RE: Would we currently be at this point of civilization without religions?
September 20, 2015 at 12:44 pm
(September 19, 2015 at 11:45 pm)strawberryBacteria Wrote:(September 19, 2015 at 5:04 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: Well, it contributed much, but I could think of better ways for a creator god to manage affairs.
When I said creator of religion, I meant human, not god
Forgive my misunderstanding, then.
I'm not sure your premise, that religion brought stability, can be borne out by the evidence.
For all its influence on sociocultural stability, it has also been a destabilizing force, dividing peoples and inciting them to murderous anger, so that you have places like the Middle East or Ireland, the Crusades, the 30 Years' War, the bloody violence in India between Sikh and Hindu, ditto elsewhere in Southeast Asia between Buddhist and Muslim. You also have religion used to strip people of their rights, which is never a force for stability in a society.
There have been many great things which have come from religious folk as a result of their faith -- the music of Bach comes to mind immediately -- so "How Religion Poisons Everything" is perhaps not entirely accurate, but in general I agree with Hitchens that it has been at the very least a drag on our development, and in many, many cases, the prime motivation for retrogression.
