Why is it dangerous to ask questions in many religious settings?
In God Is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens observed:
“Religion ends and philosophy begins, just as alchemy ends and chemistry begins and astrology ends, and astronomy begins.”
Questioning is the death knell of dogma.
In societies where religion fuses with power, curiosity becomes subversion. Blasphemy laws, social ostracism, and even violence await those who dare to think aloud. What are they so afraid of?
Douglas Adams once remarked:
“I’d take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.”
But faith often asks for the opposite: don’t look too closely, don’t ask too much. Accept. Obey. Believe.
To question is not to insult. It is to want to understand. Yet in many cultures, asking why a woman must cover her head, or why apostasy deserves death, or why God remains silent, is met with fury, not reflection.
Religion, when entwined with authority, defends itself not with answers—but with threats.
If a belief system cannot survive scrutiny, what is it protecting? Truth? Or control?
Let us reclaim the right to question. Not to mock, but to explore. Not to provoke, but to understand. And if some beliefs fall in the process, let them fall.
Because only falsehood fears the light.