RELIGION: GOOD OR EVIL?
Edgar Pearlstein

Is religion a force for good or for evil? There is evidence both ways,
and I don't know how to balance the pluses and minuses.

Certainly religion provides comfort to many people, and perhaps gets some
to behave more ethically than they might otherwise. Religions have
inspired many great works of art, architecture, and music. They have
sponsored charitable, medical, and educational institutions.

On the other hand, religion is divisive and provides impetus for
discrimination, cruelty, family breakup, and persecution toward those of
different religion. Religion is a medium for some people's hypocrisy. Even
murder and child neglect are sometimes ordered by the god.

.... Religion is a medium for some people's hypocrisy. Even
murder and child neglect are sometimes ordered by the god.

I am reminded of a quote from Steven Weinberg (Nobel laureate in physics):
"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can
do evil-- but for good people to do evil -- that takes religion."

People fight and die over religious holy places, some of which are claimed
by more than one religion, as in Jerusalem and India.

In some cases religion makes people miserable through arbitrary rules,
such as those about divorce, birth control, shunning, and limitations on
medical care.

There are also some large-scale horrors to which religion contributed:
wars, pogroms, crusades, jihads, persecutions, inquisitions, witch hunts.
We have seen these things in old history and some continue today.

Here are just a few of the many examples we have had in very recent times:
In the countries of former Yugoslavia, there were Catholic Croats,
Orthodox Christian Serbs, and Muslims all at each other. In Lebanon, it
was Christian Arabs (supported by Israel) versus Muslim Arabs in a
terrible civil war. In India, it is Sikhs and Hindus fighting over a holy
place.

Almost every modern religion has at times been the perpetrator and at
other times the victim of such evils.

Religion has served as justification, if not the real reason, for slavery,
colonialism, and even cruelty to animals.

On another level, it can be argued that religions tend to discourage
people from thinking independently and clearly. For religions insist on
the Truth of ancient stories and superstitions regardless of any evidence
or reasoning that appeared since their origin. The religious mindset of
smug rectitude and superiority gets in the way of a mindset toward justice
and reason.

RELIGION: GOOD OR EVIL?
Edgar Pearlstein

Is religion a force for good or for evil? There is evidence both ways,
and I don't know how to balance the pluses and minuses.

Certainly religion provides comfort to many people, and perhaps gets some
to behave more ethically than they might otherwise. Religions have
inspired many great works of art, architecture, and music. They have
sponsored charitable, medical, and educational institutions.

On the other hand, religion is divisive and provides impetus for
discrimination, cruelty, family breakup, and persecution toward those of
different religion. Religion is a medium for some people's hypocrisy. Even
murder and child neglect are sometimes ordered by the god.

I am reminded of a quote from Steven Weinberg (Nobel laureate in physics):
"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can
do evil-- but for good people to do evil -- that takes religion."

People fight and die over religious holy places, some of which are claimed
by more than one religion, as in Jerusalem and India.

In some cases religion makes people miserable through arbitrary rules,
such as those about divorce, birth control, shunning, and limitations on
medical care.

There are also some large-scale horrors to which religion contributed:
wars, pogroms, crusades, jihads, persecutions, inquisitions, witch hunts.
We have seen these things in old history and some continue today.

Here are just a few of the many examples we have had in very recent times:
In the countries of former Yugoslavia, there were Catholic Croats,
Orthodox Christian Serbs, and Muslims all at each other. In Lebanon, it
was Christian Arabs (supported by Israel) versus Muslim Arabs in a
terrible civil war. In India, it is Sikhs and Hindus fighting over a holy
place.

Almost every modern religion has at times been the perpetrator and at
other times the victim of such evils.

Religion has served as justification, if not the real reason, for slavery,
colonialism, and even cruelty to animals.

On another level, it can be argued that religions tend to discourage
people from thinking independently and clearly. For religions insist on
the Truth of ancient stories and superstitions regardless of any evidence
or reasoning that appeared since their origin. The religious mindset of
smug rectitude and superiority gets in the way of a mindset toward justice
and reason.

"The simple faith of a child", sometimes glorified by religious people,
can be charming in a young child, but is disgraceful in an intelligent
adult.

There are many "what if" questions one can pose (but not answer). Here
are a few:

What would the world be like now if there had never been the Crusades,
or the Spanish Inquisition?

How different would the United States be today if there had never been
religious persecutions in other countries, which sent so many of our
ancestors here?

What would the UK be like if Henry VIII hadn't broken so bitterly with
the Catholic Church?

What would India-Pakistan be like if there had been no religion-based
partition?

