Alright i have been thinking a lot lately and i have now been tempted to tolerate the existence of religion because it does provide a sense of happiness to many people, and eases their pain when a loved one dies, since they believe they will see them in Heaven. Ignorant bliss, but bliss nonetheless. Also it does provide a moral standard that is quite acceptable, i do not think anyone can claim Jesus' message is immoral.
So to counterbalance these doubts i need to have some kind of quantification of what religion has done. But to add a twist, except of listing the ones we know most about, such as the Crusades, the pedophilia and the Inquisition, let us try to find ones that we hear less about, but are no less dangerous. I'll start:
In Europe, religion controlled all the education for a millenia. You think creationists are bad ? Imagine if they controlled completely all education, for 1000 years, trying to keep any kind of progress away from society so they could keep their business afloat. Oh, and killing and shutting up scientists, retarding all the modern progress for a few hundred years.
Also in Europe, the Theatrical arts were shunned by the Church, as were most kinds of arts anyways...an actor could not even be allowed to be buried in a cemetary. So for, again, a millenia, countless masterpieces of culture have been destroyed or have been stopped from being created because of this oppression.
So to counterbalance these doubts i need to have some kind of quantification of what religion has done. But to add a twist, except of listing the ones we know most about, such as the Crusades, the pedophilia and the Inquisition, let us try to find ones that we hear less about, but are no less dangerous. I'll start:
In Europe, religion controlled all the education for a millenia. You think creationists are bad ? Imagine if they controlled completely all education, for 1000 years, trying to keep any kind of progress away from society so they could keep their business afloat. Oh, and killing and shutting up scientists, retarding all the modern progress for a few hundred years.
Also in Europe, the Theatrical arts were shunned by the Church, as were most kinds of arts anyways...an actor could not even be allowed to be buried in a cemetary. So for, again, a millenia, countless masterpieces of culture have been destroyed or have been stopped from being created because of this oppression.
