(November 22, 2010 at 7:31 am)Skipper Wrote: But all the good it does could be and does get done without the religious aspect. In that sense it really is pointless and has no value.
Same goes for all the bad it does. The vast majority of pedophilia cases happen in homes, not in churches. Genocides have happened without religion involved (Rwanda for example). And mass delusion can happen without religion, look at any autocratic system to see that. Even suicide bombings can happen without religion, just look at the Tamuul Tigers in Sri Lanka.
I always thought that this argument was nonsense: there is nothing that religion can make you do, good or bad, that other means could not make you do. But religion can influence you in one way or another, and in that way religion is not pointless.
It's like negating the importance of parental involvement in children's education by saying that children can succeed without it, meaning parental involvement is pointless and has no value. You are using a double standard for religion and it is not a valuable argument.
