Oz can't give you nothin' you didn't already have

Often, religious people believe that they are incapable of virtue unless their god bestows virtue upon them. They talk about total depravity, about how no good thing can come from them unless their god does good things through them, about relying on their god for strength and wisdom to do the right thing. 

For example, I always used to pray the prayer of St. Francis and Saint Patrick's Breastplate on my way to work with people who were physically aggressive. So what I thought I was doing was asking my maker to confer upon me virtues I didn't have - the ability to behave lovingly to people at their most hateful moments, the ability to bring light to people at their darkest moments, the ability to bring joy to people at their saddest moments. And protection so that I would be safe when dealing with people at their most dangerous moments.

When I became an atheist, of course, I stopped doing that. But you know something, I'm still just as good at doing all of those things. Better, in fact, because I've had more practice over the past several years. 

The prayers weren't really giving me divine abilities that weren't natural to me; they were a resolution and choice to behave lovingly, to behave as if I wasn't going to get hurt, to behave in a way that would indeed make me an instrument of peace. And because I went in believing I could do those things, and determined to do them, I did in fact do those things. I already had the ability and the will, I just needed the confidence and practice.

And it occurred to me that what's really happening when a good person does a good thing and then gives credit to their god is like the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the "wizard" turns out to be just some guy, and has to admit to the adventurers that he has nothing to give them but symbols to remind them that they already had the virtues they were seeking. The Scarecrow was already wise, he just didn't have confidence in his wisdom until he got a diploma telling him he was wise. The Tin Man already had compassion, he just didn't believe in it until he had a symbol to tell him so. The Lion already had courage, all he lacked was a medal. 

In the same way, many religious people pray for strength to do what's right because they don't believe they can do it otherwise... and then they go ahead and do it. They had the ability to do it all along, but the belief that an all-powerful god would help them gave them the confidence to act as if they could do it, so they did. 

And if that's all religion did - if it just confirmed to good people doing good things that they are good people doing good things - then it still wouldn't be true but at least it wouldn't be causing harm. It would be like giving someone a trophy that they worked hard to earn.

The problem is that religion is like Oz handing out these talismans to everyone who walks in the door, regardless of whether they actually have those virtues or are willing to do the work necessary to develop them. 

So you get ignorant people who believe that they know better than doctors do about vaccines, because after all they prayed for wisdom in their decision-making and therefore the decision that they wanted to make all along MUST be wise. You get hard-hearted people who believe that they are being compassionate towards vulnerable children even as they vote to take away programs that keep vulnerable children alive and healthy, because after all they prayed for compassion and therefore the decision that they wanted to make all along MUST be compassionate. You get cowardly people who believe that they are fighting valiantly for their rights when they are actually hiding behind religion to justify decisions like not getting a vaccine because they're scared of needles, or not baking a cake because they're scared that gay people's gayness might contaminate them somehow. 

They got the ultimate participation trophy in "salvation". They got the trophy before they ran the race, were told that they wouldn't be able to run at all without it, but that now they've got the trophy it will supernaturally confer upon them the ability to run like champions.

And worst of all, when they do realize that they lack the virtues they had trusted their god to supply, when they do fall short in the test and demonstrate a failure of brain or heart or courage... they still believe the talisman works. They either deny that they failed, or they believe their failure was simply that they didn't believe in the talisman hard enough. So instead of getting the message "Hey, being brave in the face of things that scare you is hard, it takes a lot of preparation and practice, keep working on it and you'll get there eventually", they either get the message "No, you were totally being brave there already, it's super brave to refuse to get a shot, you're not scared of needles you're standing up for your right to make your own decisions"... or the message "You need to pray more for courage, you lacked faith last time and that's why you didn't speak up against bullying when you should have". It's as if they were told "Yeah, you totally should have hit a home run because you were wearing a Mickey Mantle jersey, next time ask Mickey to hit the ball for you" rather than "Hey, you struck out, let's work on your technique and your strength and put in the thousands of practice hours it's gonna take for you to get good at baseball."

Oz didn't give the lion courage. Oz COULDN'T give the lion courage. The lion worked to overcome his fear and do the courageous thing in spite of his fear. No amount of medals would have made him courageous, and if he'd never gotten the medal he would still BE courageous. Oz doesn't deserve any credit for the lion's bravery - that was chosen by the lion.

And your god can't give you virtues. All your religion can do is make you think that your god will give you virtues. The reality is that you have to develop them yourself. And when you do, the credit belongs to the person who did the work, not to the people behind the curtain who pretend they represent a power that doesn't really exist.