Cross-posted at www.andrewwarner.org.
The Colbert Report's guest last night is the writer of an intriguing book, one I am certain to speed through when I can get my hands on it.
The End of Faith by Sam Harris discusses how our acceptance of people's religious beliefs, especially when those beliefs fly in the face of reason, breaks down society and destroys our country.
I was impressed watching Harris discuss this taboo topic with the always satirical Stephen Colbert. It's hard to imagine someone that would dare step on the toes of the faithful, since religious intolerance is so out of style in our country right now. Religion gets lumped into categories of discrimination like race, age, or gender, though it is hardly deserving of the same sensitivity.
Logically speaking, the existence of God (in the Christian sense) is an idea that is incredibly easy to defeat:
God is all powerful
God is all loving
There is extreme suffering in the world
In other words, a god who loves everyone equally and has the power to do anything his will desires, would not allow a person to starve, suffer through the extreme pain of chemotherapy, live in a ditch by the side of the road, get raped, or any other type of real suffering.
Apparently this God people put so much faith in prefers to sit on the sidelines and watch his "loved ones" go through exquisite amounts of pain, I guess as part of "the plan." I like to think my mom loves me unconditionally, I certainly hope she wouldn't let me suffer if she was an all powerful being with the ability to stop my pain at the flick of a wand, or however God carries out his bidding.
The casual religious person, when backed into a corner, may concede the absolute truth of God and say something like "well, it helps me be a better person," or "it helps society function."
There is a definite truth, though by no means absolute truth, to those statements. A lot of great people do amazing things in the name of religion, donate time or clothing to help a cause like fighting homelessness. Mother Theresa did great things for the world and countless individuals and she felt she was carrying out the will of her god. Would she have been a prostitute or a thief if she was an atheist? I don't think so.
The laws of religion do help members of society "stay in line," so to speak. People may be less inclined to murder someone if they believe their is an eternal price to be paid in the fiery pits of hell, others may feel inclined to just generally treat other people well when reading their badge of honor, their "What would Jesus do" bracelets.
But this device of religion, capable of accomplishing great things, is also capable of killing countless innocent people, destroying our environment, and the oppression or abuse of millions.
I recognized the controlling power of religion when I first read about Hinduism. The ideas of Dharma and Karma are some of the greatest controlling devices ever created by organized religion, perhaphs Bush will find a way to insert them into Christianity. Essentially these religious laws say this: Do your job and know your role, whether that be peasant, slave, or king, and you will be reborn into a life that is better than this one. This way the migrant worker who works a twelve hour day under the beating heat of the sun, can't afford to feed his or her daughter, and lives in a shack, will not dare speak out against the oil tycoon's son who's born with a silver spoon in his mouth and potty trained on a golden toilet seat. With such a powerful religious law, if they can get people to believe it, the powers that be have stifled dissent and kept the lower classes in order-- who would revolt if they honestly believed in their heart they would be reborn as a rat or cockroach?
Religion is no longer serving the masses of society, but only the higher ups who speak of faith whenever they want to make people dance like puppets confined by tight strings. We now see it every election cycle with "values issues" and anti-gay religious babble. We have an administration that doesn't mind ignoring the environment because their faith, based on no facts of course, says that Jesus will come back before the planet is destroyed.
When religion contradicts the facts generated by science and logic, puts our future in jeopardy, encourages discrimination, and risks the lives of future generations (yes, your children and grandchildren), should we continue to show tolerance for these dangerous and intolerant beliefs? Do you show religious tolerance for the Muslims who flew their planes into the trade towers (that's right, I can use 9/11 too)?
Richard Dawkins from the Guardian says this about Harris' book, which I think sums up these thoughts nicely:
"[some] blame extremists who "distort the "true message of religion. Harris goes to the root of the problem: religion itself. Even moderate religion is a menace, because it leads us to respect and Âcherish the idea that certain fantastic propositions can be believed without evidence". Why do men like Bin Laden commit their hideous cruelties? The answer is that they actually believe what they say they believe". Read Sam Harris and wake up."
Independent U.K. points out there is a wall around religious faith that insulates it from criticism. As religion continues to divide and hurt our country, we need to pull these walls down and call a spade a spade.