It’s a tricky one I feel.
I do not personally have any great tie to any religion, and don’t really believe in God. Yes, religion has caused a lot of shit throughout history, but I often find the good it has done is all too easily rushed under the carpet.
its not religion that is the problem, and the heart of most of them the teachings are about love and understanding. It’s people, as Fatso says, that are cunts.
for all the war and conflict under religious banners, some truly horrific slaughters have occurred non-religions banners too. To me this suggest quite strongly that religion isn’t the problem, it’s us.
im sure even with out religion, people would find a reason to do unspeakable things to each other. Heck, just being from a different slab of rock on this planet is enough to invoke feelings of hate in some (seriously just go look at sfw right now), let alone people’s gender, sexuality or whatever you can think of. People will always find ways to hate.
Religion, for better or worse, is behind a lot of the morality that has a bearing on our everyday lives and throughout history has at times helped further our understanding of some things (clearly it has done the opposite of this too) and played large roles in communities all over and was the basis for a lot of early hospitals too. Could it be argued that these things probably would have happened without religion? Yes, that probably is quite likely. But equally, you can say the same about the bad things that occur as a result of organised religion.
greed, hatred, violence are sadly all pet of the human condition. Take away religion, people would still have found ways to carry out so many of the all things thrown at religion.
I’m heartened at reading people’s responses n here, and glad no one has really gone down the “man sat in the clouds route”. Something that is often forgotten is that for the most part, religion was more metaphorical than literal. It’s a pretty recent phenomenon where religious ideologues have started taking religious texts as absolute statements. This is why I fall short of labelling myself an atheist. Mostly due to not wanting to be associated with atheism, which is religion like in its devotion. Acting not much different than religious followers they think so little of.
people like Dawkins and Hitchens have a lot to do with this. For them, mocking religion and religious people is something of a sport. It’s pretty unbecoming, the former has also amassed something of an army of loathsome followers ready to jump all over anyone he happens to point at. Fuck that guy.
