It's often said that religion is supportive. It is said that it helps people get through the tough times when they haven't the strength to rely on just themselves. They turn to their own personal deity to see them through. Religion, in this sense, performs a function remarkably similar to a crutch.
The purpose of a crutch, of course, is to assist us in walking when we're lame. If we sprain an ankle, we hop around on crutches until the injury heals, at which point we cast aside the crutches and walk without assistance once again.
If we don't abandon the crutches, but continue to use them even after the injury has healed, then our legs will atrophy from disuse. When that happens, it will take quite a lot for us to be able to walk under our own power again.
Of course, religion doesn't help us walk. We're not speaking of a physical crutch when we speak of religion, but rather, an emotional or psychological crutch. Nevertheless, what happens when we use psychological crutches, like narcotics, for example? Again, we develop a dependency... an addiction.
It's true that some people are born with physical ailments that require them to use physical crutches for the rest of their lives. And some of us are born with psychological problems, chemical imbalances in our brains that necessitate the use of medicines to maintain a properly functioning mind.
Sometimes, we have therapy, another form of crutch. Physical therapy for physical injuries and psychological therapy for emotional injuries. But once again, these are temporary things, to be abandoned when the healing process is complete. Religion is not treated in such a way. The crutch of faith serves to keep us crippled for as long as we allow it, and often does further crippling of its own.
Insidious thoughts are planted, or at least nurtured, by many religions. "Homosexuality is a sin." "AIDS is a punishment from God." "Rock and Roll music is from the Devil." There are many others, too many to list.
If we latch onto these ideas, we cripple ourselves. These types of views are ignorant, shameful, vicious, and the furthest thing from "enlightened."
Only by using our minds will we prevent them from atrophying. Only by casting off the crutches of faith will we ever be able to function remotely closely to our full potential as human beings.
