Is religion inherently harmful?

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Zargon

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I have a friend who judges religious people very harshly. It's clear that religion has done a great deal of harm in the world, including massacres, pogroms, human sacrifice, extortion, fraud, wars, the 9/11 attacks, etc.

I said that these were the actions of extremists and that most religious people were not like that. His opinion is that run of the mill religious people are part of the problem, acting as enablers that allow such evil to be carried out because they aren't quick enough to condemn, expose and punish anyone who uses their religion for evil (though they're quick to point at wrongdoers of other religions).

In his opinion, those who believe because they're deluded enough to swallow the whole line and turn away from reason are bad and those who choose to believe knowing that there's no logical reason are just as bad, because they're promoting the idea that unreason is acceptable, which leads to all the above evil.

So is my friend right? Does believing in religion inherently harm society by undermining people's ability to judge rationally between right and wrong action and interfere with creating a good society?

I'm undecided on this question.
 
Religion hasn't done any of those things. A religion can't "do" anything. Those things were done by PEOPLE, some of whom professed to follow a specific religion, and many of whom committed such acts in rejection of what their religion taught.
 
I agree with your friend completely. If a person is a member of a religion, then they should follow and espouse every single view of that religion. If they did, then it is my belief that religion would quickly die out because religion is so extreme and people convince themselves that it isn't. For example, my family is Mormon. One of the things that the Mormon church believes is that gay people are sinners. My siblings and my father disagree with this belief, but still remain part of the Mormon church. If they had to either agree or leave, then they would leave and so would tons and tons of other people. Another example is Catholics. The Catholic church says that a person should not use birth control and that people should keep the sabbath day holy and follow the rules in the bible. But a majority of Catholics don't have a problem with birth control pills, don't go to church or do anything special to observe the sabbath day and many of them don't even know what is in the bible. Anyone who participates in a religion without knowing and agreeing with all of its teachings is a hypocrite and in my opinion, a healthy society is an honest society.
 
So ... let's get this straight. Your friend is without fault? Your friend is without sin? Your friend is a perfect judge of all that is true and righteous? Your friend has judged all the world's religions and their followers and your friend pronounces everyone but himself guilty?

And let me guess ... your friend never once considered the evils imposed on the world by Godless countries and individuals? Your friend finds NO FAULT in communism, socialism, fascism, Nazism, etc. It's religion and faith that your friend finds to be the problem?

You tell me ...

1. Does that sound logical to you?
2. Does your friend seem just a smidge biased? Or does he come off as totally impartial?
 
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