Comments on: Does religion do more harm than good? http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/ thoughts on religion that won't fit on a bumper sticker Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:37:59 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Jodi http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-1095 Jodi Wed, 30 May 2007 02:32:47 +0000 http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-1095 http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/paul07/paul07_index.html Greg - here's the link again. For some reason I couldn't access yours - so if anyone want to read it... In business it's always a good sign when your competitors write about how bad you are - if you weren't making them nervous they wouldn't need to say anything. If we apply that to religion, I would have to say the Gods are winning in that respect...no one can stop talking about them! Thanks for all the great comments. Jodi http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/paul07/paul07_index.html

Greg – here’s the link again. For some reason I couldn’t access yours – so if anyone want to read it…

In business it’s always a good sign when your competitors write about how bad you are – if you weren’t making them nervous they wouldn’t need to say anything. If we apply that to religion, I would have to say the Gods are winning in that respect…no one can stop talking about them!

Thanks for all the great comments.
Jodi

]]> By: Dana http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-1017 Dana Thu, 24 May 2007 03:42:23 +0000 http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-1017 Without more information than what is in the article, it is difficult to say. Correlations do not prove causation. Their are numerous studies out which indicate a strong relationship between religion and an overall sense of well-being and better physical health. And Benedict, I'm not so sure that religion is even the problem there. I think the problem is people who cannot get a long and they reach for their religion to justify what they are doing. In the Muslim world in particular, many of these same conflicts were going on before Mohammed. Without more information than what is in the article, it is difficult to say. Correlations do not prove causation. Their are numerous studies out which indicate a strong relationship between religion and an overall sense of well-being and better physical health.

And Benedict, I’m not so sure that religion is even the problem there. I think the problem is people who cannot get a long and they reach for their religion to justify what they are doing. In the Muslim world in particular, many of these same conflicts were going on before Mohammed.

]]> By: Gregory Paul http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-1009 Gregory Paul Wed, 23 May 2007 17:42:53 +0000 http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-1009 My J Relig & Soc paper discussed here did not address why highly religious nations cannot enjoy the higher levels of societal health found in all secularized prosperous democracies, this article does. Why the Gods Are Not Winning co-author Phil Zuckerman Edge 2007 www.edge.org/3rdculture/paul07/paul07_index.html My J Relig & Soc paper discussed here did not address why highly religious nations cannot enjoy the higher levels of societal health found in all secularized prosperous democracies, this article does.

Why the Gods Are Not Winning co-author Phil Zuckerman Edge 2007
http://www.edge.org/3rdculture/paul07/paul07_index.html

]]> By: Benedict http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-108 Benedict Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:56:34 +0000 http://bumpersticker.wordpress.com/2007/03/22/does-religion-do-more-harm-than-good/#comment-108 Schliermacher was, of course, pretty much responding to the arguments made by Ludwig Fuerbach and D. Strauss. It's been said, with some justification, that Schliermacher's book was kind of the call for liberal Christianity, at least in a form that liberal Christians today might recognize. More to the point, to some degree I think that blaming "religion" for harm and violence in the world is true as far as it goes, but it's also a bit of a straw man. I think that a more pernicious problem is the same problem that's always been there: Absolutist ideology, no matter where it shows up. This isn't even fundamentalism. Absolutist ideologies suffer no rivals, and furthermore when such an ideology gains control or power, that's when the harm and violence becomes, well, "absolutely" manifest. The adoption of an absolute scientism, for example, has historically led to violent wars and genocide; capitalism and communism, same thing. If that makes any sense. It's late here on the East coast. Schliermacher was, of course, pretty much responding to the arguments made by Ludwig Fuerbach and D. Strauss. It’s been said, with some justification, that Schliermacher’s book was kind of the call for liberal Christianity, at least in a form that liberal Christians today might recognize.

More to the point, to some degree I think that blaming “religion” for harm and violence in the world is true as far as it goes, but it’s also a bit of a straw man. I think that a more pernicious problem is the same problem that’s always been there: Absolutist ideology, no matter where it shows up. This isn’t even fundamentalism. Absolutist ideologies suffer no rivals, and furthermore when such an ideology gains control or power, that’s when the harm and violence becomes, well, “absolutely” manifest. The adoption of an absolute scientism, for example, has historically led to violent wars and genocide; capitalism and communism, same thing.

If that makes any sense. It’s late here on the East coast.

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