As a relatively new species on planet Earth today’s humans (homo sapiens) have come a long way in a very short time. Along that tortuous journey the rate of technological development has got rapidly faster.
While there is evidence of early humans using stone and bone tools at least 2.4 million years ago, we know little about them. We know there were several different sets of hominids until the emergence of our ancestors about 300,000 years ago and they remained unchanged until about 3000 years ago.
Then a mere 2500 years ago, the stone age ended and the iron age started. Along the way we have left many things behind to be replaced by new, but not always better, technology and ideas.
We have abandoned bows and arrows and replaced them with much more efficient ways of hunting and more horrible ways of killing each other. We have left behind the pleasure of writing and receiving hand written letters in favour of electronic devices, which allow us to talk to almost anyone, almost anywhere, regardless of distance or language differences. We left behind hollow log canoes and replaced them with sailing ships and then massive floating steel vessels. We left behind pedestrian travel initially for horses and then internal combustion engines and machines that can fly further and faster than any bird our ancestors were familiar with.
There is one human development however we have not left behind; religion in its many forms. Somewhere long ago, beyond the dark curtain of time, before written records or even reliable oral history, someone had an idea. He, or she, was probably sitting by a fire under a rock shelter after a tiring day hunting mammoths and avoiding sabre tooth cats. That someone decided there must be something beyond death and something that kept the stars and moon from falling to earth. There must be something or someone who can bring good luck in the hunt, safety from large hungry beasts and an end to cold blizzards. Perhaps a polite request and gifts to that something or someone who help ease the tedium and dangers humans faced every day. Thus was born religion, arguably the most influential and dangerous of all mankind’s ideas and inventions, and usually nothing whatever to do with the benign and gentle supernatural deities most claim to follow and represent.
The long histories of most nations are soaked in the blood of the innocent and vulnerable as the rich and powerful imposed their will, took what they wanted and indulged their most evil fantasies. We no longer allow people to be burnt alive or stoned to death, as secular law is superior to canon law in most Western nations. However, we still have those who use religion for their own selfish gratification, regardless of the misery and tragedy they cause. In doing so, are they any different to the churches of the dark ages?
Today there are thousands of different, and often competing, religious philosophies with many internal divisions, sects and cults. Had they remained as simply an idea, we would not have a problem, but by the end of the stone age, religions, with few exceptions, became a means of power and control over the weak and vulnerable, usually women, girls and small boys. That is still true of some religious philosophies today in most parts of the world including New Zealand judging by the growing number of cruel ratbags coming before the courts. Currently we have a band of dedicated people rescuing the victims of sexual abuse and near slavery from Gloriavale, several people in jail for sexual offences against members of their former congregations in established churches, a new age church in the North Island that has made its founder a millionaire in a few years and quite recently, yet another group from within the Catholic Church accused of similar offences.
Today anyone can start a church. Most are established for commendable reasons and they enjoy a very privileged status in most communities. Church property that is used for religious purposes are exempt from general rates, but many will still pay targeted rates, such as water, sewerage. Today most churches are also registered as trusts under the Charities Act (2005) which exempts them from central government taxes.
Churches, in their many forms, are very important to millions of people. Apart from the spiritual component, they also provide the companionship of like-minded people, support in times of grief, assistance for the needy, and a sense of belonging and family.
There should be no doubt that the leaders of most churches and other religious organisations are decent, law-abiding people with the best of intentions and dedication to their followers. There should also be no doubt that they unknowingly, and sometimes knowingly, provide a haven within their ranks for some of the most evil and dangerous people imaginable. It is almost impossible to identify these few monsters until it is too late and until after they have committed the most dreadful of crimes and imposed sometimes irreparable damage on the people who trusted them.
If we have systems to check on the credentials and history of those who serve us as police, teachers and health professionals, is it not time we also had an official check on those who aspire to religious leadership so we can at last leave the monsters behind?