What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity - Religion - Nairaland
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| What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Nobody: 9:35pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity? What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity If not To Promote Hate?? 1.Religion promotes tribalism. Infidel, heathen, heretic. Religion divides insiders from outsiders. Rather than assuming good intentions, adherents often are taught to treat outsiders with suspicion. “Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers,” says the Christian Bible. “They wish that you disbelieve as they disbelieve, and then you would be equal; therefore take not to yourselves friends of them,” says the Koran (Sura 4:91). At best, teachings like these discourage or even forbid the kinds of friendship and intermarriage that help clans and tribes become part of a larger whole. At worst, outsiders are seen as enemies of God and goodness, potential agents of Satan, lacking in morality and not to be trusted. Believers might huddle together, anticipating martyrdom. When simmering tensions erupt, societies fracture along sectarian fault lines. 2.Religion anchors believers to the Iron Age. Concubines, magical incantations, chosen people, stonings . . . The Iron Age was a time of rampant superstition, ignorance, inequality, racism, misogyny, and violence. Slavery had God’s sanction. Women and children were literally possessions of men. Warlords practiced scorched earth warfare. Desperate people sacrificed animals, agricultural products, and enemy soldiers as burnt offerings intended to appease dangerous gods. Sacred texts including the Bible, Torah and Koran all preserve and protect fragments of Iron Age culture, putting a god’s name and endorsement on some of the very worst human impulses. Any believer looking to excuse his own temper, sense of superiority, warmongering, bigotry, or planetary destruction can find validation in writings that claim to be authored by God. Today, humanity’s moral consciousness is evolving, grounded in an ever deeper and broader understanding of the Golden Rule. But many conservative believers can’t move forward. They are anchored to the Iron Age. This pits them against change in a never-ending battle that consumes public energy and slows creative problem solving 3. Religion makes a virtue out of faith. Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus. So sing children in Sunday schools across America. The Lord works in mysterious ways, pastors tell believers who have been shaken by horrors like brain cancer or a tsunami. Faith is a virtue. As science eats away at territory once held by religion, traditional religious beliefs require greater and greater mental defenses against threatening information. To stay strong, religion trains believers to practice self-deception, shut out contradictory evidence, and trust authorities rather than their own capacity to think. This approach seeps into other parts of life. Government, in particular, becomes a fight between competing ideologies rather than a quest to figure out practical, evidence-based solutions that promote wellbeing. 4. Religion diverts generous impulses and good intentions. Feeling sad about Haiti? Give to our mega-church. Crass financial appeals during times of crisis thankfully are not the norm, but religion does routinely redirect generosity in order to perpetuate religion itself. Generous people are encouraged to give till it hurts to promote the church itself rather than the general welfare. Each year, thousands of missionaries throw themselves into the hard work of saving souls rather than saving lives or saving our planetary life support system. Their work, tax free, gobbles up financial and human capital. Besides exploiting positive moral energy like kindness or generosity, religion often redirects moral disgust and indignation, attaching these emotions to arbitrary religious rules rather than questions of real harm. Orthodox Jews spend money on wigs for women and double dishwashers. Evangelical parents, forced to choose between righteousness and love, kick queer teens out onto the street. Catholic bishops impose righteous rules on operating rooms. 5. Religion teaches helplessness. Que sera, sera—what will be will be. Let go and let God.We’ve all heard these phrases, but sometimes we don’t recognize the deep relationship between religiosity and resignation. In the most conservative sects of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, women are seen as more virtuous if they let God manage their family planning. Droughts, poverty and cancer get attributed to the will of God rather than bad decisions or bad systems; believers wait for God to solve problems they could solve themselves. This attitude harms society at large as well as individuals. When today’s largest religions came into existence, ordinary people had little power to change social structures either through technological innovation or advocacy. Living well and doing good were largely personal matters. When this mentality persists, religion inspires personal piety without social responsibility. Structural problems can be ignored as long as the believer is kind to friends and family and generous to the tribal community of believers. 