Yesterday, I stumbled upon an article written by a fellow writer and bibliophile named Mia. (Hey, Mia!) She is an atheist, so her article was on what she believes to be "the downsides of religion." Intrigued by the title, I read the article and came to the conclusion that it'd be interesting to write a response to it from my perspective as a Christian. Graciously, Mia gave me permission to do so. Hence this post.
I suggest you check out Mia's article before you read this one, because this article probably won't make much sense to you unless you do. Her article is organized into six main points, so I'll address each point individually. The following headers will paraphrase the summary of each of Mia's "downsides of religion", while the normal text below the headers will constitute my thoughts.
In your post, Mia, you admit that "religion may have many benefits in regards to mental health". From personal experience, I must say that the reason why religion benefits my mental health personally is because I engage in religious activities like reading my Bible and praying. I always feel better after praying or reading my Bible.
As for spending time going to church, I must say that going to church is in fact the very reason religion fosters community—another benefit of religion you pointed out. Individuals who attend church more frequently are also less likely to suffer from various mental health disorders.
Money spent on funding missionary trips can be money spent on bringing humanitarian aid to a Third World country, in addition to bringing the Gospel. Money spent on the local church can be money spent on the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, or Samaritan's Purse. Additionally, donating money to the local church helps perpetuate the community that the church brings together.
Being religious also gives me a reason to donate to causes like St. Jude's, because I know that Jesus cares for the sick and marginalized, and I'm supposed to care about the things He cares about.
I believe the Bible speaks to this issue: "If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:15-17 NKJV) So in other words, if you are truly devout, you won't ignore the practical needs of people and merely say a few wishful words in their favor.
That being said, I need to vouch for prayer (because it's amazing). Praying for someone is something we can do for someone when we really can't do anything else. And when someone tells me they're praying for me, I light up inside, because that's comforting to know. So prayer is beneficial for both the person praying and for the person who's being prayed for.
Religion and science do not get along very nicely. At least, that's the narrative we know as 21st century people.
But have things worked that way historically? Isaac Newton, Galileo, Johannes Kepler, Robert Boyle, Gregor Mendel, and Michael Faraday are just a few of the committed Christians (whether orthodox or otherwise) who also happened to make very valuable contributions to the cause of science. Even today, there are scientists like Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health and leader of the Human Genome Project. He is a devout Christian (although he was once an atheist), and he's not the only one.
Religion and science aren't necessarily in conflict. I don't believe they are, and neither does any other Christian I know (although I must admit that I don't ask the question of everyone).
Honestly, I can't quite disagree with you on this, Mia. If God doesn't exist, after all, we are being needlessly anxious over our non-Christian relatives. Of course, Christians shouldn't be anxious about anything. There are many places in Scripture where we are told not to fear or be anxious, a theme Jesus summarized well in Matthew 6:25-34. We should always be trusting in God to make everything turn out according to His ultimate plan, but that's often hard. I know that I personally struggle with this (one of the many, many things I have to work on).
As for feeling guilt when we sin—I actually think this is a good thing. That means our consciences are working, right? This brings up another of religion's upsides: i.e., the fact that it provides a coherent moral framework. I believe murder is wrong, for example, because (1) every person is made in the image of God, and (2) God says murder is wrong. Now, I'm not suggesting nonreligious people think murder is okay (because that would be ridiculous and untrue), but what I am saying is that nonreligious people—atheists in particular—do not have a real basis for morality. Since there is no God to tell us what to do, it seems to me that morality must either (1) be left up to the dictates of society (i.e., popular opinion), or (2) be left up to the dictates of the individual. The problem with #1 is that popular opinion isn't always a trustworthy key to morality (antisemitism was popular in WWII-era Germany) and the problem with #2 is that allowing each individual to abide by their own morality is the definition of anarchy. These are two extremes, of course.
If I were to guess, your approach to morality is probably in between. I'm guessing the way you see it is that everyone can determine their own morality as long as it doesn't hurt or otherwise adversely affect those around them. But even this is problematic, because the question why isn't erased. Why should we let everyone else live the way they want to? If everyone can have their own version of morality, why should anyone have the right to impose their morality on anyone else? Who are we to impose our moral standard on others by saying that racism and hatred against LGBTQ+ people is immoral? We're all just human beings, after all. We have no authority higher than ourselves to appeal to.
Anyway, that was an interesting tangent that hopefully made sense.
Let's discuss merely praying and not seeking actual professional help. I didn't know this was a thing until I read your post, Mia, but now that I do, all I can say is that I think it is regrettable. Christians who are prone to do this probably should keep in mind that God uses people to accomplish His purposes. We are Christ's hands and feet on earth, after all (please don't take that imagery too literally). Also, the Bible (especially the Book of Proverbs) admonishes us to seek the wisdom of knowledgeable human beings. I think this principle can be applied to seeking help from medical professionals, although such a principle—like all principles—cannot be applied indiscriminately.
I believe the church has failed to love LGBTQ+ persons with the love of Christ. We are commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves and to care for the marginalized, and unfortunately we have sometimes drifted too far away from those principles into judgmental self-righteousness. I don't believe any LGBTQ+ person should lose their job or be evicted out of their home merely because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Doing that would be unchristian.
However, as an adherent to Christian orthodoxy, I cannot affirm the LGBTQ+ movement. For two thousand years Christians have believed that marriage is between one man and one woman and that bisexuality and homosexuality are sins. Only in the last decade or so has it become socially unacceptable to do anything but affirm the gay and transgender movement. The people demanding we abandon these beliefs are asking us to throw out Christian teachings that are as old as the Gospel itself. For some reason that strikes me as unreasonable.
True Christian love is not merely pandering to whatever everyone wants to hear. It's not yelling the truth through a megaphone either. Rather, we are called to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).
I believe Christians can, should, and do treat LGBTQ+ people with the love with which Christ loves us, all while speaking truth into their lives. We haven't done so perfectly, and we won't do it perfectly, but we can and should try.
Take for example, gay-turned-Christian Becket Cook describing his parents' response to his coming out as gay:
My parents’ reaction was so brilliant; they were so kind of cool about it—not in a—my parents believed it was a sin; they were very much opposed to it. All of my siblings were Christians; and they believed it was a sin, too. But my mother cried when I got back from Tokyo; she started crying in the kitchen. I said, “Mom, what’s wrong?” She said, “Oh, Becket, I heard you were a homosexual.” I said, “Mom, it’s okay. This is who I am. It’s not a big deal; don’t worry; I’m fine.” She calmed down after that and was super loving and amazing my whole life after that. She always was.
My dad—I didn’t know how he was going to react. I drove up the driveway one day, and he came up and drove right in after me. He came up to me; he’s like, “Hey, Beck; so I heard you’re a homosexual. Are you mad at me about anything?” “Did I do anything wrong as a father?” “Are you mad at me about not protecting you from your brother, Peter, beating you up?—you guys fighting all the time.” I remember saying, “It’s not your fault; this is just who I am.”
—"A Happy Childhood" with Becket Cook on the Family Life Today Podcast
Mia, I hope I presented my thoughts on this topic in a coherent manner. If you feel like I mischaracterized your views in any way or didn't discuss a certain point sufficiently, please let me know. I'd be glad to expound or otherwise amend my errors. Thank you for letting me do this.
As for the rest of you, thank you for reading. This was really long—you should be proud of yourselves!
Now if you'll excuse me—I need to get to bed.