Too many people live in a world of sacred silence, argues J. Zaras from Beauchamp City Sixth Form. To move forward as a society, we need to able to question long-held truths.
Questions are dangerous.
Things are too controversial.
Will the answers change your life? Is that a bad thing?
Too many times, I have heard people express their disdain for questioning religion. No matter how respectful the debate may be, anything critical cuts through people’s hearts.
The inability to separate feelings from topics is not a crime, this is widely accepted by society. Surely, avoiding and shutting any sense of curiosity and critical thinking is not outrageous.
So, let’s all be ignorant and sit in blissful silence!
That is what led to equality. That is what led to the advancements of humanity. That is what promotes a healthy relationship with personal thoughts and grand narratives the world whispers to us.
It did not work like that.
People went against the grand, constructed explanations for all parts of life to make the world a better place. Nicolaus Copernicus stopped the sun and moved the earth; shunned by everyone else, he swam against the tide and ended up being correct! Malala Yousafzai advocated for girls’ education, not accepting the ‘truth’ that was dictated to millions of Pakistani girls, ultimately awarding more than 400 grants to partners of her Malala fund, who are breaking down the barriers to girls’ education.
Progression has never come from simply accepting societal ‘rules.’ We need to question and discuss everything to ensure its fairness, the themes of discussion should never be off limits given that everyone is provided with the respect they deserve.
By discouraging curiosity surrounding religious practices, we create an echo chamber. All it takes is one voice to give their own, harmful input to put that group to shame and suffering. Yet so long as the bubble of compliance stays whole, weeds of fake ideals will continue to sprout, as they have for thousands of years. The weedkiller is a curiosity we are forbidden from possessing.
When we stop critical thinking, we are producing a crowd of people who cannot stand up for themselves. We cannot keep sheltering everyone and perpetuating the idea that it is not okay for their ideas to be criticised because they sit behind a wall of ‘faith.’
Is it faith, or fear? We punish inquisitiveness until it is normal to be afraid of asking questions. It is not a protection of feelings, but a protection of power. By banning discussion, we allow something that is supposed to be beautiful and comforting to be weaponised by people pushing their own hateful ideology. Ignoring this will only worsen the future outcomes of it. Nuance surrounding religion was never negative; the silence sheltering it is.
Who are the questions a danger to?
Why are we creating controversy?
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