Religion

We all want to believe the truth. Science and Religion both claim it, but they go about finding it in quite different ways. Religion is introspective, but often its tenets are dictated from authority. Dictated beliefs work particularly well for children, who can be imprinted for life with ideas that are unbelievable.

Science, on the other hand, painstakingly looks at evidence, discusses issues in peer-reviewed journals, tests repeatedly. The result is we have learned a lot in the last 2000 years. We are the first generations to see the earth photographs from space. In several kinds of forensic evidence there is a record of evolution.

Now that we know that the earth is fragile, and that we have plundered it severely, we should be careful that it remains habitable. There are no other habitable planets anywhere in sight.

The 'religious' among us are mostly in denial and, with massive corporate backing have all but declared war on science, are keen to continue as usual. Their beliefs are a hindrance to education, further progress, and sensible policy. The welfare state infringes church turf so, even if people suffer, Republicans oppose it.

Things that can't last, won't. We may go the way of the dinosaurs if we don't grow up and face facts.

Religion has gotten a free pass from the press. It has motivated political unrest, racism, terrorism, superstition, willful ignorance, war on science, genocide, and war, but no one seems to blame it for those things.

It indoctrinates children in a way that marks them for life. It denies death, promises reward in the afterlife or everlasting agony for non-believers. It pacifies many people faced with extreme income inequality.

It thinks it can do better than the welfare state. It can not. Still, it seeks to impose its beliefs on hospitals, schools, and government. Many Republicans favor theocracy.

It is not just Muslims who cling to medieval customs, other major religions have equally unsupportable, and often disgusting beliefs.

Congratulate the Swiss and the French for waking up to the problem by outlawing the burke.

Christian Right

Christian fundamentalists have something in common with the Taliban: they too would like to take over government so they can have it their way. They have become an adjunct of the Republican Party and are therefore complicit in the destruction of US prosperity, civil liberties, peace, security, and the well-being of the people.

We have a healthcare system that is a major cause of unnecessary deaths, bankruptcies, suffering, corruption, widespread insecurity, economic dislocation, but Christian supremacists demand that their objections to abortion (because the unborn are more important to them than the living) be written into law.

They may be in the US, but they are no different than the Taliban. They condone violence. Their policy is made by excluding women, and it takes no account that the earth is unsustainably overpopulated now. Since mainstream religions do not preach or act in the public interest, their tax exempt status should be revoked.

There is a credible argument that the cold war, the wars in the Middle East, and other American wars have been substantially motivated by religion. (Bush's "Axis of Evil" explanation had religious overtones. Washington has had more than its share of Christian supremacists at the highest levels.)

Religion as Big Business

"The Mormon church owns a $16 billion insurance company, at least $6 billion in stocks, and $172 million chain of radio stations, as well as more than 150 farms and ranches, which easily places the church among the largest landowners in the nation." Chris Lehmann: How Mormon economics shape the GOP: Harper's October 2011.

Catholics

It is a given that all institutions seek to expand their turf. The Catholic Church has always encouraged large families, indoctrinated children early, and defended primogeniture. Like other major religions, it also makes second class citizens of women. See Abortion.

Assuming the very altruistic become clergy, isn't it possible that the commitment to celibacy can breed that characteristic out of the population ?

Muslims

Atheists

About the Bible

Religion has always been politically useful. See this note. It has been a pretext for war, and the destruction of the (political) opposition. Non believers are heathens and can, without guilt, be abused or slaughtered. This righteousness accompanied colonial exploitation, brutal treatment of indigenous populations, the genocides of the American Indians, and the Jews in Germany. That's the Christian tradition. Jews are in the process of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians. Muslims have a long history of genocide also.

It keeps people in their place, promising a glorious next life in spite of misery they may be experiencing in this one. Thus it allows economic elites to ignore the poverty stricken even though biblical texts favor the poor. (About the Inquisition.) Women are treated as a lower class.

It provides a sense of exceptionalism. After all, religion promises to convey the ultimate truth and those who know it will be the chosen ones or the saved ones. It motivates the strong man dictator to megalomania, divinity, and it enables the spread of empire. It requires suspension of critical faculties, and demands unwavering belief on faith. That is why it is usually in conflict with science.

It confers legitimacy to rulers who are cloaked in it. George W Bush, for true believers, was chosen by God, and it was his right to declare war on his own initiative. Hitler also made such claims. Many empires have used it as justification for bloody expansion. (About the Donatists.) Many heads of state have declared themselves divine.

It indoctrinates and imprints children when they are very young so that they will absorb propaganda that is beyond reason. A thorough indoctrination makes them much less able to do serious scientific work. A country which is a theocracy is probably incapable of serious technological development, civilized behavior, or sensible policy.

As population pressure causes resource problems, the church simply ignores the situation until catastrophe occurs. Then it is regarded as the will of God. The unintended consequence may appear to be Armageddon. True conservatives would be very careful of this planet because it is the only one that can support humanity. Because the faithful think the end is near, they are oblivious to the condition of the environment.

Fundamentalist religion usually has as its unstated goal, a desire to take over the State, the better to expand and enforce their views on everyone. It is easy to see that it is a major cause of terrorism and war. People who believe in rich rewards in the 'afterlife' have an incentive to become suicide bombers, or, as seen at abortion clinics, murderers of people who disagree.

People persuaded to believe based on faith will believe anything...even if it is apocalyptic.

Considering that much war and terrorism are motivated by religion, should organized religion really be tax exempt ?

Bibliography

The God Strategy, How Religion Became A Political Weapon in America: David Domke and Kevin Coe

A moral reckoning : the role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its unfulfilled duty of repair / Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.

Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment: Phil Zuckerman

The thesis of Kirby's excellent introduction is that the Cold War was one of history's great religious wars, 'a global conflict between the god-fearing and the godless'. (p. 1) It was a war in which 'Christianity was appropriated by Western propagandists and policy-makers for their anti-communist arsenal' (p. 2), nowhere more so than in the USA. But in addition, as this volume demonstrates, Christianity was not simply a tool of psychological warfare. Church leaders were not merely pawns in a political game; they were active participants. Their flocks were not only recipients of propaganda; for millions religious faith was central to their lives. This fact is most vividly demonstrated in the several chapters that deal with the Catholic Church and Pope Pius XII during the early years of the Cold War.

Film/Video

Constantine's Sword (a history of anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church based on James Carroll's book of the same name. Explores the link between the U.S. military and the Christian right.)