John D. Caputo's The Inherent Truths Of Man

The Inherent Truths of Man
Throughout human history, man has found himself fascinated with the Gods and the mysticism that surrounds them. The idea of praying to a higher power has always appealed to the ethos of mankind, as a way of comfort. Divine intervention has led to the construction of grand temples, churches, and mosques while, the rest of the people lived in shacks battling destitute poverty. Religion has ignored many problems of the human condition in favor of the fantasy of revelation and salvation. It has led to vicious wars, disenfranchisement of entire groups of people all because of the sweet promise of salvation. In John D. Caputo's essay, Caputo highlights the divisive nature of religion and how the promises of revelation and salvation result ultimately lead to further perpetuate the lies and violence that religion has brought
since the beginning of time.
Caputo further illustrates this claim in this quote, “In the conduct of human affairs we should we should keep our eye on what we all have in common and not emphasize divisive “revelations” granted to some and withheld from others (Caputo 33f).” Caputo uses this quote to convey the division entrenched in religion that favors the wealthy and powerful, but penalizes the commoner.
Caputo’s quote, can also illustrate some of the most violent wars in human history. Caputo’s quote also challenges the notion of faithful revelation being limited to an only particular faith. This is part of the reason that theology leads to so many issues. Theology promises salvation to those who only follow the rules and guidelines of that particular sect, while the rest are to enjoy a one way trip to the fiery depths of hell. Religion and theology also have a horrid habit of labeling those who are good and deserve salvation, and those who are bad who deserve hell. The problem with this mindset is that who is man to judge one another based on a series of unimportant theological laws attempting to answer questions that man will never be able
answer.
The second point Caputo argues, is that God has not yet given the final revelation of what it means to earn salvation. This means that man should not blindly follow the teachings and traditions of religion. All theology does is place more unnecessary barriers between our common man.
The problem with Caputo’s ideas, is that religion is one of the few things that every person in this world, no matter where they are from, or no matter their age will find at least one person who expresses the same beliefs. Another problem with Caputo’s ideas, is that smaller religious traditions such as Judaism lose the essence that separates a Jew from a Christian, from a Muslim. If Judaism or any other religious tradition for that matter were to accept these terms, I predict that the tradition would seamlessly merged together with the others. If one were to dilute these traditions as Caputo suggests, they would lose their inherent value and different perspective that each tradition brings to the world.
In short, I believe that while Caputo raises some good points on the divisive nature of religion, and how spiritual revelation should be available to the masses, without the negative side effects: disenfranchising those who had different opinions. In my opinion, Caputo fails to understand the unique culture and set of traditions that each faith brings to mankind.