Is Islam, Judaism and Christianity still relevant today?
By FAZLY M. FAUZY
I was asked recently to write an article about homosexuality in Islam.
At first I started by trying to look up verses from the Quran, Bible and even those from the Torah on the subject. Why include the Bible and Torah you may ask? The reason primarily being that Islam regards Christians and Jews as “People of the Book” that is that god had given them the Bible and the Torah before the Quran and that there are all from the words of the one god.
In the process of doing so, I found a common thread from the holy books of all three faiths - the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. God had basically turned the city upside down because they engaged in anal sex.
But as I continued to ponder on how I should tackle this subject, I found myself not asking about how homosexuality is regarded in Islam, Christianity and Judaism but rather whether the three religions were still relevant today.
At the crux of my shift in thought was that homosexuality is only one of many other social issues that our present society faces.
I think that most people would define religion as a guide by which they choose to live their lives.
The contentious point that seems to be at the heart of arguments against religion or maybe the relevancy of religion is how far we as human beings have changed?
Has religion lost its place in the ever advancing human culture and civilization? Or maybe despite all the advances in human civilization, the natural instincts of human behaviour have survived the tide of times.
In my younger days I used to think that social problems that we face today were unique to our time. My view of the past was not unlike
that of the movie “Pleasantville” where everyone was overly polite and courteous to a fault. I think we all can relate to our parents telling us that in during their day you wouldn’t dare to talk back to your elders or face the wrath of the leather belt whipping. People back then were nice and sweet not obnoxious and rude like they were today.
Men and women of the past were gentlemen and ladies and behaved as such and we cannot imagine them ever behaving like the brutes of today
who rape, pillage and plunder. Wait? Rape, pillage and plunder? Are we talking about barbarians here (no offense to barbarians, I’m sure
there are some who have to courtesy to say “please” first) or yesterday’s newspaper headline?
Another constant factor I believe that has certainly stood the test of time is the concept of family. Parents and children are the most basic form of family and in Islam and also in many other religions, the importance of family as the core foundation for society cannot be ignored.
The human race has grown and evolved through the procreation between a man and a woman and the child that is born from them is the responsibilities of the parents. The parent’s duties to the child are to provide for them physically, emotionally and spiritually so that
one day he or she might become upright citizens to society and provide for their children as their own parents once did.
Religion let it be Islam, Christianity or Judaism I firmly believe emphasizes strongly on family and its stance on issues like homosexuality, premarital sex, adultery, pornography and so forth is to preserve the sanctity of the family unit. The social contract between parent and child, between
father and child and mother and child is what Islam in particular focuses on.
While the spiritual side of religion is our contract with god, god has put us on this earth as His “khalifah” or representative on earth so that we can fulfil our contract with our fellow man, to be just and honourable to them.
One might argue then you don’t have to believe in god or affiliate yourself with religious group to become upright citizens or to be able to raise a good family and I agree but that is not what I’m arguing here.
Human behaviour as I mentioned and its extension to the family unit are universal themes that persist within mankind. It is not a snapshot in time and does not only impact one particular culture or civilization.
Therefore Islam, Christianity and Judaism are still relevant today and will continue to be for the future to come.
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FAZLY M. FAUZY is a contributor for theCICAK.
Fazly is an electrical/computer engineer by training but currently working as a remisier at an investment bank. He’s a Star Wars geek, a grunge and metal music lover and an avid guitarist.
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you dont know what you are talking about.
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It’s interesting, the way you put it as though Christianity Islam and Judaism are all one religion. Yet we all divide ourselves despite having a lot of things in common.
Whether or not a religion is relevant for people of a particular time will eventually depend on how they define religion. The way religion is perceived by the peoples during Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad’s time vary from one another. How we view religion today may not necessarily be the same to how they did back then.
So to me, it’s not a question of relevance of a religion through times but rather the natural change in the way we think. Religion for one is idle, but humans are changing.
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I don’t understand. If you agree that a man or a woman can indeed be a good, caring father or mother without the canon of religions, how can it be relevant in the future? Yes, the holy books teaches us to preserve marriages and protect our children and such. But, isn’t such matters something a common sense would solve?
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Common sense in my opinion is an oxymoron. If it’s common sense no too litter because it will create a filthy environment I’m sure everyone would not do it but yet many still do despite it being common sense. What I’m arguing is that religion in particular Islam, Christianity and Judaism deals with universal issues that are persistent throughout time and even if you were living today or many more years to come It can still be a guide to our lives.
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My first impression was that this article is a parody.
Seriously, put more thought into it, and facts, rather than argument by assertion.
“Human behaviour as I mentioned and its extension to the family unit are universal themes that persist within mankind. It is not a snapshot in time and does not only impact one particular culture or civilization. ”
You just killed your own argument here.
You need to show *how exactly* the Abrahamic faiths are relevant today. How does a child brought up as a freethinker differ in morality from one brought up in a religious family? If I assert that “You don’t need religion to be a good person”, what is your rebuttal?
You haven’t addressed why the freedoms we value today - emancipation, human, civil and women’s rights, freedom from slavery, freedom of expression, etc - were at best founded without religion, at worst founded in spite of religion.
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Yes, it is common sense to not litter. Everyone has come to know that but knowing and doing are 2 different things. Despite knowing the holy books and the guidelines set out by religions, it is ultimately our actions that are consequential.
