“Religion Does More Harm than Good”
This is no doubt a touchy subject, but I won't beat around the bush with it. Religion
simply does much more harm than it does good. Let me first say that I am referring to all
religion, but primarily I refer to the three major monotheistic religions of the world,
namely Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It has been demonstrated time and time again
that not only do they do barely any good for the world, but in fact they have a severe
adverse effect on humanity as a whole. My argument is centered around religion being a
direct cause of a certain event or way of thinking (good or bad) as well as deep seeded
emotional goods and bads directly caused by religion.
1)Religion causing harm physically
Indeed, it would be difficult to disagree that religion has done a lot of physical harm to
people over the years. The following are just a few examples of this; September 11
attacks on the USA, beheadings in the middle east, the murder of abortion doctors in the
USA, continued suicide bombings in the middle east, the bombing of abortion clinics in
the USA, and of course everyone's favorite, the Crusades…
Ask yourself this, would these atrocities have occurred if these people were not religious?
I say no. Why blow yourself up in a school bus if you don't genuinely believe that you are
going to be rewarded in an afterlife? Why face the death penalty for killing a doctor in his
home if you don't think you are doing "God's" work? I contend that religion is a direct
cause of these things.
2)Religion causing harm mentally
All religions require some degree of faith. Most religions require adherence to scripture
(certainly the three monotheistic religions do). In my mind, the concept of faith is a
childish one. People shouldn't believe anything upon insufficient evidence, the concept of
“believing in X because the Bible/Koran/Torah says so” is not only irresponsibly
ignorant, but downright dangerous. Imagine a world where people are educated with this
frame of mind, in faith. Are we to teach our children that the right way to think is to think
without questioning?
3)Possible goods done by religion
Probably the most prominent thing to look at for this would be to look at groups such as
the Salvation Army. Group that give food to the homeless, that provide shelter for the
needy, and give presents to orphans on Christmas. Of course I have no problem with
what they are doing, I think it is great of them. But you have to ask, is the sole cause of
their generosity their religion? …Would these people be drastically different if they
weren't religious? I don't think they would be. I don't think a humanitarian worker would
stop working if their religion were to disappear. And if they would stop working then you
have to question their legitimacy of their actions. Were they just being nice because they
were 'forced'? Keeping in mind that not all members of these organizations are religious
you have to ask another question. Is there a correlation between religiosity and morality?
The answer to that is no.
- Posted by “Biowza” at Debate.com, 06/25/08