Ignorance is Bliss?

At some point in our evolutionary road, when humans developed a moral function, there was a need to justify morality. Morality has a hand in evolution because "groups" have a better chance to survive than individuals and therefore the need to cooperate within groups, which cannot function effectively without some core rules.

Thus, "God" which started out as a fear of the unknown also became a symbol of morality.

All religions profess the need to be good. And each incentivizes that behavior in the form of some reward: most common one being the heaven.

But there are problems with that.

1. What if you are just ignorant? For e.g. the six brothers in 'Satte Pe Satta' who lived like animals.

2. What if you lack the brain function to judge right from wrong (Yes. There is a brain component for this). Or what if you are mentally retarded?

3. Your circumstances were so bad that you cannot afford to be good. Morality is often a luxury that the poorest of the poor cannot afford.

Also, how can you explain "why bad things happen to good people" if the world was purely based on Karma.

Each religion is just a different version of Occam's Razor (the simplest explanation), trying to find the best answers to those questions.

Hinduism believes in an infinite cycle of rebirth until you graduate into something better. Hinduism doesn't enforce a belief in one God. There can be multiple ways to reach God. And yes, you don't have to acknowledge God to get your salvation. You are judged based on your actions and not your beliefs.

Buddhism is more of a stretch of the above belief and claims that "Life as we know it ultimately is or leads to suffering/uneasiness".

Christianity believes in Heaven and Hell and there is no second chance :( It also requires a belief in God, Jesus. Hence their followers have a moral obligation to propagate the religion to infidels.

Islam also believes in Heaven and Hell without a second chance after death. It also believes in one Supreme God. Therefore, it too prescribes a need to propagate itself to the infidels.

(We can see which religions tend to be tolerant just looking at their beliefs but thats for another post)

I like the Hindu explanation not only for its tolerance but also that it addresses the above 3 problems very well by giving people another chance by rebirth.

At the same time, it addresses the "Ignorance is bliss" problem. i.e. Ignorance of the moral system is not an excuse to be immoral.

You cannot get away with not being good, just because you are incompetent to decide the right path. In other words, it doesn't help to be 'Strategically Incompetent' when it comes to being good.