Kazem Sadegh-Zadeh     Philosophy of Medicine     HAPM
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philmed-online

My worldview

On religion

Like scientific knowledge, religious knowledge and belief are testimonial knowledge and belief. A religious believer usually inherits her religion from her parents, or in general, from her ancestors. That is, families transmit their religion to their descendants. Thus, religious belief is usually not the fruit of an individual's intellectual insight, but a hereditary trait like eye color or an ailment. Also, a believer does not adopt or practice her religion because of its truth conduciveness. Rather, she only defends it by claiming that it be truth conducive as she has learned this defence behavior from her ancestors and the community she lives in. However, adherents of all religions hold an analogous opinion. "My religion is the only right one, yours is wrong", they say. This ubiquitous attitude implies that no religion can be the right one.

The measure of adjudicating a religion is not its rightness or wrongness, but rather its ability to serve as a guide to a meaningful, individual as well as social, life. Viewed from this perspective any religion is an honorable spiritual and moral source IF it is able to contribute to meaningful living and valuable human beings. Therefore, a religion that in a sufficiently long run has been unable to produce morally immaculate persons and societies, is not worthy of attention and respect.