Religion: The Root of All Evil

"(Religion) With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion” This is a quote by Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate, which perfectly captures the view which many modern atheists have concerning religion. Religion, it is said, has fueled many atrocities from its birth; the sword of the jihadist, the crusades, the terrors of the inquisition, the Salem witch trials, the thirty years war, and the chaos and destruction of the cults which followed the way of Jim Jones are to name but a few. “The fruit of religion is intolerance, bigotry, hatred, and discord.” Perhaps some of you have heard of or even share in this sentiment. Surely with all the evil things which have come about due to religious conviction, only a fool would continue in its practice! But is that true, is religion really “the root of all evil?” While at first glance this emotionally charged argument seems beyond refute, by taking the time to consider its “parts,” one will find that it’s not as impenetrable as we think.

First and foremost, I begin by agreeing to the fact that a number of atrocities have been committed in the name of religious piety; it’s scarred record of wars and injustices are indeed sad, and even embarrassing, truths. When considering this truth however, we must equally recognize the good which has come out of it; out of “religious motivation” has come a number of wonderful humanitarian undertakings; leading the way in adoption services and orphanages, and organizations for the support and care of the poor, homeless, and elderly. Religion has also had an enormous impact upon the arts; it has inspired countless wonderful pieces of music, art and architecture. During the dark ages, monasteries were virtually the only repositories of learning and literature during that time. Beyond its “material” dividends, religion has comforted and strengthened the hearts and mind of countless human beings throughout history.

After taking into consideration the good things created by religion, we move onto the second major problem with the argument at hand; its complete rejection of religion as a whole based upon the evils which have resulted from it. Surely no one would deny that science has had an enormous impact throughout history, resulting in many advances in medicine and technology for example. Advances in medicine have saved countless lives, lengthening human life spans, and eliminating many of the diseases and infections which have plagued humanity for centuries. Technological advances have revolutionized the way we live, work and play, and even how we perceive our world. While science has inspired and benefited society greatly, it has also created an enormous amount of evil. Science has provided the means by which mankind has been killing one another for centuries; the guns of every modern war, the chemical and biological weapons, the bombs and missiles, and finally the apex of destruction, the atomic bomb, are all its children. In addition to this, breakthroughs in chemistry have lead to the creation of a number of drugs (cocaine and heroine, for example) which have led to the addiction, misery and death of countless people, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. In spite of this reality, I would find it hard to believe that any atheist will be preaching upon the inherent evil of science, and calling for its total rejection by society any time soon.

It should be noted that from this point forth, I will switch from focusing on religion as a “whole,” and transfer to the Christian faith specifically. This due to the fact that Christianity is what I have the most knowledge of and familiarity with; to include other religious “groups” within this discussion, the specific details of each group’s beliefs, would only result in a possible misinterpretation and misrepresentation of their beliefs as a whole. With that said, the third dilemma facing our argument, is its failure to distinguish between the actions of individuals who claim to be associated with the Christian faith (those who have misapplied its principles), with the actual beliefs and intentions of the group itself. Anybody studying the events of the twentieth century, specifically World War II, will touch upon the eugenics movement. A brief explanation of the basic tenets of eugenics, is that human beings, with the advent of modern science and medicine had “stopped” the process of natural selection; rather than having the weak (the physically and mentally handicapped, for example) weaned out by nature, our society kept them alive, allowing them to pass on their “degenerate” traits through procreation to further generations, thus polluting the human gene pool. Eugenics sought through human intervention to act as natural selection by “selecting out” these degenerate traits by forced sterilization and even death. America led the way in eugenics “science” forcibly sterilizing over 60,000 Americans who were deemed “unfit” for procreation. While the horrors resulting from this movement in America are shocking, the theories influence upon Hitler himself is most disturbing. Using the concepts conceived by eugenics, Hitler had found a “scientific” justification for the extermination of millions of human beings, who were deemed “unfavorable;” the handicapped, mentally ill, homosexual, and most of all, Jewish. “Wait!” the atheistic naturalist would exclaim, “these horrific events were inspired not by a true understanding of evolutionary principles, but rather a perversion of them, a misinterpretation and misrepresentation, it was and is, pseudoscience!” So in the same way I argue, so it is with Christianity; just because an individual or group misapplies and misuses the tenets of the Christian faith, using Jesus’ great commission presented in Matthew 28:19, as the motivation and justification for forced conversion, for example, doesn’t mean that it accurately represents or makes the Christian faith itself inherently evil and thus demanding its rejection.

Following from the idea of the misrepresentation of Christianity to justify evil behavior, I believe it touches upon the modern/common belief that almost all wars have been religiously motivated. I have read that even the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are considered the “new crusade” the invasion of Christian America against “Islamic repression.” First and foremost, I find this idea ridiculous, specifically because it assumes that America is a Christian nation. If an individual looks at the practices and beliefs of the majority of Americans one can easily see why I reject this. But nonetheless, were and are most wars within history religiously motivated and from this, does it justify the rejection of Christianity because of it? I will argue that just as the Nazi’s misused science to justify their program of ethnic cleansing, their true motivation was simply hatred, the culmination of centuries of long held German (I’m not saying all Germans) anti-Semitic fears, thoughts and feelings. In the same way, while wars have been waged with the purported intent to “spread the faith,” the true motivation of war itself has always been the pursuit of wealth, power, and territory (not that I’m saying all modern wars result from these motives). With this reality, I believe however that very few in America will be denouncing wealth, and calling for the return of territory captured through actions of warfare and even deceit (the actions taken towards Native Americans, for example).

What if religion was inherently evil, what would result from its total abandonment? Surely humanity would be rid of the evils done in its name: war, repression, the censorship of opposing ideas and lifestyles. Humanity would walk tall and free, liberated from the archaic shackles of an outdated, bygone era; instead embracing science, and with it creating a utopian society free of pain and strife! Perhaps, but maybe history can provide some insight into its end result. The creation of dictators, the onset of both World Wars, the ultimate failure of communism, which rejected religion, and resulted in the repression of ideas and people, the continued existence of hunger, poverty and disease; these things have ultimately led to the disillusionment of the postmodern era which we now see. Humanity has seen the weakness of human logic and reason to answer the fundamental questions of our existence; why we are here, what we are, and where we are going, a failure to provide purpose and meaning to our existence, and to act as a “cure all” for the human condition. While science provides many good things for society as a whole, modern man has realized its limitations, and has begun again to seek understanding in the metaphysical; this being seen in the renewed interest in Christian, Islamic, new age and Eastern religious thought.

In conclusion, I find the assertion that religion, and specifically Christianity, is inherently evil, and thus worthy of complete rejection, to be unfounded. This selective inclusion of what one considers evil and what is not is intellectual hypocrisy stemming from bias and a hatred of anything theistic. The reality is that many things have two sides, countless evil events in human history have been falsely justified by using any number of misconstrued beliefs, to deny this, and to call for its complete abandonment is foolish. Humankind has the ability to do great good and great evil all on its own, and will always be willing to utilize any number of ideas for justifying them. The Christian faith brings a message of justice, mercy and redemption, is complex in its teachings and incredibly impacting and inherent in worth; the truth of which becomes evident through study and personal experience. To put it simply, let us be consistent with our arguments; taking the time to look at the evidence; in doing so, perhaps we will not abandon something which has the possibility of creating enormous good. Let us be slow to judge and refrain from making the all too common mistake of throwing the baby out with the bath water.

For more information on the Eugenics movement in America go to: http://hnn.us/articles/1796.html