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As mentioned in the Respect
document, there are many positive aspects to religion. Believers all over
the world do a lot of good in the name of their respective Gods and this
should not be forgotten.
Unfortunately, I believe that this good is far outweighed by
the harm that can also be caused by such beliefs. Admittedly, the same
argument I used for "good" theists may also be applied to
many "bad" theists - they are just doing the sort of thing
that they would probably be doing anyway, they just have a different
way of explaining their motives.
As an example, there are many extremely racist people who call
themselves Christians. Most people would say that to persecute someone
because of the amount of pigment in their skin is not quite in line
with Jesus' message. The racists would reply that they believe it is,
and would produce a long list of scripture interpretations to support
their views. If they had no religion, these people would probably still
do the same thing but would have to find a different way to justify
their actions.
But is it that simple? One problem is that religion is often
inherited - you grow up following the same religion as your parents
(if your parents are Christian, it is highly unlikely that you would
be Muslim and your sister Hindu). Children often grow up and adopt radically
different views on many other subjects, but the religion is right there
at the start and it sinks in at an early age - few parents teach their
three-year-olds about conservatism and socialism, but they will take
them along to church every Sunday. Religions usually encourage parents
to raise their children as followers of that religion. Few other types
of belief or philosophy (e.g. politics) do this.
Religion is not necessarily directly responsible for racism.
It is hard to imagine anyone reading the Bible and suddenly concluding
that whites are superior to blacks. If a person is a bigot already they
will use their religion as one more excuse to oppress people. The problem
is that this same religion will also encourage them to impose those
beliefs on their children, raising them as bigots and making them
think that God is on their side and that scripture supports this view.
They would very likely impose these views on their children
anyway, simply by raising them in a racist environment. However, the
use (or abuse) of religion can actively reinforce these views and help
to nationalize them and propagate them down through the generations.
That is one specific example of the sort of harm that religion can
do to society and individuals (teaching children to hate is nothing
less than child abuse). For a more general view, I'll quote from the
alt.atheism
FAQ :-
"What sort of harm?"
Religion represents a huge financial and work burden on mankind. It's not just a matter of religious believers wasting their
money on church buildings; think of all the time and effort spent building churches, praying, and so on. Imagine how that
effort could be better spent.
Many theists believe in miracle healing. There have been plenty of instances of ill people being "healed" by a priest, ceasing to
take the medicines prescribed to them by doctors, and dying as a result. Some theists have died because they have refused
blood transfusions on religious grounds.
It is arguable that the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control -- and condoms in particular -- is increasing the problem
of overpopulation in many third-world countries and contributing to the spread of AIDS world-wide.
Religious believers have been known to murder their children rather than allow their children to become atheists or marry
someone of a different religion. Religious leaders have been known to justify murder on the grounds of blasphemy.
There have been many religious wars. Even if we accept the argument that religion was not the true cause of those wars, it
was still used as an effective justification for them.
Religious zealotry over the centuries has been directly responsible
for countless deaths, imprisonments, needless suffering, torturings,
and the oppression of people on grounds of sex, race, colour, sexuality
or belief.
A few obvious examples :
- The Crusades.
- The Inquisition.
- Witch trials in Europe and America.
- The Divine right of Kings (valid until killed by another Divinely-appointed King).
- Missionaries destroying/converting smaller, "heathen" religions and cultures.
- Missionaries such as Mother Teresa.
- The demonization of other religions, e.g. Christianity demonizing
Pagans ("They're devil-worshippers!"), the Romans demonizing
Christians ("They're atheists and cannibals!").
- Persecution of Heretics - e.g. Galileo for
daring to suggest that the Earth orbits the Sun.
- Children dying because their parents refused them medical treatment on religious grounds;
relying instead on faith-healers and prayer.
- Slavery, supposedly supported by scripture ("Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect
and fear, just as you would obey Christ.", St.Paul, Ephesians 6:5)
- Holy wars - followers of different faiths (or even the same faith) killing each other in
the name of their (benevolent, loving and merciful) gods.
