Immunity from Evil

I wrote a piece a few years ago where I asked the question if it were possible for an evil man to be as critically self aware of his nature as a good man? I recently reposted it here. I encourage you to read that piece first as it provides some background and perspective for the following discussion. Here I ask a slightly different, but similar and related question. Are there any religions in which it would be impossible for a truly evil person to participate? How one "participates" in any given religion varies almost as widely as their basic moral tenets. For purposes of this piece I simply mean be recognized by other "members" of the religion as a "member in good standing" or as a "true believer" or "true adherent" of the given religion or faith tradition. Obviously since the person is actually evil, for almost all religions, save perhaps Satanism and maybe a few others, this would have to be by deception. So the question really boils down to this, Are there any religions which by their very nature, their very structure, would absolutely prevent an evil person from "participating" by deception? Or, another way to phrase it, are there any religions absolutely immune from deception by an evil person?

When I first considered the question I quickly ruled out all the major and minor western (Abrahamic) religions. They are simply too malleable in belief, to open to minor variations in behavior and practice, basically too "liberal" to absolutely prevent deception by evil. Even the most conservative Catholics could be deceived, and I see no reason why a truly evil person could not even become elevated to Pope, were his deceptions clever enough. Of course such deception would require said evil person to commit many good deeds in their quest to the popehood, and so you may wonder if the person could then still be considered truly evil. It is a very good point and ultimately leads to the problem of intention. I discuss this a bit in the previous referenced piece which you should read if you want to learn more about that. Here I will simply take it at face value that intentions do matter, and acting "good" is not enough to be a truly good person, and that a person who (almost) always acted in ways consistent with being a good person, could still be a truly evil person "on the inside."

What about Islam? Some forms of Islam are considered ultra conservative and even minor infractions of the faith traditions are looked upon as grave sins for which the most dire of punishments are warranted. Strangely, in many ways it may be easier for an evil person to deceive ultra conservative faith traditions simply because the "rules" for how to be a part of the religion are so crystal clear. You follow them, and follow them to the letter, and you are considered good. Even though I am sure adherents of these faiths would insist that ones intentions matter, and I do not doubt they truly believe they do, it is simply not possible to divine any given persons intentions only from their actions. Thus they could still be deceived by an evil person with evil intentions so long as that person "acted" the part as required by their religious tenets. You may ask why a truly evil person would be willing to do this. Why go through all the motions of being a devout, ultra conservative Muslim with all the work such a thing would require? All the presumably "good" things one would have to do to begin and maintain that deception? Would they not find such behaviors totally objectionable since they are truly evil? In fact they probably would, but the rewards of such a deception could be great. I can think of many without more than a few moments reflection. Power and influence over others come to mind, or, even the ability to completely destroy the religion from the inside if one were to achieve a high enough position of power in it. There are plenty of motivations for an evil person to play the role of a good person, and it seems none of the Abrahamic religions could stop such a person from joining their ranks were they clever and dedicated enough.

To illustrate my point above about intention, and show you just how thorny of an issue it really is try out this thought experiment. Imagine a truly evil person decides to 'infiltrate' a religion with the intention of becoming its leader and then destroying it from within. He spends his entire life adhering strictly to its codes and guidelines, never once committing an evil act, and, in fact, doing many, many good and even great things. The entire time however his intention remains the same, to ultimately destroy it. For whatever reasons he never accomplishes his plan. For example, perhaps he dies at an early age, or he never ascends to the leadership role. Now ask yourself, was he an evil person? Further, now imagine, if he were for instance a Catholic hoping to become the Pope, would he be allowed entry into Heaven upon his death?

If no western religions could withstand deception by evil, what about eastern ones? By eastern I am referring to the non-Abrahamic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and their various off-shoots. This is a tougher question, not the least of which because I know much less about the specific cultures and practices associated with them. But, from what I do know, it would seem that at least some of these eastern religions would be more immune to evil adherents than their western counterparts. This is simply because many of them are much more inward looking. They are more focused on the individual, and influence or conversion of others to the religion is not considered one of the core values. Yes, they seek to influence to some extent, but only by example, not be direct pleas to the non-believers, nor condemnation of non-believers to hell or threats that some terrible fate awaits them if they do not convert. Zen Buddhism is a great example of this. Buddhists seek Nirvana for themselves, in isolation from others, not for others. It is hard to imagine a truly evil person seeking Nirvana for themselves simply because if found, it would give them no special power over others. I will admit much ignorance on the details of Nirvana but my assumption would be that a person who achieves Nirvana would have no desire to commit evil acts. They would be completely fulfilled in every way. Totally at peace with themselves and the universe. In addition to their inward looking nature Eastern religions tend toward less structure and hierarchy. Without a supreme leader or council of elders or whatever you want to call it that holds power over lower levels of the religion their is nothing for the evil person to infiltrate in an attempted takedown. On the other hand, Eastern religions tend to have a much looser definition of 'participant' or 'adherent' thus it is much easier for an evil person to become a part of such a religion. I have seen it said that Buddhists do not believe that people are evil, only that they sometimes do evil things. For them evil is an adjective, never a noun. If this is the case then they would reject every aspect of my above argument. Maybe you should too, but the conclusion I am forced to come to is that every religion is susceptible to deception by evil. Perhaps that should not be too surprising, though it is a bit depressing.