by The Rematch Nobody Requested
Today, something unexpected happenedreligion and reality got back in the ring for round two. First match ended with reality winning by technical knockout, but religion demanded a rematch. Bold strategy.
This morning, I woke up thinking about rematches in sports. Usually they happen when the first match was close or controversial. This rematch is happening because religion refuses to accept that reality won decisively the first time. It’s like demanding a recount after losing by 40 points.
Later in the day, I realized that religion brings new strategies this time. Can’t win on data? Attack the data’s moral implications. Can’t win on behavior? Claim behavior should be different than it is. Can’t win on evidence? Insist faith transcends evidence. It’s rhetorically creative, I’ll acknowledge. Scientifically worthless, but rhetorically creative.
It’s been one of those days when I appreciate religion’s persistence despite losing every empirical battle. Reality shows that teenagers have sex regardless of religious affiliation. Religion responds: “But they shouldn’t!” Reality demonstrates that abstinence-only education increases risk without reducing behavior. Religion responds: “But comprehensive sex education is immoral!” It’s like arguing with someone who responds to every fact with “yeah, but I don’t like that.”
Something small but meaningful happened today when I discovered that the religion versus reality rematch isn’t really about winning. It’s about maintaining institutional authority despite overwhelming evidence that institutional authority doesn’t actually govern sexual behavior. Churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues want to maintain their role as moral arbiters even when their moral prescriptions are universally ignored.
The highlight of my day was realizing that religion’s strategy in the rematch is essentially: “Okay, reality wins on actual behavior, but we win on moral framework.” It’s like losing a basketball game 100-20 and claiming victory because your team’s uniforms looked better. Technically you’re right about something, just not the thing that matters.
As I reflect on what happened today, I’m struck by how this rematch reveals religion’s actual function. It’s not about controlling behaviorclearly that doesn’t work. It’s about providing narrative frameworks, community identity, and moral language for processing human experience. Those are valuable functions! They just have nothing to do with whether teenagers actually remain abstinent until marriage.
This afternoon brought a surprising turn of events when I realized both sides are talking past each other. Religion discusses ought and should, ideal states and divine commandments. Reality discusses is and does, actual behavior and empirical outcomes. They’re literally having different conversations while pretending to debate the same topic.
Today’s experience reminded me of watching political debates where candidates answer the question they wished they’d been asked rather than the actual question. Religion wishes reality asked “what should sexual behavior look like?” Instead reality asks “what does sexual behavior actually look like?” and provides detailed statistical answers religion finds uncomfortable.
Looking back on today, I can’t help but appreciate the absurdity of staging a rematch for a fight that was never really competitive. Reality has biology, evolution, hormones, neuroscience, and statistical data. Religion has ancient texts and strong opinions. The outcome was predetermined before the bell rang.
The rematch nobody requested continues because neither side can actually win. Religion can’t overcome biological reality. Reality can’t eliminate human need for meaning and moral frameworks. So they keep fighting, religion keeps losing empirically while claiming moral victory, and humanity keeps having sex while feeling guilty about it.
Maybe the real lesson from the rematch is that we’re asking the wrong question. Instead of “religion versus reality,” maybe we should ask “how can religious communities acknowledge reality while maintaining meaningful moral frameworks?” But that would require honesty, nuance, and admitting that ancient texts don’t actually govern modern sexual behavior. So we’ll probably just keep scheduling rematches instead.
SOURCE: https://spintaxi.com/religion-vs-reality/
SOURCE: Religion vs. Reality (Part 2) (Aisha Muharrar)
