If we could take deliberate steps in making our society more democratic, more peaceful, healthier, support better quality of life, and close the inequality gap, wouldn't we have an obligation to do so?
Well, last year the Social Progress Imperative, a Global initiative, released their results of a years long study on social progress where they indexed such things as 'basic human needs', 'foundations of well-being', and ''opportunity'. In an unrelated study, Gallup asked people in various countries to rate how religious they considered themselves to be. The interesting thing is that when you plot these data together you get a strong correlation. Meaning that countries that saw themselves as very religious were worst off in the three indices that SPI looked into. Likewise, the least religious were better off. We can't, simply by looking at this data, determine if there is causality, or if there is, in which direction it goes. At worst, though, the data would lead us to conclude that religion is not a positive influence in our standard of living, well being, or opportunities in life, and at best we would see that religion is an actual impediment to our well-being, etc. The answer is likely somewhere in the middle, which is still not great for religion, especially as fewer Americans today consider themselves religious. Why then, we should ask, is it that to a presidential candidate, there is no higher disqualification for the job than being atheist?
It is time that as a country we take a stand and take deliberate measures to curtail religion's influence in law, government, and civil life. As a country we ought to respect reason, evidence, and learning-- not fight against these things simply to follow an arcane, barbaric book. As such we should have legislation reflecting the separation of religion and law, prohibiting government agencies from using dogma to justify their actions.
Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. Religion isn't an impediment to society, it is a path that people follow and base their lives on. Without this some people would be lost or wouldn't find their purpose and for some people it is religion that saved them. There are many people whom were saved by religious charities and organization were without those they would too still be lost. While evidence points towards the fact that religion hurts society and the economy but it also helps bring people together, create community, and give hope. Need me remind you that our own country, the United States, started because of the religious turmoil in Britain. Without religion our country probably would not be the same as it is today and the whole world may be greatly altered.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's a question, did you ever think that if a so called "barbaric book" has influenced billions of people for thousands of years, and the fact that people basically sell their lives and die for it, that it is probably more than just a dogma to justify our action?