I think the concept of religion is dangerous because it removes individual responsibility and replaces it with "the will of God".
During human history, people have done some horrible things in the name of religion, horrible things that they would have never done if there hadn't been a "higher power" telling them to do so. Current example is suicide bombers. You would never get these people to do these terrible acts if there weren't the promise of martyr's afterlife with a bunch of virgins.
I think someone said "evil people do evil things, but only religion makes good people do evil things.".
I've heard many similar sentiments, musings and conclusions before. They do seem to make a lot of sense.
And I believe this is because
they are half-right. But if I may be so bold as to… perhaps not make a correction, but a modification.
As I mentioned earlier, I am in complete agreement with condemning fanaticism, particularly when, “faith replaces thought, rather than complements it.” Please forgive the vanity of quoting myself. I understand that is what Scaredgirl means when she says, “it removes individual responsibility and replaces it with "the will of God".”
This often happens with religions, as the zeal of pursuing something believed to be right and true leads the impressionable to be misled by those who seek to manipulate others for their own purposes. But this is not an inherent, intrinsic flaw contained within the concept of religion. There is no faith or creed which overtly states, “Please leave your brain at the door. Thinking will lead to expulsion from the flock.” Rather, this is what happens when you include humans in it.
Human are rotten. We really are. Why do you think we use the phrase, “It’s human nature”, when we describe something negative someone has done? We are, by and large, greedy, self-focussed creatures at heart. Sure, some are worse than others. Some are better. But we are all very, very fallible.
Another saying you may have heard is, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That is, the more power you give to a fallible human, the more it will affect them adversely as their human nature is allowed to influence more people, reach greater heights - and depths – of achievement, and then fights tooth and nail to retain that power.
The common error to fall into, not just with religion, but with any institution we have, is to link the reprehensible behaviour of the humans in it to the institution itself. There have been some horrible things done in the name of religion, as Scaredgirl says, by some horrible people. There have also been horrible things done by lawyers in the name of the law, politicians in the name of politics, scientists in the name of science… Does it therefore mean that the field they were working in, or the cause they claimed to follow, was to blame? Or was it human nature?
If you examine some of these horrible things done in the name of religion, I think you will also find some very strong social and political factors at work as well, and a group of people fighting desperately and savagely to hold onto their power with by means necessary.
Religion is not so often the cause as it is the excuse.