- The destruction of great works of art considered to be pornographic/blasphemous, and the
persecution of the artists.
- Censorship (often destructive) of speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs and, if possible, thought.
- Persecution/punishment of blasphemers (Salman Rushdie still has a death sentence on him),
and blasphemy laws in general.
- The requirement of theism in order to stand for public office or to testify in court.
- Serial killers believing they are doing the work of Satan (or sometimes Jesus).
- Often-fatal exorcisms by priests believing they are destroying the work of Satan.
- People suffering dreadful injury or death in the belief that their faith has made them
invulnerable (e.g. people climbing into lion enclosures at zoos, with a Bible as protection).
- Whole societies divided by minor differences in belief or doctrine, often resulting in violence.
- Mass suicides of cult-members following a charismatic leader who believes the world is about to End
(most recently, the Heaven's Gate and Solar Temple cults - there will be more as we approach the year 2000).
- The attempted genocide of followers of a particular faith (e.g. the Jewish Holocaust,
"ethnic cleansing" in former Yugoslavia).
- Blood sacrifices to appease the Gods, or to ensure a good harvest. (The Aztecs made
daily human sacrifices to ensure that
the Sun would rise. Or did they? )
- The practice of "female circumcision" (more accurately termed genital
mutilation).
- The discouragement of rational, critical thought (resulting in young-earth creationists, for example).
- Uncontrolled population growth caused (or at least helped) by churches prohibiting
birth-control and abortion. (You can also add : unwanted pregnancies,
ill-fated forced marriages, and pregnant teenagers condemned to a
life in mental institutions to avoid embarrassing their families.)
- The spread of sexually transmitted diseases (e.g. AIDS) due to churches prohibiting the use of condoms.
- Believers whipping, impaling, poisoning or crucifying themselves
during religious festivals as a demonstration of their faith and piety.
- Suicide bombers taught to believe that martyrs go straight to Paradise.
- The indoctrination of children into the religion of their parents, giving them an arbitrary,
life-long belief that is almost entirely dependent on their place of birth.
- Women treated as second-class citizens or even slaves (article : Islam's Shame).
- Pentecostal snake-handlers (Augusta Chronicle news article)
- Persecution of homosexuals (Genocide of gay and lesbian youth)
- Abuse of power, authority and trust by religious leaders (for financial gain or sexual abuse of followers and even children).
- Minor religions ("cults") stockpiling weapons to defend themselves from the Armies Of Satan
(i.e. the police and the government).
"Ah, but that was all years ago." you might say. Yes, it
was. Unfortunately, a lot of these things still go on today. Look through
the Freethought
Today Newsletter for "In the News", "Religious
Violence", and "You won't believe you're reading this"
articles. You might be surprised at how many children are killed each
year by well-meaning parents trying to exorcise demons, or people killed/imprisoned
by fundamentalists for trivial infringements of "holy laws".
People still persecute and kill each other safe in the knowledge that
God is on their side, and that they are in the right,
fighting for Holy Truth and Divine Justice.
It should be noted that many of these atrocities are caused as a direct
result of religious belief - if the person did not follow a particular
religion, or did not believe quite so strongly, then they simply would
not have acted as they did. Not only is religion used to reinforce/justify
a person's prejudices, it may also cause someone to commit an act of
violence that they would otherwise have considered abhorrent (i.e. the
mother who spent several hours beating her young daughter in order to
force out the devil that was making the child playfully turn cartwheels
in the house - resulting in the death of the child).
The benefits of religion (many of which may be achieved without
religious belief) can include spiritual well-being, charitable works,
a sense of meaning and purpose, the bringing together of communities,
comfort in times of distress and the (unconfirmed) promise of eternal
life after death.
How does this weigh against the other side of the scales?
James A. Haught's articles :
Miscellaneous:
A few starting points in the FFRF Newsletters:
© Adrian Barnett 1998,1999
Last updated : 23rd August 1998
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