Is religion necessary?

Let me start by talking about human vision. In your eye you have two different types of cells that detect light: rods and cones. Rods detects motion, and cones detects colour. The two work together to provide your brain with an image that it can not only see, but interpret with depth and understanding. Both are necessary for navigating the world around us with meaning.

In your eye there is the 'macula' which is the area with the highest concentation of cones - this defines the area which is 'in focus' and while the rest of your field of vision is still in view, it is not in focus. If you stare straight ahead and place your hand inside the macula, the small percentage of your vision that is in focus, and slowly move your outstretched arm away from the center of your vision out of view while still looking ahead, your hand will become less and less in focus. Eventually if you reach your arm out to the very fringe of your vision and move your fingers, you can detect the motion of your fingers but no colour or detail. This is called 'peripheral vision' and is detected by the cones. This is the very edge, there you can still technically see objects, but cannot actually comprehend what they are apart from their movement.

Now lets take that analogy and apply it to life; the macula is where you are right now in the present. Your field of vision is the area you can see that is not in focus, the parts of life you see and can still interpret and understand. The peripheral is what I want to focus on today, the very edge of your consciousness, where detail and meaning are lost and only instinct and belief can still detect.

Think of this analogy related to history; if we travel back in time to ancient mesopotamia, the very peripheral of human recorded history, we sit on the edge of our memory as a race, sitting on the threshold between the known and the unknown. From that very primitive time we have two major concepts that are still present in todays society: religion and law.

The Code of Hammurabi is heralded as the first code of law written by mankind, laid out by the ancients and based on their religious beliefs which are detailed in the Enuma Elish. We still find a place for law in our modern society but right now in North America there seems to be an attack on the necessity for religion. I'm convinced that religion is not only necessary, but foundational to the concepts of a healthy society and law.

Allow me to define religion for you: I see religion as a set of beliefs about the world which cannot be verified or disproven, often grounded in psychology and anthropology these beliefs allow us to interpret the world as right or wrong. Beliefs define morality, morality defines law.

Is it a coincidence that every different society throughout history has always partnered religious belief and law together, united through a common concept of right and wrong defined by morality? I think religion is not only as important as law, but even more significant because it is the foundation upon which a society builds a legal system.

Now fast forward from the fringe of history, lets focus on the here and now, the 'macula' of our existence. Right now there's a proud group of cynics who deny the need for religion, often citing some of the negative actions that have been committed in accordance to various laws and moral codes. Terrorism, crusades, mercy killings - surely we don't all agree that these are 'good' or desirable in our society - but does that preclude the need for religion at all? Throughout history there have been great miscarriages of justice by flawed and incomplete legal codes (why we continuously strive to update our laws to reflect ever-changing morality, but does that preclude our need for law?

I'm neither an anarchist nor a fascist, but I believe law is necessary for the long-term health of a society - that's why I believe that religion is crucial to maintaining that legal code. the problem with a pluralistic society is that it's hard to find common ground between out many religious outlooks to build a moral code acceptable to the majority, upon which our legal code can be based.

If you can take a society and show me how they fared long-term without a stable legal system, or you can show me a single society that has stayed prosperous despite having a fractured or disagreeing sense or morality caused by differing belief systems, then I'm certainly eager to hear it.

Right now, I think we're putting too much emphasis on the 'cones', on what we see - and missing the shape and movement that provides us the depth and richness in life. Is it suprising that we find ourselves in debt, at war, and filled with disorder and dislike for one another?