How would the world be different if there had not been the religious
motivations of people like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, and
Albert Schweitzer?

Where would scholarship be now if churches hadn't founded such great
universities as Harvard and Oxford?

Would we have the music of Johann Sebastian Bach if he hadn't been
employed by a church?

Most of this article concerned the past, which, of course, we are
powerless to change. A more important question is: Will religion be a
force for good or evil in the future?

RELIGION: GOOD OR EVIL?
Edgar Pearlstein
Is religion a force for good or for evil? There is evidence both ways,
and I don't know how to balance the pluses and minuses.
Certainly religion provides comfort to many people, and perhaps gets some
to behave more ethically than they might otherwise. Religions have
inspired many great works of art, architecture, and music. They have
sponsored charitable, medical, and educational institutions.
On the other hand, religion is divisive and provides impetus for
discrimination, cruelty, family breakup, and persecution toward those of
different religion. Religion is a medium for some people's hypocrisy. Even
murder and child neglect are sometimes ordered by the god.
I am reminded of a quote from Steven Weinberg (Nobel laureate in physics):
"With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can
do evil-- but for good people to do evil -- that takes religion."
People fight and die over religious holy places, some of which are claimed
by more than one religion, as in Jerusalem and India.
In some cases religion makes people miserable through arbitrary rules,
such as those about divorce, birth control, shunning, and limitations on
medical care.
There are also some large-scale horrors to which religion contributed:
wars, pogroms, crusades, jihads, persecutions, inquisitions, witch hunts.
We have seen these things in old history and some continue today.
Here are just a few of the many examples we have had in very recent times:
In the countries of former Yugoslavia, there were Catholic Croats,
Orthodox Christian Serbs, and Muslims all at each other. In Lebanon, it
was Christian Arabs (supported by Israel) versus Muslim Arabs in a
terrible civil war. In India, it is Sikhs and Hindus fighting over a holy
place.
Almost every modern religion has at times been the perpetrator and at
other times the victim of such evils.
Religion has served as justification, if not the real reason, for slavery,
colonialism, and even cruelty to animals.
On another level, it can be argued that religions tend to discourage
people from thinking independently and clearly. For religions insist on
the Truth of ancient stories and superstitions regardless of any evidence
or reasoning that appeared since their origin. The religious mindset of
smug rectitude and superiority gets in the way of a mindset toward justice
and reason.
"The simple faith of a child", sometimes glorified by religious people,
can be charming in a young child, but is disgraceful in an intelligent
adult.
There are many "what if" questions one can pose (but not answer). Here
are a few:
What would the world be like now if there had never been the Crusades,
or the Spanish Inquisition?
How different would the United States be today if there had never been
religious persecutions in other countries, which sent so many of our
ancestors here?
What would the UK be like if Henry VIII hadn't broken so bitterly with
the Catholic Church?
What would India-Pakistan be like if there had been no religion-based
partition?
How would the world be different if there had not been the religious
motivations of people like Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, and
Albert Schweitzer?
Where would scholarship be now if churches hadn't founded such great
universities as Harvard and Oxford?
Would we have the music of Johann Sebastian Bach if he hadn't been
employed by a church?
Most of this article concerned the past, which, of course, we are
powerless to change. A more important question is: Will religion be a
force for good or evil in the future?

Nationality can be shown and be proven, it exists; their imaginary gods do not.

On 21 Jan 2005 13:34:19 GMT,

Does religion do more harm than good?

Yes
53%

No
47%

Would the World Be Safer Without Religion?
Faith makes people want to kill each other--but it's the best thing we've got.

Up to a certain level it is a societal survival factor. It unites the
group and it is easier to make people obey the rules.

Og: "I'm sick".

Ug: [Hmm... I've noticed that if I don't wash my hands after having a
crap, I get ill. But I can't explain why]: "The Sun-god says you
have to wash up after taking a dump"

If Og is satisfied this inhibits inquiry, because after Ug is no more
the original reason is forgotten.

Above that level and until the next, it is neutral because they don't
have better answers.

But once the society is sufficiently developed it is detrimental.

Ug's descendent: "I've discovered these things I call germs. They're
what causes sickness. They're in your ***** and all
sorts of other places. You can see them through this
microscope, and here's how to kill them"

Og's descendant: "No, you're wrong. It says here that the Sun-god
orders you to wash your hands. Stop teaching your
anti-religious falsehoods"

Like everything else, religion has to adapt to survive.

Sometimes it incorporates new knowledge. Other times it withdraws in
on itself. Sometimes it turns virulent and survives by destroying what
is in its way, especially when it has the force of the majority
behind it.