henri de Lubac’s The Drama of Atheist Humanism.

 

[InJesusItrust]

All you get in this life is a choice of master: choose between the flesh, the devil, the world or God.

 

[jonathan_hili]

Hi guys.

I read a blog post with the title “10 reasons why you should never havea religion”. One of the points there was religion is slavery (particularly attacking the Cathoic Church). Assuming someone uses that argument to me, how do I answer or respond to it?

What justification was made for religion being “slavery”? I assume that some explanation was given; after all, you can’t just state a claim like that and take it as true.

Certainly, religion involves a “binding” of oneself to the believing community, creeds, etc. but lots of things in life which we dedicate ourselves to (such as marriage) involve this, and that doesn’t mean they make a slave of you.