Religion Is Not Always Good

[QUINNSCOMMENTARY]

Recently, the legislature in Iran voted a law making apostasy subject to the death penalty. In Afghanistan proselytizing is illegal and this week a 34 year old female aid worker was gunned down by the Taliban who said she was spreading her religion. In India, Hindus are telling Christians to leave their villages or their homes will be burned and they will be killed, Muslims in the Saudi Arabia teach hatred of Jews in school books, so much for the farce of being tolerant..

All this got me to thinking; does religion do more harm than good? Certainly many people find comfort and peace in their religious beliefs, and many good things come from religion, but on the other hand religion can be traced as the root cause for many wars, torture, intolerance and any number of things that one would associate with being counter to goodness, peace and love.

Religion started with the quest to deal with the unknown, like death, the weather, hardships, etc. it then developed into hundreds, if not thousands of variations each believing their view to be the correct one for all mankind. How is that possible?

How can religion be both good and evil? I submit it is the involvement of human beings that distort and pervert any religion and that the unfortunate truth is that organized religion is a tool in the hands of man, sometimes very beneficial but often just the opposite when it suites those in power. If that is true, then whatever religion one embraces is irrelevant as long as it does not seek dominance over other beliefs.

Over the history of man has religion done more harm than good? How is it possible for their to be one “right” religion when there are so many religions and our personal religion is more often than not, a happenstance of our birth?

[Ted]

quinn

An excellent question Worthy of much thought.

Personally I believe that the problem lies with the extremists on all sides. The extremists take an otherwise valid and valued faith and turn it into a tool to be used, not for good, but their own evil purposes. Exclusivism is a profoundly divisive idea and hurts many folks around the world. These are not from the divine in any way.

The two basic roots of all the great faiths are justice (distributive) and compassion. You are correct in noticing there is not a great deal of that in all faiths.

Shalom
Ted

[Lon]

Religion seems to imbue some with guilt that should feel no guilt and others with fear that should not be fearful. I understand the roots of Self Flagellation, Christians & Muslims, good night!!! I have met so many mentally disturbed people, where their mental state has been brought on by religion. I am one that has less than positive opinions about the whole religious experience. The past three days of visiting my new great grand daughter and family, some 30 people (all Evangelicals) who pray for this poor heathen of a great grand dad on a regular basis. I appreciate that, but really not necessary. Boy---------am I the outsider.

[Ted]

Lon

I can agree with a good deal of that post.

The use of fear and guilt is reprehensible and dangerous.

Shalom
Ted

[wildhorses]

Religion can be a source of comfort during hard times....and life gives us plenty of hard times. Religion is good for spiritual nourishment and strength. But I think religion is most productive when kept to oneself.

The problem starts when people from any religion try to control others beliefs....or force their religion on others. They think everyone has to believe in their religion. Maybe they feel threatened....I don't know.

Organized religion is notorious for trying to control followers and non followers alike. It is this attempt at control that destroys the spiritual nature of religion. Then it is no longer religion....but some form of politics. Organized religion is also about making money and recruiting followers...not to save them, but to make money from them.

[Ted]

wild

I can certainly agree with the first two paragraphs. Just look at the fundamentalist thread in Christianity.

Shalom
Ted

[Ted]

I do think wild is correct in the comment re insecurity. It seems to me that what many folks really need to boost their confidence is for others to agree with them. So much for faith.

Shalom
Ted

Originally Posted by Ted

I do think wild is correct in the comment re insecurity. It seems to me that what many folks really need to boost their confidence is for others to agree with them. So much for faith.
Shalom
Ted

On the other hand, their faith may be more pure as they trust that faith and don't need for it to be proved and backed up by other scholars.

[Ted]

JAB

It seems to me that the burning desire is to gain security by having as many folks as possible agree with them. The same holds true in the necessity for an inerrant Bible. They need a contract signed sealed and delivered to boost their security. This it would seem to me shows a decided lack of trust in the divine.

I've been there and done that.

Shalom
Ted

Originally Posted by Ted

JAB

It seems to me that the burning desire is to gain security by having as many folks as possible agree with them. The same holds true in the necessity for an inerrant Bible. They need a contract signed sealed and delivered to boost their security. This it would seem to me shows a decided lack of trust in the divine.

I've been there and done that.

Shalom
Ted

Not unlike all the scholars that you say agree with you...?