In a Heideggerian perspective, the essence of truth is disclosure and freedom. In regard to objects, the truth of an object discloses itself to us if we let the object be as it is, if we let it reveal itself to us as it is, if we don’t subjugate it, or lose ourselves in it.
Religion at large asserts truth claims ranging from the material world (usually based on an uneducated assumption of scientific knowledge) to notions of the supernatural. An example that leads to the heart of this notion of truth is Romans 8:1, which says that, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, but if one plunges the depths of this verse one will see the trouble of not only the verse, but religion at large. In this manner of disclosure, religion doesn’t allow the truth of Being to reveal itself as it is, it is a concealment of truth. More specifically, religion doesn’t allow human Being to be itself, as it is. It doesn’t allow human Being to reveal itself. Human Being is subjugated by religion as being somehow corrupt, shameful, guilt-ridden, and something to shed.
In the concealment of truth of human Being, one confuses the essence of truth with the non-essence of truth, or untruth. One mistakes the subjugation of human Being – the shaming and guilting and blaming and corrupting – for liberty. This act is antithetical to genuine liberty. In the disclosure of human Being, in the unconcealment of human Being, human Being reveals itself in full spectrum of animality: from the baseness of predatory instincts and instinctual hatred, and the ugliness of immoral character and atrocious ideology, to primordial love and unity, and the beauty of ingenuity and innovation. Genuine liberty is birthed out of this letting be of Being, in allowing human Being to be as it is, in acceptance of it. This is an application of honesty, which allows liberty to be liberated, to be set forth. It is to be honest with oneself about himself, which is an uprooting of guilt and shame. Liberty is an honest assessment and a consequential autonomous freedom gained from the assessment, and recalling from Heidegger, freedom is part of the essence of truth.
Religion couldn’t foster liberty in any manner, in its concealment of truth of human Being. It becomes bogged down and hung up on what it perceives as flawed, as damaged goods. The religious conceals from himself the essence of his humanity, thereby issuing a “No!” to his Being, dishonestly representing his essence and there barring himself from acting in liberty, and then finally this cuts out any actuality of freedom. Or stating it another way, he has become captive to his ideology. He is disallowed, prohibited from being human. He must repent and atone and apologize for something he had no say in being. And so, therefore, there is now condemnation for those who adhere to religious ideology, one is condemned for his being human.