Relevance or irrelevance of religion through time is thus…..irrelevant. Rather, the standings of religions and their presence through time should be questioned.
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Hi Tim,
I really appreciate your comments and at I admit that I had written this piece more as passing thought and as a full blown thesis on the relevance of religion today. These are just thoughts that come from my own observations and not some scholarly argument which not my intention here. If this was meant to be that I don’t think and internet post can do justice on the topic but if care to maybe enlighten others on your point of view I would be the first to read it.
Thx again for reading my humble musings
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Fazly,
I agree with comments above on your article.
1.) This is a poorly written article. You spent alot of words in this article talking about irrelevant things: such as in the beginning when you spent one too many paragraphs commenting on how you were supposed to write about homosexuality - get to the point and start talking about religious relevance already!
2.) This is no ‘contentious’ issue. Religion IS relevant. Simply look at the number of Christians, Jews and Muslims out there, and you will find that there is contention. What, in my opinion, you should have written about is how long it will stay relevant. When and why will it lose it’s relevance, should it ever.
Good luck.
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That there is NO contention*
Apologies for that mistake.
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I’m slightly confused with the article. I’m not sure of where exactly it’s going. I guess that’s how writing goes sometimes.
But about religion, you mentioned that religion is a guide by which they live their lives.
I think that this is the one and only point. And it’s enough. Whether or not it is relevant, is in fact, as Joe puts it, rather irrelevant. Religion is here to stay, no matter at what angle you look at it from. That’s what I can see. In fact, there are more and more people of faith nowadays compared to before. This shows that religion is not only here to stay, but is growing stronger by the day.
Perhaps it would be better to write a piece on how religion influences the way of life people live, and the extent of that influence. (Just my 2 cents)
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Religion has always existed ever since the dawn of age. So it could be reasonable to say that it has a huge part in influencing the thinking and behavior of humans throughout the ages. Even the way we define what is good and bad, from the very beginning, is a product of religious instructions. So to say that religion is not relevant, is an outright denial of an obvious truth.
True that nowadays people can believe they can live a good life independent of religion. But what they fail to realize is that their very upbringing, their education and the values imparted upon them via many influences (parents, media, yes even in-bred conscience) come from the all-covering umbrella of religion.
Humans, being humans, and being conscious of their imperfections, have always lived with religion and will continue to do so.
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You did provoke me with the title though. You started off with homosexuality issue, but never elaborated. The relevance of the three religions were also not elaborated.
Anyway, we’ve heard stories about individuals from good families experienced a shift from what they were taught during their process of growing up. This is another interesting aspect to be discussed as to how this actually happened.
I think it’d be meaningful if you could include in your writing how and why humans have evolved into being what they are now. Like you said, ‘People back then were nice and sweet not obnoxious and rude like they were today.’ Why? And how religions should not be a factor to blame when we humans are the ones who should be responsible to observe the values and guidelines outlined by our religions. Thus, relevance of religions by right, is now out of question.
Then again, maybe the scope of your article was not well-defined. Thus letting yourself writing freely without clear direction.
A good effort though. At least you managed to pool comments from the readers.
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Humans are arrogant. We like to think that we come up with the moral principle by ourselves thus religion is irrelevant. But no, we don’t invent them. Moral principle awareness is acquired. We we thought by our parents, teachers, newspapers, tv and they themselves were thought about these principles.
Killing wasn’t wrong until humans we’re thought “thou shall not kill”.
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I think while the answer to the question in the title is an absolute yes, the author has failed to show how it is relevant in today’s world.
Also, is religion the bringer of morals, or can morals be instilled without religious teachings?
In other words, would we consider a person without faith in Islam, Christianity or even Judaism for that matter, as a person who cannot do good i.e not rape, pillage and plunder, respect their parents, etc.?
I don’t think so.
Which is why if we look at the point of morality amongst mankind, faith in religion doesn’t do much.
However, religion gives a sense of belonging. A source of solace and peace, if you will, and also putting the uncontrollable into one source.
This one source can be called God, or Allah, or Yahweh or Illah, depending on whichever religion you come from.
But, let us also not discard the fact that the misuse and misrepresentation of religion also leads to mob ruling, as we constantly see in riots over caricatures from Norway and uneducated Youtube videos from Holland.
Abraham’s religions, I think personally, is not the only one way to a good lifestyle and good manners. In fact, it limits our tolerance towards the going ons of today, causing most religious individuals to go into a state of culture shock instead of acceptance. Some go so far as to rather preach the end of the world is coming rather than tolerate certain things like homosexuality, promiscuity and adultery.
And that, if left out of control, could lead to another Ibrahim Libya…..
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People who are at the verge of a downfall, suffering, and endless pain will remember god. but for now, most ppl dont remeber god because their ungrateful and ignorance of others
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Interesting topic but I have to agree it feel short of its main point of discussing whether the “Abrahamic” Religions are still relevant. In any case I believe the article still manage to poke and prod some people into wondering….
Anyway, I also agree, an internet article like this is totally inadequate in discussing these types of philosophical issues.
And I’m surprised no one has mentioned the theory of evolution and Darwinism. Oh and before I forget, the flavour of the day, the concept of “intelligent design”.
For all its worth, I’m a practicing Muslim, and very much believe it is still relevant chiefly because the amount of people practicing it. When you think about it most people’s decision on this matter all boils down to personal preference and “gut-feeling” rather than any type of active truth-searching.
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