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HOW YOU LIVE YOUR ·LIFE
IS THE ONLY RELIGION
Organized religious rituals and dogmas have become irrelevant to
millions. Time-honored moral codes are being questioned. What were
claimed to be the moral demands
of
a God are now often looked upon as
the whims
of
men. In such an age
of
confusion, how should we live our lives?
by
Paul W. Kroll
L
rEN, FOR
a moment, to our
world of contradictory opin–
ions: "Gay is good." "Mar–
riage is sacred." "Stay single and
swing." "Occupation housewife is
my goal." "Why get married and
ruin a good relationship?" "Pre–
marital sex with !ove is fine." "Sex is
only for married people."
"Abortion on demand." "Abor–
tion is murder." "Marijuana should
be legalized." "Marijuana leads to
heroin addiction." "Drinking is a
sin." "Getting drunk on the week–
end is fun." "Drink in moderation."
''I'm Catholic." "l'm Protestan!."
"l'm Buddhist." "Religion is the
opiate of the people." "1 think God
is a myth." "I'm not sure God ex–
ists." "The American way of life is
best." "Communism has the answer
to aU problems." "God save the
Queen."
Crisis of Confusion
In the rnidst of such moral , theo–
logical and política! confusion,
many people, like one college stu–
dent, have adopted a new slogan:
"How
I
líve my life is the only reli–
gion." Ifyour beliefs are right - and
that is a real problem - then how
you
live your life is the only religion,
even if it contradicts established
thinking.
But we still have a problem. What
srandard
can we use to determine
how we should live our lives? Cer–
tainJy we don't want everyone doing
PLAIN TRUTH November 1973
his own thing! We don't want mur–
derers, gangsters and thieves doing
their own tbing on
us.
If we are to accept the statement
that "bow you live your life is the
only religion," we must have sorne
kind of standard for outlawing be–
havior that can hurt people. But
what authority is to !ay down the
right pattem for our lives and why?
Should we go back to the so–
caBed good old days when the Puri–
tan ethic was supposed to have
reigned supreme? It is questionable,
of course, wbether the old days were
. really that good or whether most
people really were that puritanical.
Let's take a quick look at what
has happened to our world of reli–
gion, the one social unit that claims
to have a moral and legal package
of standards.
The State of Religion
Religious institut ions have be–
come marginal in Westem society.
For the overwhelming majori ty of
people, cburchgoing, or the lack of
it, is simply irrelevant to the manner
in whicb they order their lives.
Churches have become social in–
stitutions; men's conceptions of God
and morality have become based on
existing social conditions. Modero
roan has made over his churches
and his God in his own image. The
incredible roultiplicity of churches
and sects is directly related to social,
cultural, educational and ideological
standing - not necessarily to per–
sonal
commilment
in regard to how
one lives his life.
Religious thinking and practice
have lost a ny great moral signifi–
cance. (This assumes they possessed
this quality in the past.) A person
may even say he believes in God -
and he may. But seldom is human
life motivated by any basic standard
outside the individual. People may
help other people, but it is because
rhey
want to. The idea of any per–
manent moral code is not generaUy
accepted. Churchgoing
is
mean–
ingless in terros of identifying the
moral cond uct of parishioners.
Tbere may be absolutely no con–
nection between the philosophical
and moral demands of a particular
church (indeed, it may have no ob–
vious ones) and the actions of the
individual.
Professions of belief in God can
be meaningless in a secular socíety.
When one says, " I believe in God,"
he irnplies that he follows the moral
tenets of that God. But this is not
necessarily so in a secular socíety.
The society and not the professed
deity often determines a particular
line of behavior.
In past centuries, religions tried,
with varying success, to be the arbi–
ters of moral behavior. Often, they
only s ucceeded in oppressing
people. Today, religious institutions
have steadily become mirror images
of the practices of the times. Gradu-
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