(This is a Chinese post at the forum of the Hong Kong positivistic philosopher Lee Tin Ming.  This excerpt from an article by Erich Fromm says that religions can be divided into totalitarian religions and humanistic religions.  The God of the Old Testament is totalitarian.  The original teachings of Jesus were humanistic, but Roman rulers later turned them into a totalitarian Christianity.  This article is very inspiring.  在《李天命網上思考》，有人貼了這篇文章，甚具啟發性。)


獨裁宗教與人本宗教 (Totalitarian Religions and Humanistic Religions)
Psychoanalysis & Religion
By Erich Fromm
http://leetm.mingpao.com/cfm/Forum3.cfm?CategoryID=2&TopicID=4359&TopicOrder=Desc&TopicPage=1

獨裁宗教的基本要點是屈服於一種超人的力量，其主要德性是服從，不服從是最大的罪過。…相反，人本宗教則以人的力量為中心，人必須為了理解他自已，與他人的關係以及他在宇宙中的地位而發展他的理性力量。…

獨裁宗教和人本宗教的區分不僅貫穿於各種宗教，還存在於同一宗教之內。…

舊約的開頭是用獨裁宗教寫的，上帝是一個家族的絕對統治者的形象，他可以隨心所欲地創造人和毀滅人。他禁止人類吃智慧樹上的果子，並威脅說如果人類違反禁令，難逃一死。…當亞伯拉罕為所多瑪祈求，上帝和人之間開始了新的關係。他批評上帝違反他自已的原則：「將義人和惡人同殺，將義人和惡人看待，這斷不是你所行的，審判大地的主，豈不行公義嗎？」。

亞當吃禁果而墮落的故事與亞伯拉罕的爭辯之間的差異是很明顯的。前一個故事中，人被禁止明白善惡，他與上帝是屈從的關係。而後一個故事裡，人運用他的善惡知識，以正義之名批評上帝，上帝也不得不讓步。…

早期的基督教是人本主義的，不是獨裁主義的，這可從耶穌的教導的內容和精神為證。耶穌說：「天國在你們心裡」，這是非權威主義思想簡單而清晰的表達。但後來，基督教不再是窮苦百姓的宗教，開始變成羅馬統治者的宗教。於是，基督教中的獨裁主義便佔優勢了。…

在人本主義宗教中，上帝是人更高的自我形象，是人潛在的或應該成為的形象的象徵，而在獨裁主義宗教中，上帝是人的原始性質——他是理性的愛的惟一擁有者，上帝越完美，則人越不完美。人把自已身上最好的東西賦予了上帝，從而使人自已變得赤貧。既然上帝具備了全部的愛、知慧和正義，那麼人就被剝奪了這些品質，變得空虛和不幸。他從渺小感開始，進而變得徹底的無能為力，他們把全部力量賦予上帝了。這種賦予的手法，我們可在人與人之間的受虐的、服從的性格關係中觀察到，一個人敬畏另一個人，因而把他的力量和希望寄托於那人身上。正是同樣的手法，使人賦予獨裁領導者以卓越的知慧和善良的品質。 

當人把他最有價值的力量賦予上帝，他和他自已的力量是甚麼關係呢？它們開始和他分離，異化自身。每一件他曾具有的東西，現在都歸於上帝了，他變得一無所有。他只有通過上帝才能接近他自已。在崇拜上帝的過程中，他試圖與那部分在賦予中失落的自我相關係。在把他所有的東西給了上帝後，他又向上帝乞求歸還一些本來是他的東西。但由於喪失了他自已，他完全處於上帝的掌握之中。他必然感到像一個罪人，因為他剝奪了自已所有的善良，只有通過上帝的仁慈和榮耀，他才重新獲得使他成為人的東西。當他與自我分離時，為了讓上帝給他一些愛，他必須證明自已多麼缺乏愛，為了讓上帝用超人的知慧指導他，他必須證明自已多麼缺乏知慧。 

Received the following story from a humanist email list.  Later, someone points out that this story might be some 20 years old.  Anyway, the student's remark is so simple and so true:

"Most...religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell."


從一個人文主義電郵清單收到以下的故事。後來有人指出這是二十年前的故事。無論如何，該學生的這句評論很簡單，很真：

「世上一般的大宗教都說你不信它便下地獄。由於世上多過一個這樣的宗教，加上一個人不會信多過一個宗教，所以可以推斷世上所有人都落地獄。」


> HELL EXPLAINED BY CHEMISTRY STUDENT
>
> The following is an actual question given on a University of
> Washington chemistry midterm.
>
>    The answer by one student was so 'profound' that the professor
> shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course,
> why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:
>
> Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic
> (absorbs heat)?
>        Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using
> Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is
> compressed) or some variant.  One student, however, wrote the
> following:
>
> First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So
> we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and
> the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely
> assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore,
> no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell,
> let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.
> Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their
> religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of
> these religions and since people do not belong to more than one
> religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and
> death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell
> to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of
> the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the
> temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of
> Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.
>
> This gives two possibilities:
>
> 1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which
> souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will
> increase until all Hell breaks loose.
>
> 2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls
> in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell
> freezes over.
>
> So which is it?  If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa
> during my Freshman year that, 'It will be a cold day in Hell before
> I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I slept with
> her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure
> that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary
> of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that
> it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore,
> extinct.......leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of
> a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting
> 'Oh my God.'
>
> THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+.