The answer to the question is a resounding yes. Religion matters in life for two broad reasons: one, because the view we have about the future for ourselves and the world will affect the present lives we live. And secondly, religion matters because if there is a true religion, then aligning with its tenets is paramount to living a life of high purpose and honesty to the correct lifestyle. However, if there’s not a true religion, then it’s not relevant and has no more importance than your favorite cereal. 

The assumed qualitative measurement in the determination of whether religion “matters” in the article, “Does religion even matter in life?” is two-fold — one, if it provides solutions to our problems we face, and two, if it makes a difference. We’re not given clarification as to what is meant by “difference,” but the likely answer is if it provides us with solutions to our problems. The obvious flaw in this is that it’s extremely pragmatic; religion is viewed as simply a means to an end. In subscribing to this idea, we sacrifice the potential to find total truth for the weak alternative of pragmatism. Truth trumps pragmatic results, for truth leads to better conclusions, just as baking a cake with the right directions ends with a better tasting cake. We must realize the importance of truth over feelings and pragmatic results, because it’s the truth that has the grounding power necessary to give us the solutions we yearn for. 

During our quest for total truth, we must examine the potential for a religion to be the truth, and with that comes the inevitable and infamous question: “Does science refute religion?” This is not a question that should be treated lightly because the conclusion we come to will affect our outlook on the truth of religion in the future. In short, there’s nothing about science that is against religion; it isn’t an “either/or” scenario. A worldview (religion) encompasses science and its rules on the discovery process. Therefore, a scientific discovery in context of religion does not refute religious beliefs, but discovers and cultivates an understanding of the world. However, more importantly, if we conclude science is the only determiner of what’s true, then we unavoidably shoot ourselves in the foot — it’s a self-refuting claim that science is the only medium to discover truth, for that statement itself is not a scientifically provable claim. More than that, you are unable to test the truth of existence, love, empathy, joy or consciousness under a microscope in a lab; these are all human experiences that cannot be explained by a formula, and to do so is to dehumanize people to nothing more than robotic mammals.

Further down the trail of truth-seeking, we will find ourselves wondering if a religious belief is capable of holding up to our intellectual inquiries, or if it’s irrational and unsubstantiated. The author stated “… gone are the days to blindly follow what religion preaches.” This is true, but more should be said; it’s possible to intellectually research religion. We must not make the assumption that religion is incapable of being believed apart from intellectual inquiry. Faith isn’t solely reserved for the private personal life, but also for the mind, thinking and scholarly inquiry.  

Every single human being worships (or idolizes) something — we all get excited and enthusiastic about something, we all have that one thing, person or idea that we value above the rest, that gives us our worth (Romans 1:25). This world is beyond repair, beyond pragmatic solutions, beyond a change in actions, the problem with this world (and no one believes there is not a problem) is the wretched nature of our own heart.  We know what we ought to do, but do not do so (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 1:32). The solution is far more than a religion, but much less than following legalistic religious rituals (Matthew 23:35-28). The solution is found where ultimate justice and mercy meet, it is where punishment and blessing intersect, it is where love and hatred cross, it is where the only righteous Man died to bear the justice that we deserve by not following the holy law of God. The answer we all want and yearn for isn’t found within ourselves or by ourselves, the answer is found hanging on a cross 2,000 years ago saying “It is finished,” securing the coming restoration of all that originally ought to have been.