6. Religions seek power. Think corporate personhood. Religions are man-made institutions, just like for-profit corporations are. And like any corporation, to survive and grow a religion must find a way to build power and wealth and compete for market share. Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity—any large enduring religious institution is as expert at this as Coca-cola or Chevron. And just like for-profit behemoths, they are willing to wield their power and wealth in the service of self-perpetuation, even it harms society at large. In fact, unbeknown to religious practitioners, harming society may actually be part of religion’s survival strategy. In the words of sociologist Phil Zuckerman and researcher Gregory Paul, “Not a single advanced democracy that enjoys benign, progressive socio-economic conditions retains a high level of popular religiosity.” When people feel prosperous and secure the hold of religion weakens. Holy War– If war can be holy, anything goes. The medieval Roman Catholic Church conducted a twenty year campaign of extermination against heretical Cathar Christians in the south of France, promising their land and possessions to real Christians who signed on as crusaders. Sunni and Shia Muslims have slaughtered each other for centuries. The Hebrew scriptures recount battle after battle in which their war God, Yahweh, helps them to not only defeat but also exterminate the shepherding cultures that occupy their “Promised Land.” As in later holy wars, like the modern rise of ISIS, divine sanction let them kill the elderly and children, burn orchards, and take virgin females as sexual slaves—all while retaining a sense of moral superiority. Blasphemy – Blasphemy is the notion that some ideas are inviolable, off limits to criticism, satire, debate, or even question. By definition, criticism of these ideas is an outrage, and it is precisely this emotion–outrage–that the crime of blasphemy evokes in believers. The Bible prescribes death for blasphemers; the Quran does not, but death-to-blasphemers became part of Shariah during medieval times. The idea that blasphemy must be prevented or avenged has caused millions of murders over the centuries and countless other horrors. As I write, blogger Raif Badawi awaits round after round of flogging in Saudi Arabia—1000 lashes in batches of 50—while his wife and children plead from Canada for the international community to do something. Glorified suffering – Picture secret societies of monks flogging their own backs. The image that comes to mind is probably from Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code, but the idea isn’t one he made up. A core premise of Christianity is that righteous torture—if it’s just intense and prolonged enough–can somehow fix the damage done by evil, sinful behavior. Millions of crucifixes litter the world as testaments to this belief. Shia Muslims beat themselves with lashes and chains during Aashura, a form of sanctified suffering called Matam that commemorates the death of the martyr Hussein. Self-denial in the form of asceticism and fasting is a part of both Eastern and Western religions, not only because deprivation induces altered states but also because people believe suffering somehow brings us closer to divinity. Our ancestors lived in a world in which pain came unbidden, and people had very little power to control it. An aspirin or heating pad would have been a miracle to the writers of the Bible, Quran, or Gita. Faced with uncontrollable suffering, the best advice religion could offer was to lean in or make meaning of it. The problem, of course is that glorifying suffering—turning it into a spiritual good—has made people more willing to inflict it on not only themselves and their enemies but also those who are helpless, including the ill or dying (as in the case of Mother Teresa and the American Bishops) and children (as in the child beating Patriarchy movement). Genital mutilation – Primitive people have used scarification and other body modifications to define tribal membership for as long as history records. But genital mutilation allowed our ancestors several additional perks—if you want to call them that. Infant circumcision in Judaism serves as a sign of tribal membership, but circumcision also serves to test the commitment of adult converts. In one Bible story, a chieftain agrees to convert and submit his clan to the procedure as a show of commitment to a peace treaty. (While the men lie incapacitated, the whole town is then slain by the Israelites.) In Islam, painful male circumcision serves as a rite of passage into manhood, initiation into a powerful club. By contrast, in some Muslim cultures cutting away or burning the female clitoris and labia ritually establishes the submission of women by reducing sexual arousal and agency. An estimated 2 million girls annually are subjected to the procedure, with consequences including hemorrhage, infection, painful urination and death. Male Ownership of Female Fertility – The notion of women