It's no secret that I'm a non-observant Reform Jew or that I still take comfort in the traditions I grew up with ~ I see each of Valerie Tarico's "6 Ways" below as valid ~ BUT isn't virtually anything done to excess "bad" for us? ~ there are "live links" to more/corroborating information in the original ~ Sooz

AlterNet / By Valerie Tarico
6 Ways Religion Does More Bad Than Good
What if harming society is part of religion’s survival strategy?

November 12, 2014 | Most British people think religion causes more harm than good according to a survey commissioned by the Huffington Post. Surprisingly, even among those who describe themselves as “very religious” 20 percent say that religion is harmful to society. For that we can probably thank the internet, which broadcasts everything from Isis beheadings, to stories about Catholic hospitals denying care to miscarrying women, to lists of wild and weird religious beliefs, to articles about psychological harms from Bible-believing Christianity.

In 2010, sociologist Phil Zuckerman published Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment. Zuckerman lined up evidence that the least religious societies also tend to be the most peaceful, prosperous and equitable, with public policies that help people to flourish while decreasing both desperation and economic gluttony.

We can debate whether prosperity and peace lead people to be less religious or vice versa. Indeed evidence supports the view that religion thrives on existential anxiety. But even if this is the case, there’s good reason to suspect that the connection between religion and malfunctioning societies goes both ways. Here are six ways religions make peaceful prosperity harder to achieve.

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.

http://www.alternet.org/belief/6-ways-religion-does-more-bad-good?paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

I was teaching the Chapter on Cognition, Concepts, Language today in class. And we went into denotative (dictionary definition) and connotative meanings (personalized with emotions included) and I used religion as the concept for discussion.

Only two students identified as highly religious (and one of them was Sister Cherry from the Philippines and the other was wearing a Duck Dynasty cap). Sister Cherry said in the Philippines there are 7 major religions and her family members who were non-Catholic strongly disapproved of her choice to become a nun. Najee stated that both of his parents are Muslim, but once they started complaining about his eating skittles (the gelatin) he gave that up (being Muslim not the skittles). Alyssa was highly unhappy her Catholic parents made her go through the whole confirmation process so she could get married in the Catholic Church. She finished confirmation and never stepped back in. She thinks the Catholic church is all about money. Zakar stated that he used to go to church but once he heard them speak against gays, he was done. Hadar explained the fasting and celebration afterwards associated with Eid, but said he does not identify as religious. Cristini is from Cambodia and discussed Cambodian New Year's celebrated in April and she celebrates the holidays and traditions but not the going to church-ness. We talked about atheism which no one had a problem with and most of the students and I identified religiously as I don't know.

Through history I think it's done way more to divide than unite us and that to me means more harm than good.

This angers me more than just about anything to do with churches that have missionary programs. The tax-free work they do comes at a huge cost to the missionary too. They often live in primitive conditions and don't get a lot of money for their personal use. They don't have access to proper healthcare and so many have families with them. The money is all supposed to go to the "mission". That "mission", many times, consists of forcing poor villagers to sit through a sermon to "earn" a meal. They pass out bibles and feel smug about their success.

Reminds me of a song by The Gatlin Brothers:

The doors to the mission open at seven
And the soup will be ready about nine
Right now it's six-thirty, they're ragged and dirty
They're standin' and sittin' and layin' in line

First they'll do a little singin', then hear a little preachin'
And get saved for the 3rd time this week
A bowl of soup later and a pat on the shoulder
And by midnight, they're back on the street


Read more: Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers - Midnight Choir (Mogen David) Lyrics | MetroLyrics

I agree ~ as I've grown older, I see religion as more of a "dividing" than "uniting" force ... especially the more orthodox/fundamentalist sects ~ I also resent the hard-core "selling" approach in "we are the best, others are evil" messages ~ and, to me, these mega-church pastors living in great wealth while promising "you'll be cured of [X] for just a few extra dollars" are reprehensible ~

Sooz

If those are your students' real names I'd suggest not using them.

I'm thinking using first names is fine, oskar ~ so long as full names [first + last] are avoided ~

Sooz

If you are trying to make a claim like the title of this thread you have to at least consider the "goods" as well as the "bads".

I'm an atheist, but I think its as much of a mistake to demonise religion as it is to demonise atheism.

I'm also at a total loss to figure out how a claim like "religion does more harm than good" could even be calculated.

First names (even if somewhat unique) are not considered violations of privacy.

It was merely a suggestion. You can do whatever you please.
I know I wouldn't do that without their knowledge.

