*"Religion is often depicted as a kind of virus, a mental disease or disorder, a scourge on humanity, which , as with AIDS or some stealthy computer virus that threatens to erase the entire contents of civilization's hard drive.
"There is, unfortunately, much historical evidence to support this perspective: from the Crusades, the Inquisition, several religious wars, to the Holy Wars of the late twentieth century ...
"However, for every one of these tragedies there are ten thousand acts of personal kindness and social good that go largely unreported in the history books or on the evening news.
"Religion, like all social institutions of such historical depth and cultural impact, cannot be reduced to an unambiguous good or evil; shades of gray complexity abound in all such societal structures, and religion should not be treated any differently than, say, political organizations. One could easily build a case that state-sponsored terrorism, revolutions , and wars make even these horrific religion-sponsored catastrophies appear mild by comparison.
"If God is a toxic meme, so is King and President; and if religion is a virus, politics is a full-blown epidemic replete with copy-me memes such as nationalism, jingoism, and outright racism. Yet nobody would propose that we do away with politics or the state."
- (Michael Shermer "How we believe". page 71)
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.While I appreciate Michael Shermer’s work, I respectfully disagree with the crux of his argument—namely, that one should not entertain notions of a world without religion, which may be viewed as comparable to a political system. Organized religion represents a scourge—a blight on society. And with their favorable tax benefits; their disproportionate influence on curricula, policies and laws; their unproven, unknowable and incompatible truth claims; their sometimes violent rivalries and internecine conflicts; and their hubris that pretends to speak for the so-called creator of the universe—these religions have no useful part in our future.
Yahweh, Christ and Allah are destined to take their place alongside Ra, Zeus and Odin in the graveyard of the other dead religions. And while they may seem at times to be resurgent, the world’s great religions are gradually becoming irrelevant, even as they desperately grasp for renewed power through their hirelings and lackeys in the halls of government. But their doctrines, fables and wonders are ringing more hollow with each generation. As Robert Green Ingersoll observed,
“Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains.”
“Every new religion has a little less superstition than the old, so that the religion of Science is but a question of time.”
p-nullifidian
Level 8
July 16, 2018
0
@Matias Abolish religion? Even as a nullifidian I respect the First Amendment of the US Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” But I also believe that organized religion is aging out, with each generation, and that it is only a matter of time before the major religions of today fade into oblivion, just as their predecessors.
In societies where critical thinking and education take the place of magical thinking, the role of religion is most certainly in decline. Religions are much ‘tamer’ in Scandinavia, for example, as weekly attendance is at an all-time low, and fewer than half of the members say “yes” when asked if they believe in (any) God. If fewer than half of any church believes in the existence of God, their religion is tame indeed, and their reason for attending has little to do with faith!
Yes, I agree, the taming of religion should be our primary aim. Orthodoxy must yield to moderation, and moderation to indifference. A near-empty church with a majority who don't believe is the embodiment of a hollow, impotent and harmless religion. Northern Europe has provided the rest of the world with a reasonable course to follow, and it will take many generations—centuries, perhaps—before the world catches up.
I'm pretty fed up with religion, politics, and governments alike. On a good day, I regard them all as necessary evils.
mordant
Level 8
July 15, 2018
0
I don’t see religion as any of the above. I see it as a human need to believe in something greater than ourselves, but definitely a human construct. I don’t think in itself it is malign, but the things that are perpetrated in the name of religion sometimes are. It has to be recognised that it has also been a force for good, and has benefitted mankind too. Nothing is ever purely good or bad, or black and white, in fact most things are variable shades of grey.
Marionville
Level 10
July 15, 2018
2
Your argument has multiple flaws. I'm sure that a good number of people will be commenting after me, so I will focus on only one. I am a devout Atheist. I also give money to street people, donate platelets on a regular basis, and strive every day to live by the Golden Rule. My "acts of personal kindness and social good" have nothing to do with religion. The same can be said for many acts of kindness that are "unreported in the history books".
Fit50something
Level 7
July 15, 2018
3
@TheAstroChuck The post implies that "acts of personal kindness and social good" are motivated by religious beliefs. I contend that this blanket assertion is erroneous.
I remember watching video of a study where birds got food by pressing a bar, but whether or nto they got food was determined by a random number generator. Wht happened is the bird woudl try to repeat behaviors they did right before an instance where they got food. Some bird deve3loped very elaborate "rituals" before pressign the bar. My conclusion from that is that evolution has instilled in us to take notice of events that bring us success (as in ways to get food). The emphaiss on events do nto follow rational thinking, and so they arent' logical. That is how religion came to be.
Those of us who have risen above randomly weighing events, who use logic and think rational is the evolutionary introduction of a newer and different survival skill. Unfortunately that sill is still in development, and the older random assignment of significance to random events is still prevalent.
snytiger6
Level 9
July 15, 2018
0
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