Capital and Religion

It amazes me to see the interplay between capitalism and religion. Though I intend to talk about religion in general, I draw my own conclusions from my seemingly Hindu experiences.

Visit any moderately popular Hindu temple, and you will most likely see the menu prices for different religious services. One thing that defies my understanding of religion is separate and faster queue systems for a premium. It defies my understanding as this arrangement implies that God is easily accessible to people with enough capital. But aren't all of God's pupils equal..?

It fascinates me more to see people continuously jostling and competing in the inner sanctums while trying to get a glimpse of the deity. Even if god is a public good, these actions imply that God is not Non-rivalrous. You can counter my arguments by saying that differential access based on capital and rivalrous nature results from human constructs surrounding God and, hence, should not be attributed to the true God. Then, you should stop going to any organized religious places.

An economic argument that can explain these actions is the Labor-Leisure choice. In layman's terms, humans optimize their time spent, given their opportunity costs elsewhere. People with capital pay the premium to reduce their waiting time, and everyone competes to make it out first, resulting in jostling. It makes sense, given that our time is finite, even if God is infinite. But should you be religious if your actions result from logical optimization...?

A recent billboard in Shiridi has wordplay with popular preachings of the place

I conclude by saying organized religion is not a true representation as it does not uphold the equality God considers his/her subjects. And if you are religious, you should give away your logical instincts.

 

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