—Anonymous
After my first-time reading Kant’s view on what Enlightenment is on a Sunday, I couldn’t help but think about its inherent view on religion. Being Christian myself, there are a lot of ways to perceive Kant’s writing. A lot of what Kant states in his view on enlightenment is opposite to what Christians typically believe in, like the concept of faith. Some aspects of faith can be perceived as listening to a God no matter what and believing in him, and this goes against Kant’s principle of asking your own questions and finding out answers for yourself. Kant himself mentions organized religion and the hindrance it can have on individual enlightenment. This really got me interested in why I believe in what I believe, and whether or not I have been true in my own pursuit of overcoming doubt in God. I think that the people who grow up believing in a God because of their own family, have a higher chance of not truly understanding what they believe in. Everything a person knows about their faith will initially come from the teachings of their immediate family and religious organizations, and not from themselves. Only knowing what others are teaching you about this God, can lead a person to feel afraid of asking questions and doubting what they believe in. This is an example of what I believe Kant wants people to stray from. People who only have faith because of another’s guidance are precisely the “self-incurred tutelage” one needs to release themselves from. Reading Kant’s view on enlightenment really opened my eyes to the necessity of Christians thinking similarly to him as well. Faith is only completely blind when one is only getting direction from other people who are the same as them. It’s essential to continue asking questions about life and to look into beliefs. Personal curiosity leads to answers that can either strengthen a belief or dismantle it, but it is up to the believer to make those assessments so that they can show growth. Reading Kant’s view on enlightenment really made me think about spiritual matters a lot more and where God is in my life. My concept of faith also changed a little bit and I definitely have a different mindset after reading his text. The reason why it is a Great Work is because of the different interpretations it can have for each individual. A lot of people can take what he says extremely radically which It definitely can seem, or a person can pick at certain parts and evaluate their applicability to their own life. A person can read what I read and see what Kant says as completely opposed to religion, even though I did not. That is really what makes it great to me because the choice of what it meant only matters if the person had the freedom of mind to question it themselves. The text gave me a lot of insight into my own beliefs, and how I can continue to grow.
