A world without religion resembles an oil painting without colour.
It’s a painting that presents everything with the best of their state. In it, women are so refined that each movement of them is bewitching. The charm emanated by masculine is unforgettable for anyone who glances at this painting. There are sun, moon, rivers, mountains and all kinds of animals in this masterpiece. But this painting is regarded as the cheapest one in the gallery by any great artist.
This is what the world without religion —— things are still beautiful save for their color. England serves as the best example when one try to explain why religion can make the world more colorful.
Before 17th century, the right of interpretation Bible lies in the hands of Pope. Then the arriving of printing technology and thriving bourgeois brought the privilege to all the adherents of Bible. The catholic, Rowland Phillips was right in saying that either we must root out printing, or printing will root out us. Finally, people in England took the diadem off the church and build a country truly belongs to their own. Bible guided them just like Rousseau guided French and Marx guided Russia.
You may say that the dictatorship of Pope would not have existed if there was no religion. Just take a look at ancient China, another form of dictatorship still existed for thousands years even though most Chinese during ancient times were not followers of Christian or Catholic. The difference between England and China was that Chinese people in ancient time never had the awareness of overthrowing the dictatorship.
If you do not know much about the Reformation, shift your concentration to America. It was about the same time with the Reformation, under the guidance of puritan, a group of people left England then founded a country that no one can yet surpass today. If you say that the world could not be better even with religion, then how did the autobiography of Franklin, a book suffused with Puritan thoughts, inspired generations of Americans? How did literature of America flourished in a land where nothing existed before? Religion worked as a beacon when migrants from England eager to exploit the new land. The truth has proven that holding their belief, they indeed made the land much more wonderful that it used to be.
Allan Poe gave the best answer about what the world would become with science solely: Diana would be driven from her car, Naiad from her flood and Hamadryad from the wood. How should people love the oil painting without any color?
