The relationship between religion and civilization

Let me start with a very important question, which is: is there any causal or conditional relationship between religion and civilization?

Causal relationships are characterized by two important criteria: temporal succession of the events, and correlation between the occurrence of events. Temporal succession means that the cause must precede the result. Correlation of the occurrence of events means that occurrence of the cause and that of the result are strongly statistically correlated; i.e. the occurrence of the cause indicates a very high probability of the occurrence of the result, and the occurrence of the result indicates a very high probability that the cause has occurred (and in case of the only cause, the occurrence of the result mandates that the cause has occurred. If it is assumed that the event 'E' results from the cause 'C', then 'C' must temporally precede 'E'. The occurrence of 'E' indicates that 'C' has most probably occurred, and the occurrence of 'C' indicates a high probability of the occurrence of 'C'. If 'C' is the only cause for 'E', this means that the occurrence of 'C' indicates a high probability of the occurrence of 'E', and the occurrence of 'E' indicates that 'C' has certainly occurred.

In a conditional relationship, the condition is mandatory for the occurrence of the conditioned event, but it is not a cause for that event, meaning that the existence of the condition may or may not be associated with the occurrence of the conditioned event, but the occurrence of the conditioned event mandates the existence of the condition. If it is assumed that the event 'E' is conditional upon 'D', then the occurrence of 'E' means that 'D' certainly exists, while the existence of 'D' does not give any information whatsoever about the probability of the occurrence of 'E'.

So, if the relationship between religion and civilization is a causal relationship, then existence of religion and piety in a society would be associated with a high probability of advancement of civilization in that particular society, and the existence of religion and piety in that society must precede the advancements in the civilization. And if the relationship between religion and civilization is a conditional one, then occurrence of any advancements in a civilization would not be possible without the existence of religion and piety. The truth is there is no such relationship; not causal, not conditional. In the human history, we have lots of examples from the very early ages of humanity to the present that ascertain the lack of a relationship between religion and civilization.

Imagine for instance the very early human beings who invented the wheel, or those who utilized fire for cooking and making building materials. Were these civilized achievements (compared to their time, of course) related in any way to religion or piety? In present civilizations we also find a great deal of advancements in countries where interest in religion is markedly reduced, like Scandinavian countries, while we observe deep retardation from modern civilization in countries that seem to give religion a great deal of importance, like Mauritania, Somalia, and Afghanistan.

Undoubtedly, advances in civilization were put to the service of religion along the ages, most importantly advances in architecture and astronomy. In many old and recent civilizations huge, awesome buildings were erected for religious purposes; astronomical measurement and calculation of time was utilized to calculate the various religious occasions; and planetary movements were strongly linked to some ancient religions. Interestingly though, it seems that humans never developed or created something solely to serve religion, but rather used the known civilized achievements to serve religion. Even those achievements that seem to only serve religion, like mummification, are poorly understood. The origin of this science and how it developed are obscure, and it is not known whether it had emerged and then was put to the service of religion, or if it was developed from the very beginning with religion in mind.

Many times I heard from some friends that religion and piety enhance good human behaviour, resulting in flourishing of civilizations. I'd like to reinforce that religion is still, in my opinion and theirs, neither a cause for nor a condition to civilization, but rather considered a catalyst to enhance the development of civilizations. I'd like to address them with some questions that may eliminate this confusion from their minds. Was the Mongolian Empire that encompassed most of Asia and part of Europe built on religion? Did religion affect the advancement of civilization in the Greek Empire at the time of Alexander the Great who lead his armies invading several countries in revenge? Did religion affect the development of the Roman civilization at the time of the expansions of the Roman Empire by Julius Caesar? And what happened to that empire after he tried to make a divine dictator of himself?

In modern civilizations, do we find any correlation between a scientist and his or her religion or piety? I personally know many scientists embracing several different religions; some of them are pious and some are not even practising their religion; some of them believe in God and some are atheists; some are very moral and some have lower moral standards. I have never observed a relationship between piety and scientific knowledge, or between a certain religion and the desire to discover and explore the unknown, or between morality and the ability to create and develop.

So, where does this illusion of a correlation between religion and civilization come from? I do not think this correlation exists except in the minds of some Muslim friends in particular (and I stress 'some'). I do not know scientists from all the religions on Earth to claim that my observations constitute a rule, and I definitely do not generalize and extend this to everyone. But I still do not know why it seems to offend some Muslim friends when I state that there is no relationship between religion and civilization, and I find a number of them strongly defending the importance of religion in life. I never claimed that religion is not important, nor have I invited people to drop religion from their lives altogether. I rather believe that religion is a relationship between man and God, which does not have any relationship to man's ability to learn, think, create, or develop.

So, if there is anything in Islam that strongly correlates religion to civilization, please inform me of it. I know nothing in Christianity or Judaism that makes this correlation; one of them is my religion and the other is a religion that I studied fairly well. Explain to me how some countries that claim to hold on tightly to Islam and apply its Sharia Law are typical examples of underdevelopment and barbarism in our world. If correlation between religion and civilization is not a special criterion in Islam, then we find many examples that undermine this assumption in many civilizations. And if this correlation is specific to Islam, then explain to me how some Muslim countries like Turkey and Indonesia do not put religion at their highest priorities yet they are examples of well-developed, civilized countries, while other Muslim countries that claim to put religion above everything else are examples of complete retardation from civilization. I hope no one will claim those countries do not correctly understand Islam, for what is in someone's opinion completely incorrect is also absolutely correct in someone else's opinion. We have to either dissociate civilization from religion as a cause or a condition, or to accept these examples of failure as a proof that denies any correlation between religion and advances in civilization.

As another example to prove my point, in this link there is a list of atheist scientists who contributed many achievements, discoveries or theories that helped advancing human civilization. These are atheists who do not believe in the existence of God in the first place, yet this never prevented them from making these achievements. Some of them are even Nobel prize laureates. This is not in the scientific field only, but in many others. In this link there is a list of fifty famous and influential atheists in the fields of philosophy, arts, music, mathematics, science and economy.

It becomes very hard for me at this point to become convinced that religion or piety are related to advances in civilization by a causal or conditional relationship. I do not see this as a fault in or an insult to Islam or any other religion, but rather a logical unbiased view of reality. I have no clue why some people insist on relating civilization to religion as a cause or a condition, and why they get so infuriated when I firmly state that this relationship only exists in their minds.

Gentlemen, mindful men, civilizations flourished at the dawn of history without the existence of Islam or any other religion, and then in the presence of pagan religions that became extinct. Civilizations also developed and regressed in the presence of Islam and Christianity and several other religions. You will not advance by holding tightly to religion or applying God's Law on Earth, but by discipline, hard work and perseverance. These, and not religion, are the conditions and the causes of civilization. If you do not realize this soon enough, the world will advance leaving you behind trying to achieve civilization through religion. Embrace whatever religion you want, and be as pious as you want, but know that all of this has nothing to do with advances in civilization.