as brood mares or children as assets likely didn’t originate with religion, but the idea that women were created for this purpose, that if a woman should die of childbearing “she was made to do it,” most certainly did. Traditional religions variously assert that men have a god-ordained right to give women in marriage, take them in war, exclude them from heaven, and kill them if the origins of their offspring can’t be assured. Hence Catholicism’s maniacal obsession with the virginity of Mary and female martyrs. As we approach the limits of our planetary life support system and stare dystopia in the face, defining women as breeders and children as assets becomes ever more costly. We now know that resource scarcity is a conflict trigger and that demand for water and arable land is growing even as both resources decline. And yet, a pope who claims to care about the desperate poor lectures them against contraception while Muslim leaders ban vasectomies in a drive to outbreed their enemies. 11 Likes 7 Shares |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by BayLord01(m): 9:48pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
We are all human and Humanity should be our belief above religion 7 Likes 2 Shares
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| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Ranchhoddas: 9:58pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
Winner01 |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Touchnot01: 10:07pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
If this is a response to winner101s thread "what has atheism done for humanity". Then it is weak and does not even begin to move close to that dude's thread. 1. The guy gave facts and researches on that thread on what religion has done for humanity (Killing your thread before it even arrived). 2. He asked what atheism has done for humanity (Which no atheist could respond to, smarter atheists knew better and avoided the thread). 3. He admitted that religion has caused wars and violence (and all the above) in the past and still provided proof that religion cleaned up its own mess. 4.He gave some examples of what atheism has done for humanity in the closing paragraph of the thread's article. (Which atheists who responded to the article strictly ignored.) 5. He made very serious and valid points in that thread that should hit every right thinking person. You may have a lot to learn from him, including how to create valid threads. 5 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Nobody: 10:28pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
Touchnot01:Why Are U Lying For Africa Na?? Cleaning This Mess How?? Including What Hitler Had Done?? [size=15pt]I Don't See Any Point In Lying [/size] 1 Like |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Touchnot01: 10:34pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
Elohim1:Yeah right. People can check his thread and see for themselves ; https://www.nairaland.com/3232251/what-exactly-atheism-done-humanity 2 Likes |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Nobody: 11:36pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
Touchnot01:So U Think I Havnt Seen The Thread B4 I Created This One I Dislike Dishonest Thread 1 Like |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Nobody: 11:50pm On Jul 21, 2016 |
Well, I agree with you @ op. Religion has only laid down rules for people but most people chose not to follow. I allow myself to be colonised by religion but I do not allow it dictate for me who I am to associate with. I agree most atheists are quite moral than we theists because most religious inclined people have the tendency to hate theists foreign to their religion..... Religion has only helped to curb immorality a bit but it is also a societal vice on its own seeing most haters and warmongers are religious folks. |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by hopefulLandlord: 7:56am On Jul 22, 2016 |
lordnicklaus: Wow! You spoke truth From now you've earned my respect, I'll treat discussions with you with mutual respect |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Pdizzle(m): 10:32pm On Jul 22, 2016 |
Religion has its ills, but i think it serves as a psychological utopia for many. There's a way the thought process control our being, a lot of christains put up positive attitude during hard times because they believe Jesus is with them. Some get well after brief illness due to the placebo effect prayer gives them. Although it's cons far outweighs the pros, that still is an advantage. It takes psychological maturity to drop religion and it has nothing to do with age. 2 Likes |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by Nobody: 10:49pm On Jul 22, 2016 |
You meant:- What exactly has other religions/atheism except from Islam done for humanity. |
| Re: What Exactly Has Religion Done For Humanity by winner01(m): 10:23pm On Jul 23, 2016 |
Lol. When I opened the thread https://www.nairaland.com/3232251/what-exactly-atheism-done-humanity I focused more on what religion has done for humanity, I wish you could do the same.  1 Like 1 Share |
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