Why belief in god is dangerous

One of the meanings of superstition in the Oxford English dictionary is a belief that is unfounded or irrational. Since I see all religious belief as unfounded and irrational, I consider religion to be superstition.

Other forms of superstition, like astrology, belief in UFOs or telekinesis, are nowhere near as widespread. And the damage that religion has done to humanity is far more than the damage that astrology or the belief in Bigfoot has done. It used to be the problem with Christianity, as well. Oh, no. I think anybody that says that is on some tendentious gambit to discredit religion. There are religions that I would consider either harmless or maybe even beneficial.

Quakers barely believe in God at all and are dedicated to social justice. The less a religion has to do with a tangible God, the less it hands out moral dictates and the better it is. Well, no! I suppose it might be to some people.

I live with it and most Europeans live with it. Whether you find that bleak or not depends on your psychological constitution. Are people in Scandinavia or France dragging their heels with their heads down because they find a life without God bleak?

In fact, you could make the opposite claim. For many Muslims fun is not allowed. Music is prohibited. I would find that kind of life far bleaker than a life without God. This religion is Christian Science, in which disease is seen as having spiritual causes. Christian Scientists reject science-based medicine in favor of prayer and spiritual healing. Ashley King was the daughter of two well-off Christian Scientists in Arizona. Not the toothless Bible thumpers you think of when you think of fundamentalists.

Ashley developed a lump on her leg, which turned out to be bone cancer. Instead of taking her to a doctor, they took her out of school and tried to treat her with prayer. The lump eventually got to be as big as a watermelon. Child services finally took her away from her parents. But we can give her some time by amputating her leg.

Instead, they put her in a Christian Science sanatorium, which, by the way, is subsidized by the U. Her medicine consisted of giving her water and prayer. She started shrieking and crying out. The thing was incredibly painful. But all they did was pray. Finally, she died. Zuckerman lined up evidence that the least religious societies also tend to be the most peaceful, prosperous and equitable, with public policies that help people to flourish while decreasing both desperation and economic gluttony.

We can debate whether prosperity and peace lead people to be less religious or vice versa. Indeed evidence supports the view that religion thrives on existential anxiety. Here are six ways religions make peaceful prosperity harder to achieve.

Religion promotes tribalism. Infidel, heathen, heretic. Religion divides insiders from outsiders. Rather than assuming good intentions, adherents often are taught to treat outsiders with suspicion. At best, teachings like these discourage or even forbid the kinds of friendship and intermarriage that help clans and tribes become part of a larger whole.

At worst, outsiders are seen as enemies of God and goodness, potential agents of Satan, lacking in morality and not to be trusted. Believers might huddle together, anticipating martyrdom. When simmering tensions erupt, societies fracture along sectarian fault lines. Religion anchors believers to the Iron Age. Concubines, magical incantations, chosen people, stonings.

The Iron Age was a time of rampant superstition, ignorance, inequality, racism, misogyny, and violence. Women and children were literally possessions of men. Warlords practiced scorched earth warfare. Desperate people sacrificed animals, agricultural products, and enemy soldiers as burnt offerings intended to appease dangerous gods. Any believer looking to excuse his own temper, sense of superiority, warmongering, bigotry, or planetary destruction can find validation in writings that claim to be authored by God.

They are anchored to the Iron Age. So what distinguishes healthy religious beliefs — and perhaps beliefs in conspiracy theories — from delusions may be partly a matter of whether or not the belief strengthens community bonds. If sustaining a belief impairs your daily functioning and disrupts your social relationships, then your belief is more likely to count as a delusion. Nevertheless, distinctions between healthy and pathological religious beliefs are unlikely to be sharp.

Instead, the emerging picture is of continuity between religious cognition and cognition associated with mental disorders. Our aim here is neither to demonise, nor to defend, religious belief.

And, unfortunately, malignant beliefs that are shared by the many are far more dangerous than those shared by the few. Colouring, cows and a million-dollar question — Egham, Surrey. The rights of children whose parents are sentenced in the criminal courts — Egham, Surrey. Picture Gallery viewing time — Egham, Surrey. Defying toponormativity: a queer reading of the performing arts in non-conventional spaces — Egham, Surrey.

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