Is religion evil?

Vikki and I have stayed civil, but we disagree.

She says religion as a "governing force" is evil. I think it's dangerously inaccurate to say so.

Her view is colored, understandably, by the Fundamentalist mindsets that she saw around her growing up, and that we all now see, in many guises, around every corner.

My perspective is colored by the kindly (if sometimes ineffectual) rabbis of my youth, the spiritually relaxed but intellectually charged and questioning environment of my native religion, and the spiritual journey of my adulthood.

(That includes Zen Buddhism, which is a lot of things, but evil it ain't. Perhaps because it tries to be a governing force only in the life of the individual determined to end suffering, and because it has no ruling orthodoxy.)

I've told her that calling organized religion a force for evil is like calling America "the Great Satan:" it overlooks the individual bad actors that give a benevolent force its bad name. It demonizes indiscriminately. It misses the deeper, resonant truths, the story wired into us that we must strive to understand and live out to its highest level. It scourges spiritual seeking with the whip of dogmatic rigidity.

I've told her that it is too easy to dismiss organized religion in this way.

She says that insisting that holy books are the Word of God, and advocating "killing [of] infidels and adulterers --two of my favorite kinds of people,"  cannot be impulses of a benevolent force. Anywhere, she says, that voices of dissent and innovation are drowned out, or forcibly silenced, are places where darkness lives.

I see my Judaism as a discipline that requires faithful attention, not a harsh road demanding blind faith.

But, hey, maybe I've got it all wrong.

It's important for those who follow an established religious path, and those who for whatever reason don't, to keep the lines open. Perhaps it's never been more important than now.

What think you?

And please: keep it civil.

--T.A.

Comments

[Richard Lawrence Cohen]

Here's a vote for your side!

[reader_iam]

Well, no offense, but to put it bluntly, I found the post to which you respond profoundly unilluminating and unoriginal. I've had better conversations with young teen-aged atheists in my time, let alone adults. (For the record, I number far more agnostics, and even atheists, among my closest and longest-term of friends, and I don't easily offend during religious debates.)

The word choice and tone alone, to me, scream bad faith, and I ain't talkin' religion here. And the brush wielded is broad enough to paint the Great Wall of China in almost one fell swoop.

But I admire you for tilting at windmills, nonetheless.

I'm generally not this blunt, but I was actually surprised to follow the end of this link path (which didn't start here).

[reader_iam]

Replace "follow" with "to get to" ....

And I find extremism in attitude and word choice to be dangerous in any flavor.

[grizzly]

One question, have you tried to think 'what religion is' . My suggestion will be to 'observe', everything! Why is religion there in the first place, why is it so universal. Why do different prayer groups have uniforms, why music , why rituals?? Why?Why?Why?
Why would you stick to one religion, when there are 1000's , because it is 'yours' . Are the others wrong, what is the point of religion?

Know the answers to any of these? Well i do, and its all biological. So just think

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Years ago I was doing the Twelve Steps practice. The toughest part, for me as someone who grew up with fundamentalist roots, was dealing with the notion of a Higher Power. The Daddy God of the Bible struck me as the ultimate abusive parent, and parental abuse was one of the core things I was trying to deal with; turning things over to another abusive parent, especially a transcendentally powerful one, just wasn't in the cards.

I wonder if the, uh, more vigorous atheists aren't dealing with something like that.

(BTW, the answer for me was eventually qi.)

[Richard Edward Noble]

Is Religion evil? Bertrand Russell in his "Why I'm Not a Christian" discusses this in relation to Christianity. His attitude and ideas are noteworthy. After reading several of your blogs, I find it interesting to hear you defending religion. I really can't imagine that you are a welcome sight at the local synagogue.
I'm torn on the subject myself. There are so many religious people who actually do good things. I never quite understand how this behavior correlates with the philosophical principles of their particular faiths.
I guess it goes like this ... if a belief in Santa Claus makes you a better, nicer person what's the harm? Obviously when you start killing people who can't seems to see Santa as you do - we all have a problem.
Faith, as I see it, is believing to be fact, what cannot be established reasonably or logically. The acceptance of an "unconfirmed suspicion" as factual truth. I don't think this can be a good thing. Yet I wouldn't call it evil either.
You are obviously a thoughtful individual. But I wouldn't call you Jewish. A Jew is a member of a particular religious group, and not an ethnic or national origin or race of people - is it not?

[david]

Wow: I've been called a lot of things. But "not Jewish" has never been one of them, til now!

Actually, although Judaism has its origins in a group of tribes (which implies some genetic commonality), anyone who wants to be Jewish, can be. And I want to be. And since I was born Jewish, I am.

[Vikki]

If I am the "vigorous atheist" being referred to in the comment from Charlie (Colorado), I would just like to say that no, my parents were not abusive, thanks for asking. In fact, they weren't even particularly religious. I was "baptised" Unitarian (do they call it that when it's Unitarian? I dunno.) but I think that was to appease some older family members, as I cannot remember ever going to church with my parents when I was growing up. My mother in the years after her divorce did return to the Methodist church of her youth, and although I cannot condone their hateful teachings, my mother seems to take most of what they preach with a grain of salt.

For the record, I am also not an alcoholic, and not a 12-stepper of any stripe.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Our society seems obsessed with attributing people's opinions or ways of life or problems to some sort of corresponding childhood abuse, so I guess I will overlook the vaguely insulting nature of that comment and chalk it up to Oprahness.

And for the record, I am not out to spoil the Christians' fun. It's just my own humble, hopefully funny, and decidedly non-scholarly opinion that they are full of shit.

[Tamar]

"I am a citizen of the world and my religion is to do good."

I guess Thomas Paine said that.