RE: Atheism and hope
June 19, 2012 at 7:17 pm
(This post was last modified: June 19, 2012 at 7:18 pm by Cato.)
(June 19, 2012 at 6:33 pm)Gooders1002 Wrote: I was asked by a friend about religion giving hope to people who are poor and who live in this must inhumane conditions. What do you think? do you think that religion is bad in those areas and how would you justify your stance?
This is by far much worse than bad. No matter how bad the inhumane conditions are, giving people a false sense of hope based on a future unproven existence is even more inhumane. Perhaps the most well known proponent of this view of religion was Hitchens; a prime example illustrated in his book The Missionary Position.
Promising the good life after life is done is only a means to keep people in their place. It does nothing to change their plight. People in poor condition are nothing more than easy victims for proselytizing. Many will belive in anything, at least for the moment, if they know there is a meal at the end of the sermon.
