The Diminishing Returns of Religion

Anyone who has taken a basic economics class has been introduced to the concept of diminishing returns. In short, this is defined as the point at which an increased unit of production generates lower (not greater) unit returns.

This is also how I would currently define the state of religion, both personally and in the world. Putting more effort into it isn't going to improve things, and at least from a global perspective, it probably makes things worse.

Let's start with the personal. I've been a practicing Roman Catholic since childhood. This included 12 years of Catholic schooling, which in turn included 8 years of nearly daily mass atttendence. After 40+ years, I've attended church services many thousands of times. I long ago learned the routine, the readings, and the symbolism by heart.

So I have faith, and I consider myself well indoctrinated in that faith. The question is, what more is there to know? As long as I lead a life dedicated to respect and the betterman of man and society, it's difficult to see the marginal benefit of continued adherence to the recommended daily/weekly/annual religious rituals.

Plus, over the past several years I've come to realize that the church I follow isn't exactly a role model. Pedophile priests, as well as other politicized Vatican scandals, have conspired to turm me away. And the Catholic church's unrelenting dogma related to gender roles, celibacy, etc. haven't helped. The rest of the world is evolving, my church is not. (How did it ever progress out of the Crusades era?)

My personal religious beliefs take a back seat to the larger world view, however. The fact is, religion is Earth's #1 creator of wars. Name any past or present international military conflict, and you will find that differing religious beliefs are at its core. Hell, even our Civil War was essentially a morality-based disagreement over how humans should be treated.

This is not a good thing. It's maybe the irony of ironies that religion is supposed to give people a reason to live, and we mostly use it to explain why, how, and when people should die.

In spite of this, I do believe that religion is a net good thing for society. If nobody believed in an afterlife, our civilization would be pretty barbaric. We might still be clubbing each other in caves.

But from my perspective, we've reached the point of diminishing returns.