Religion encourages passivity

Belief in an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator often comes with a certain level of helplessness. After all, to trust in such a deity is to acknowledge the fact that they are in control of whatever happens here on earth, including our lives. For many religionists, this is a great relief, allowing them to rest easy in the knowledge that their Creator will provide for them. Even if he appears not to, they simply have to trust that their misfortunes here on earth are part of a divine plan much larger than themselves. Though this belief can be a comfort to those who hold it, it can also promote passivity, removing people’s incentive to address the problems we are facing in our “mortal world.” In other words, people may use their faith to justify their inaction-and in some cases, apathy-about major societal problems, from global warming to social injustice to, most pressingly, the coronavirus pandemic. If it’s all in God’s hands, why should we humans try to do anything to improve the world in which we live? At best, to do so is a fruitless endeavor, and at worst, it’s an attempt to play God, a prideful way of letting him know we don’t trust his divine plans. Because religion can be used to justify passivity when action is needed the most, it does more harm than good to our society as a whole.