Is fear the basis of all religions?

Answer 1

In ancient times, it is true that the fear of the unknown, the anger of gods and goddesses and the concept of divine punishment compelled people to believe in some sort of religion. They began to worship the forces of nature. In the Middle Ages, the Christian Church set up the Inquisition to punish the wrongs against the church. As man's knowledge increased, this fear was replaced by a conviction that behind the universe was a Creator, who was just and merciful and not revengeful or mischievous.

Fear is not always a bad thing. Fear of police and of imprisonment makes many people abide by the law. The fear of venereal diseases keeps many persons away from sexual overindulgence. The fear of sickness has turned men's minds to research and the discovery of remedies for many chronic diseases and violent epidemics.

According to the new science of psychiatry, fear of any kind, particularly in the case of children, undermines their personalities. Instead of telling people about penalties for moral wrong doing they should appeal to their higher sense and considerations of the social good. It is in the interest of religion itself to discourage such fear and to strengthen the individuals moral values and social conscience. The moral code ought to be a part of daily life and any breach should be regarded as an injury to society, and against the best interests of the community.

Sikhism does not encourage fear. It does not believe in a system of punishment or the inducement of rewards. In place of fear, it advocates personal courage. It believes optimistically in the ultimate victory of the moral order.

Sikhism preaches that we should neither cause fright to anyone or be afraid of anyone. This healthy spirit has been responsible for the Sikh's willingness to offer his life for his faith. True heroism, requires a lack of fear and a lack of hatred. The Sikh believes in the cause he serves, without any idea of reward or punishment.

In Sikhism, the awe of God turns into love. Just as a faithful wife is careful and cautious not to cause any annoyance to her husband but rather minister to his comforts. In the same way, the true devotee is prepared to offer his all to please God and to serve His Creation.

Buddhism, also adapts to modern thought and allows one to see that in ancient times man had the village wise man as his only source of answers. Everyone thought since he (the wise man) was old enough to remember some things that he must know how everything worked. In those days, they started treating him as a respected source of information. They started paying him to honor them with answers and guidance, which made some men greedily start wanting to be the only source of information and all else was frowned up, no matter how scientific or factually unbiased the "other" information was. We still see that today.

Religion became early man's attempt at trying to explain science and nature. If something happened, the gods made it happen. They had no science, so they needed to find some explanation why things happened. They wanted to believe that there was a reason for everything happening so that they could find a way to live which would be "predictably safe" and honorable. For instance some would much rather publicly accuse a whole country after they had an earthquake of making a pact with the devil than admit that science tells us that the tectonic plates that are constantly shifting have a meeting point beneath the earth's surface extremely close to the surface in the same area of the planet. This proves to some that going to the village wise man for answers isn't always good for him, either. After a while he seems to forget that the stories he made up were something he invented.

In medieval times there were kings who built armies which followed the king, because part of that job not only meant that you were a great warrior but also a wise and passionate ruler. The king divided the profits of all the kingdom's workers. The tenth pledge system was born of this and the easiest place for everyone to meet to pay their share was the church that they were all instructed to attend.

This was at a time when no one paid for rent or house payments, most people were sharecroppers and didn't mind paying their tenth of their salary at the church to be allowed to live and work the land that belonged to the king. When the separation of church and state began and people owed money directly to the government and later to private owners for land, then, the idea of the tenth pledge, which we now know as tithing, never stopped, although most of us who weren't born wealthy are now paying that portion for houses or rent several times over.

Buddhism looks at the fear created by society's need to explain away aspects of the unknown, still, as something which becomes an abuse of religion. Religion is supposed to serve man, not a vehicle that man is supposed to serve. If everyone was happy and without fear, there would be no need for war. Those of other religions, other countries, other cultures which we do not understand is usually coming from our lack of trying to understand. Even though a whole culture may do a certain thing or have a certain belief that is different from ours, we do not view that as a bad thing if it works for them.

Many religions also believe in Karma, that what you sow, you will reap, what goes around comes around, that actions are like a ripple on a pond, etc. The only problem with some religions is that they believe that human beings are somehow wise enough to understand all phenomena through their religious teachings. Buddhism is more of a philosophy on how to live, treat others, and therefore if you are striving to do the right thing, you will be happy while working for the happiness of those around you. We believe all religious exalted masters thought the same thing. There are writings of the same effect written on sections of palm leaves which have been saved and used for reference for centuries, as seen at http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/images/gallery/literature_main.jpg .

"In Buddhism, the idea that there are "protective forces" includes other people. Modern Buddhism sees the deities and Gods in Buddhism as analogies for inner human life conditions and personality defects as well as strengths. Buddhism is designed to be open minded towards all modern wisdom and adapts to what is now known to be true instead of trying to adhere to information written in a book by followers of an ancient wise man who believed the world to be flat.

"...Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. ..."

Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni Buddha - 536 B.C.-483 B.C.)

In Buddhism, we believe as is said in some other religions that "...the kingdom of Heaven is inside you..." and that Hell has the same address. We do not believe that even with the faith to be able to change ones own life that they need to wait for a deity or something outside for themselves to do it for them, they are responsible for actually taking the action that makes the change.