Religion stirs up emotional reactions in people, both for and against. But this should not prevent us from expressing our views about what we believe. The topic that I am about to discuss is not likely to be a contentious topic, as it is more of an observation than a philosophical matter about our religiosity.
If I say that there may be some resemblance, however shallow it may be, between a specific idea from economics and the way people treat their religious beliefs, no one will consider it blasphemous. This article is an invitation for any interested party to look at a common phenomenon from a different angle.
[ Link to the free article on Medium ]
The Influence of Monotheism
Many religious people in today’s world, irrespective of whether they are Christians, Muslims, or Jews, believe in a monotheism embracing one supreme God. Some scholars consider that Akhnaton or Akhenaten was the first to establish monotheism by promoting one God, Aten or the Sun, from among the gods in the Egyptian pantheon. However, this view is disputed as the religion he advocated was different to the monotheism in Abrahamic religions.
God in Abrahamic religions organically evolved, at least as the Book of Genesis tells us. The first book of the bible doesn’t tell us there were other gods before God who spoke to Moses. Their Creator God did not arise by suppressing a polytheistic pantheon in favour of one God. Abraham might have chosen the Canaanite God ‘El’ from their pantheon that he came to know about as a child. But, he believed in one God.
According to the biblical narrative, Abraham had been a migrant. A migrant could not carry the old gods from where he started his journey, as those gods were likely specific to a place and a community of believers. Sumerians, among whom Abraham originally lived, had many gods who had rather specific duties. As migrants, they travelled through many territories that posed a multitude of challenges and thus, needed a God who could reign over all territories and overcome all obstacles. He had faith in Him. What better alternative had been there for him at his disposal to a supreme Being who was not bound by any limitations?
Monopolistic Competition and Monotheistic Religion
An article on religion can be a strange place to discuss an economic concept. It is unlikely to have a direct and strong connection between the two. But the idea of monopolistic competition tells us something about human nature, not religion itself. The shallow resemblance we find between the two can show us something to contrast and think about.
The key feature of monopolistic competition, in rather simplistic terms, can be summarised below:
“This economic model investigates the relationship between the number of firms in a given market, say the aircraft making industry, the cost of production and the price of production. As the number of firms increases, the competition increases and the prices, they can charge, decrease. On the other hand, as the number of firms increases each firm sells less due to the competition and as a result, the cost of production goes up. If the price, the firms charge, exceeds the cost, new firms will enter the industry to supply cheaper goods. If the costs exceed the prices, the firms will leave the industry. At the point where the price matches the cost, the market is said to be in equilibrium.”
Consumers do not like to pay a high price for a product arising from a lack of competition in the market. Thus, they would accept anyone who would make the similar product and sell it at a lesser price or offer a product of better quality. Thus, the market-share enjoyed by the single player would split among the new players.
Overcoming Monopoly in Religion
As Rodney Stark in his book “Discovering God” discussing the attraction of polytheism, claims, quoting Mircea Eliade, the supreme divinities are pushed to the periphery preferring other sacred forces nearer to man. This is true for many religions, including monotheistic religions.
When we believe in a monotheistic God, even though He is everywhere, it can be very difficult to be close to Him. Usually, the number of faithful increases with the maturity of a new religion.
We can feel far removed from God, our focus, as crowds of people are coveting for His attention.
All humans are not made in the same mould, and each one of us perceives His attention or inattention to our needs differently. Perhaps, He is surrounded by a layer of priesthood that would not cater to everyone equally. He has so many people to listen to. He may not be sensitive to our prayers or close enough to listen to our criticisms, and thus, we wonder whether we have someone else to talk to.
In a religion with a single focus, like a monotheistic God, the price to pay to feel closer to God is high. To lessen the lack of closeness and bring the price down, we can introduce competing alliances within the same framework. To begin with, the monotheistic God in Abrahamic religions precipitously split into three, i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These religions that can be treated as foci of attention offer the same final objective, being in the grace of God, but with different means to get there. The variations introduced within the same religion are not very drastic as the above split. Communities identified with these variations, in the case of Catholicism, can rally around, for example, saints specific to localities. These saints maintain specific areas of influence.
Within Christianity, there are also many other movements such as Anglicans, Lutherans, Jesuits, Baptists etc. If a religion does not allow such offshoots, it may bring in colourful preachers or interpreters of scriptures who hold competing views. In Judaism, there are the sects like Rabbinic and non-Rabbinic. In the case of Islam which attaches very high importance to the letter of the Quran, there are three main sects, Shia, Sunni, and Sufism. Even in the case of a non-theistic religion like Buddhism, there are many splits within the larger Mahayana and Hinayana traditions.
[Picture -Available in the Medium article]
{A Graph showing an example of monopolistic competition in the sphere of religion}
If we consider the area of influence of a purely monotheistic religion that we measure as the number of people, then only a few people would be feeling proximity to the focus of attention. A larger number would find themselves at a distance. A new player can come in and suggest means to feel some closeness to God. This player would have created a bespoke scenario for the laity to feel more involved or connected to the Ultimate. But by doing this, an offshoot is likely to spring up and a niche would be carved out for his or her followers. The Omnipotent Being would lose His uniqueness; some of His qualities would be highlighted or ignored in the offshoot. The monopoly is now extinct, and two competing factions are vying for a larger area of influence.
Religions are Bound to have competing groups
We usually observe more divisions in a religion rather than amalgamations. However, if we only consider those divisions that carry a critical mass of followers, there are some divisions that only amount to a simple cult. The critical mass can be treated as the number of young followers who can take that sect into the future. Thus, those sects without a critical mass can be ignored. Some Christian sects like Catharism died of natural deaths. There are faiths like Bahá’í and Sai Baba Movement that bring together many religions.
The faithful do not like to stay far away from the focus of attention of a religion. The laity needs their wants catered to. In order for that to happen, they need to feel close to the Divine. The way to achieve this is to carve out sections that compete for His attention. This is what monopolistic competition tells us. Thus, we can see that any religion can be subject to a split.
This happens not because of a problem with the specific religion, but because of the followers’ need to feel their concerns addressed.
This comparison tells us to look more holistically into the offerings of each faction, like the products in a market, and understand what differences have really caused and sustained a split. To have a proper perspective of competition, we should study both sellers as well as the purchasers of any product. In this case, it is about religion. Such deeper understanding can also help us understand why people slide into more extreme form of indoctrination.
The above quotation is from:
Arachige, Darshi. The Lure of NOMA: On the Elegance of Religion (p. 60). Kindle Edition.
