Six Reasons Religion May Do More Harm Than Good

Notorious troublemaker.

An atheist friend has linked the following piece to his Facebook feed:

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/17/6_reasons_why_religion_does_more_harm_than_good_partner/

I'd like to respond, point by point.

1. Religion promotes tribalism.

Anything designed to bring people together—families, neighbourhoods, languages, telephones, governments, religions, Rotary Clubs—also, as a secondary effect, drives them apart. That is, those who are not part of the group are by its very existence more distinctly separate. But this is a secondary effect. Would the world be better if all such organizations were abolished? Pretty obviously not. Nasty, brutish, and short are the words that come to mind. And it makes no sense to single out religion here, except that it is the one organization that most reliably promotes the idea of the brotherhood of all.

Arguably, the presence of this undesirable secondary effect means we should strive to belong to the largest possible such organizations, since the larger they are, the more people they include and the fewer they exclude. We should have larger families, promote international organizations, and so forth. So, welcome to the Catholic Church, by most measures the world’s largest organization of any kind.

2. Religion anchors believers to the Iron Age.

This unchanging element of religion would be a concern if either truth or morality changed over time. But a truth that changes over time is never really true, and cannot ever be relied or built upon. If tomorrow, one plus one should suddenly equal seven, a lot of things would fall apart. Science, for one; bridges, for another. In the same way, morality that changes over time is no morality: if it is possible that tomorrow, murder may become the most moral of acts, then murder is not really immoral even now.

Of course, while truth cannot change, circumstances do. Religions understand this. This is why lending money at interest is no longer considered usury: because falling into unpayable debt no longer results in slavery or life in prison. And this is why to Catholics capital punishment is no longer justified: prison systems and better policing are now capable of dissuading and preventing further murders.

That religions retain some elements from as far back as the Iron Age is not a problem. God forbid we should respect our ancestors? Should we really assume they were wrong about everything? But it would be absolutely discrediting if religions retained nothing in terms of faith or morals from even as recently as the Iron Age. If that were so, we would have to presume that everything they teach now would similarly be obsolete a couple of millennia from now. Leaving no known truth.

Gullible believer.

3. Religion makes a virtue out of faith.

The piece acknowledges that “faith” in the religious sense means “trust.” It is troublesome, therefore, that it nevertheless holds that trust is a bad thing. It may not be cunning to trust; it may not always be in one’s self-interest. But if morality was always in one’s own self-interest, there would be no morality to it. If we did not trust one another to a reasonable extent, society would collapse. The more we trust one another, the more peaceful and prosperous society becomes. We therefore owe it to the general welfare to trust one another. Let alone God, who is self-evidently worthy of it.

4. Religion diverts generous impulses and good intentions.

This claim is tautological, because it makes sense only if you assume that religion itself is worthless; which is what it purports to demonstrate. If religion has value, contributions to religion have value. But it also relies on the fallacy of the false alternative: that people must give either to religion or to secular charities, and cannot give to both. In fact, studies show that the religious give more to both religions and to other charities than the non-religious. This is no doubt due to the fact that religions preach charity.

5. Religion teaches helplessness.

This is tautological in the same way: it can only be maintained on the assumption that God does not exist. If he does exist, it is only rational to rely on him. Only if he does not exist is the point arguable.

But even if he does not, the case for human self-reliance does not look all that good in practice. This rap against religion is the classic Marxist one, and the various Marxist attempts to improve the human condition by main force do not make a good impression. So too in personal life: one is reminded of the first three of AA’s twelve steps:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Power-mad tyrant.

6. Religions seek power.

What sort of power? The power of persuasion? Religions are voluntary associations; they cannot legally compel their members, much less anyone else, to do anything. You don’t like what you hear, you are always free to walk out that door. Nobody can stop you.

If you are worried about organizations seeking power, limit them all to the same rules religions live by.