You're welcome to post the "goods", CM ~ this op is one woman's [a psychologist's] opinion ~ I happen to agree on these 6 [limited] points ~ but no one is "demonizing" religion by enumerating some divisive tactics it uses ~ not all ops need to be written like a thesis ~

Sooz

I can't do whatever I please as I am bound by the National Association of Social Work Code of Ethics. According to code, first names are not considered invasions of privacy.

Nothing to do with writing a thesis - just a matter of accuracy.

A more correct title would have been something like "6 Harmful Things Religion Can Lead To". But that's not nearly as powerful or interesting claim is it?

As for good things, just off the top of my head, how about "maintaining a light during the Dark Ages" or "providing much of the ideational basis for modern Democracy and notions of human rights", or "providing comfort in times of grief", or "plugging some of the holes in failing welfare systems", etc.

I can come up with a few more easily enough.

You're welcome to post whatever you want, CM ~ as I said above: I happen to agree with the author on her enumerated 6 [limited] points, mostly because I see those 6 points as deeply damaging ~

Sooz

I see those 6 things as damaging as well sooz.
But I don't see any of them as exclusively religious products in any case.

And I assume I'm welcome to post what I want. There's no need to remind me, but let me know when I'm not.

Religion does our board more bad than good.

Religion has two things that makes it different than any other issue that may have "bad" qualities. One is Fear. In order for one to follow most religions dogma, one must be afraid....of retribution, of "hell" or any other boogie man a religion may produce. The other is the demand of blind worship. Follow and worship ME or else!

Then there is the "get out of jail free" confession or the "once saved, always saved" path that actually enables a religious person to commit "sin" and still feel good about themselves. On top of that the "let go and let God" mentality is the icing on the cake. Together they all foster a lack of personal responsibility to:

A) do good works because "god" will take care of things
B) feel guilty about doing bad things because one can ask for forgiveness
C) accept bad things that happen as the "will" of some omnipotent being
D) think that "God" has directed you to do things that harm others (for example, murder an abortion doctor)

A prayer will suffice, then it's all good. Pray for peace, pray for sick children, pray for forgiveness. It's all pretty much covered, so a person doesn't have to do anything but pray. If the outcome is less than ideal, it's "god's will" that is something "his children" will get the answers to in the afterlife.

So, in conclusion: A threat of retribution with a promise of answers and eternal life at some point after we die if we just believe and as long as we passively accept the crap happening in the here and now. Just send your money or drop it in the plate and kneel in supplication. What a gig!

jmo

What a gig, indeed.

Religion has two things that makes it different than any other issue that may have "bad" qualities. One is Fear. In order for one to follow most religions dogma, one must be afraid....of retribution, of "hell" or any other boogie man a religion may produce. The other is the demand of blind worship. Follow and worship ME or else!


You can find those elements in all sorts of other movements. Communism in the USSR, Nazism in Germany, to give just two examples.

You see it in somewhat milder forms in politics every day.

And the same with the examples about personal responsibility.

Its also unreasonable to focus simply on the worst form of "religious" behavior, when that form of con-artistry is pretty common all over.

I disagree. Your examples have/had flesh and blood, fallible leaders who were never "prayed to", where religion has fictitious, invisible sky gods who are omnipotent and never make mistakes. They may be similar in some ways, but so are apples and oranges, which are both round fruits.

Fair enough. You reject the invisible sky Gods and so do I (they aren't omnipotent or never make mistakes in some religions BTW). They are unbelievable, which is why I don't believe in them.

But that isn't the issue. What this thread is about, as far as I can see, isn't the exact nature of the beliefs, but the effects of having those kinds of beliefs. Its not "6 Ways Religions are Unbelievable", but "6 Ways Religion Does More Bad than Good".

Most the objections seem to be to the fanaticism and charlatanism associated with religion. I'm against those as well, all I'm doing is pointing out that they aren't exclusive to religion. Nor are they necessary features of religion.

And I agree, apples aren't oranges, but you can eat both of them and they both provide you with nutrition.

Just as points of interest, one of the Italian Fascist slogans was "Mussolini is always right", and a lot of ancient despots were worshiped as Gods.

Religions demand blind faith, because there is no proof. Back when GW was waging war on a maybe, the WN's of the world all had blind faith in him because he was a Christian and they prayed for him. In this case and I'm sure in others, this faith trumped logic and critical thinking (everything necessary to make wise decisions). The WN's also liked that GW acted from his gut and showed so much passion.

I often thought WN confused God and GW.

Blind faith isn't necessary. I'd say gramps is an example of that.
IMO, rejecting everything is as extreme as accepting everything.

A belief in God requires blind faith as there is no proof that God exists.

There are many religious people who are sensible and not of WN's ilk.

Do you have proof god(s) doesn't exist?

I do not. I am an I don't know, remember?