The Issues, No. 24 - Religion

I may be stepping on a lot of toes today but I'm going to risk it. I have concluded over the years that religion is pretty scary and dangerous and totally irresponsible. Today's religions seem only to exist for the benefit of the religious leaders and offer very little, if anything, constructive to society and the world.

Religions are divisive and intolerant of others. Every religion believes it is the only true religion and that if you are not of that religion you are somehow a lesser being and/or you are going to go to hell, or even as some of the extreme Muslims believe, you should be killed. Religions scare their members into behaving and believing according to what the religion dictates. Some even require that their members give large percentages of their incomes to the church and that one is a bad person and unworthy if they don't.

Religions have historically caused more trouble in the world than any other kind of institution you can imagine. Just look at the crusades in the middle ages, the problem between the Catholics and the Protestants in Northern Ireland, the situation between the Israelis and the surrounding Arabs, and the current religious based terrorism going on in the world today. None of it makes any sense, it's all because of blind faith and ignorance, and a whole lot of people have been and are being hurt for nothing.

Although I can't see any reason for keeping religion around in today's world, I would say that if the different religions wants to succeed, they must come out of the dark ages and support the world community by working to promote peace, tolerance and understanding through education of their members and their outward actions. They could be a positive force in the world, if they wanted to. I'm not convinced, however, that their leadership has the desire or the intelligence to do it.