I think what you're talking about is ideology.
Dawkins said that, "good people do good things, bad people do bad things but it takes religion to make good people do bad things"
He was wrong in two respects ... first of all religion is just a thing (a tool if you like and there are others, not a good one but you get the idea) and it is possible for religion to make bad people do good things; secondly he was wrong because (as you say above) it isn't only religion that has faith (and I don't mean the faith born out of reason and evidence) so do other doctrines such as communism and fascism. People do bad things in the name of ideological beliefs as well ... was Hitler's hatred of the Jews religion based or inspired? Almost certainly, but that can't necessarily be argued for the whole of the Nazi party or its agents but what is certain is that they had faith, faith in their Nazi party, faith in the belief that they were the Aryan super race, faith that they would eventually stand tall and proud and ruling a world.
So Dawkins statement should, IMO, read, "good people do good things, bad people do bad things but it takes an ideology (irrational faith) to make good people do bad things "
Kyu
Dawkins said that, "good people do good things, bad people do bad things but it takes religion to make good people do bad things"
He was wrong in two respects ... first of all religion is just a thing (a tool if you like and there are others, not a good one but you get the idea) and it is possible for religion to make bad people do good things; secondly he was wrong because (as you say above) it isn't only religion that has faith (and I don't mean the faith born out of reason and evidence) so do other doctrines such as communism and fascism. People do bad things in the name of ideological beliefs as well ... was Hitler's hatred of the Jews religion based or inspired? Almost certainly, but that can't necessarily be argued for the whole of the Nazi party or its agents but what is certain is that they had faith, faith in their Nazi party, faith in the belief that they were the Aryan super race, faith that they would eventually stand tall and proud and ruling a world.
So Dawkins statement should, IMO, read, "good people do good things, bad people do bad things but it takes an ideology (irrational faith) to make good people do bad things "
Kyu
