The Fallacies of Religious Clerics by N. Fakhr - HTML preview

What Leads Someone to Become a Religious Cleric?

According to many scholars of religion, throughout history, human beings have come to believe in supernatural forces or gods that influence nature and human life.

People wanted to gain the favor of these forces. So they began to perform certain rituals, recite prayers and sacred words, make sacrifices, and follow religious rules.

But this raised an important question:

Were they performing these rituals and prayers correctly?

This question led people to those who claimed to know the correct way.

Most people did not know all the details of their religion. But certain individuals claimed that they did.

Over time, this helped create a special class within each religion.

At the very least, members of this class claimed to know religious practices and rules. They also claimed to know about the characteristics of supernatural forces and gods.

Sometimes they made a greater claim:

They claimed to be in contact with those gods.

At least some sacrifices, offerings, and religious funds were also entrusted to these people. They were given the authority to use these resources as they considered appropriate.

From now on, we will call this class religious clerics.

Because they claimed to understand religion—and sometimes claimed to have contact with supernatural forces—religious clerics gained a special position of respect among many people.

In many societies, they still have such a position today.

When people believe that religious clerics are honest and that what they say is true, they become more willing to obey them and follow their instructions.

There is also another factor.

The financial resources placed in the hands of religious clerics can increase their ability to gain people’s obedience and strengthen their position.

Religious institutions also create jobs connected with religion.

Places of worship need to be built and managed. Religious schools need to be run. Religious endowments need to be managed.

High-ranking religious clerics may be in charge of these jobs.

This means that the people who work in such positions may have another reason to obey them, in addition to their religious beliefs:

their income may depend on them.

Religious clerics, then, may have access to three things we discussed earlier:

wealth, power, and reputation.

But this does not mean that a young person who decides to become a religious cleric is necessarily seeking wealth, power, or reputation.

Especially when it comes to wealth and power, the reason may be completely different.

When we are young, we may simply become deeply fascinated by what religion teaches us.

Religious clerics and our parents may tell us about the virtues of studying religion.

They may tell us that religious knowledge contains important secrets. By learning these secrets, we may become closer to God or the gods. We may understand more clearly what the religion considers the right path in life and become better able to follow it.

And even if following this path does not bring salvation in this world, we may be told that it will bring salvation in the next.

Different religions describe this salvation in different ways.

In some religions, it may mean being reborn into the body of a person of a higher social class and eventually becoming one with the ultimate source of existence.

In others, it may mean becoming a god.

And in still others, it may mean living forever in comfort and happiness.

Naturally, religions also describe what may happen to those who do not follow what the religion considers the right path.

A person may be told that they will be reborn as an undesirable creature, such as an animal or insect.

They may be told that they will be reborn as a person of lower social status.

Or they may be told that they will be sent to hell.

These promises and warnings can make religious knowledge extremely important in the mind of a young believer.

Studying religion may seem to offer something far greater than an ordinary education or career. It may seem to offer knowledge of the right way to live—and perhaps even the path to salvation.

What we have described here is the most spiritual path by which a young person may be drawn toward becoming a religious cleric.