Religion is a Tool

source here

What is the intention of Alfred Bernhard Nobel when he created dynamite? It was a result of research to search for new methods of blasting rock to make construction work easier. Well, such a noble tool for the sake of industrial importance. However, sadly to say, it ends up not as he expected it should be. In the mind and hands of human beings, this previously noble tool was also used to blow a human body, a house or even a whole city like Nagasaki.

I am fully aware that it was not an apple-to-apple comparison to the topic that I will be shared this time. I would like to propose a point that the fate of a tool relies on human beings themselves. What I would like to talk about is a very important tool that shaped our humanity.

In my opinion, religion is a tool. Moreover, it is a tool of life. I believe that God created religion as a tool for human beings to lead to a better life [and afterlife]. However, we also cannot deny that religion has been some reason to justify war and killing people, even until this present time. As a moslem, I also aware that killing innocent people while shouting the name of God was a fact. The proof was just a click away in Google search engine. 

Why could this happen? How come a religion -which supposed to be a good intention for life- leads to several worst nightmares humanity could ever imagined?

In my opinion, it relies on this reason: Yes, religion is a tool but not every human was good at using tools. Those who were bad at using it will end up performing the wrongdoings. Those who were misinterpreted it will be able to kill people in the name of God. That is why I believe that it would be very important to learn religion as a tool of life in a very cautious manner. 

That is also why in one of Islamic verses, one of the characteristics of faithful person is: Those who think ("Kaum yang berpikir"). 

I will never had the courage to say that religious scriptures were outdated, but somehow God has given us the privilege to think and to feel so we can adapt to religious verses without disobeying it. Religious scriptures such as Koran and Bible stated about how we should treat slaves; but guess what, we even able to vanish the practice of slavery itself by our declaration of human rights. We are also able to be ahead than verses about leprosy since we are now able to cure it. We can perform better than these scriptures told us.

I always believe in God and in religion, but we should also open our eyes that religion is also a reason for wars and killing others. It's in our hands that religion can be used as a tool to create a better world or the opposite. When scriptures become a reason to do bad things to others, maybe we should rethink about it, ask about it and comprehend about it. We should always do this not to question God's will, but because unlike animals or even angels, God made us to have the ability to think; and to realize that our interpretation and knowledge were so small compared to God. 

Once again,
Religion is a tool, be a human who uses this tool right.

It's in your hands.