Why Religion Must Be Questioned

10 Jan, 2026

We need to question our religion more often. If our civilisation is to progress beyond where we stand today, we must remove the taboo around questioning religion and religious practices. I am a deeply religious person. I do believe in a supernatural entity. I do believe there is godliness in the world. Every time I encounter a beautiful human being—blessed with both external grace and inner depth—I see it as God’s gift. That rare combination feels like a testament to a near-perfect creation.

The reason I argue for questioning religion is not to weaken it, but to eliminate practices that cause more harm than good. Many religions carry elements of fundamentalism within them. This makes religion easy to weaponise—for mass destruction, for division, and for rampant racism. If a religion teaches hatred toward another religion, it should not be trusted. A belief system cannot be built on hatred. You cannot be taught to despise people you have never known simply because they belong to a different group.

Every time we treat religion as absolute and unquestionable, we make a mockery of millions of years of evolution. The greatest gift evolution has given us is intelligence. It is through intelligence that humanity has progressed—from learning how to ignite fire to sending rovers to distant planets. None of this would have been possible without someone questioning existing doctrines, whether of physics, mathematics, or accepted belief.

I am of the opinion that if God truly wanted us to follow rigid doctrines—mere lists of dos and don’ts—then what was the point of blessing us with intelligence? Intelligence compels us to reason, to discern right from wrong, to sense danger, and to rise above the mundane. From an evolutionary standpoint, intelligence existed before the advent of organised religion, not after. Without intelligence, we cannot even perceive God, let alone study or interpret the doctrines attributed to Him.

How do racism, fundamentalism, and violence serve the cause of religion? I agree that humans have always been territorial, but why use religion as a tool to segregate people? What do we expect to gain in the end?

While I advocate questioning religion, I do not advocate abandoning it. Religion undeniably has its advantages. It is one of the strongest ways to form communities. Rituals and festivals bring people together, allowing them to share meaningful experiences and, above all, feel humbled. Every time we acknowledge an entity more powerful, more benevolent, and wiser than ourselves, we are reminded of our own limitations. In moments of despair, people often turn to God and religion to find courage and strength.

The problem arises when scriptures are taken literally while scientific evidence is treated with skepticism. Instead, we should absorb the philosophy that remains useful in the present and let go of truths that may have been relevant once but no longer are. If you constantly believe that all glory lies in the past, you destroy your present—and a meaningful future cannot emerge from an absent present.

If you trust in God, if you believe that God stands behind creation, then you must also trust the intelligence God has gifted you. Intelligence exists so that you may exercise discretion—to decide how much of doctrine to follow within the context of time and reality. A person from another community cannot be your enemy simply because they belong to a different group. The idea is irrational.

Religion is one of the most beautiful creations of mankind, but an excess of it can make people territorial. The problem does not lie in religion itself, but in taking everything at face value while abandoning the morality shaped by intelligence—an intelligence that was itself gifted by God. To ignore that gift is to insult its giver.