Religion Benefits Society
So it Doesn’t Matter if Theism is Bunk
This article is one of a series of articles introduced by Flawed Reasons to Believe in God. If you’re new to the series, you should read the Introduction before (or after) reading the material below.
Scholars know the history of the religions they teach. They know that the belief systems of the world’s great religions were constructed syncretically from ancient creation myths, savior stories, flood fables, and deities. Scholars know how men invented each modern deity and its scriptures. This is why Seneca wrote, “Religion is regarded by the common people as true, but the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.
In top-rated graduate schools, after doctoral students in theology have learned that their God is not believable, professors often tell them that lying about God’s existence is a “benign deceit” that is good for society.
Why would a distinguished professor teach a theology he knows is an unsubstantiated fiction? As Upton Sinclair wrote, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”
If professors of religious studies have a financial incentive to lie, then it makes sense to question whether their “benign deceit” claim is true or false. Is religion a net positive for human societies? There is no question that religion benefits society positively, but does it do more harm than good?
Religions are man-made, not divinely inspired. Humans following a religion follow an arbitrary path prescribed for them instead of thinking about the best action for a given situation. Morality is situationally determined, not objective. Suppose you were caring for a dozen orphaned children. Under normal conditions, it would be immoral to steal. But if a massive flood cut off food supplies and closed grocery stores, it would be immoral NOT to steal food to keep your charges from starving. You could always pay for the food after the flood abated.
How much harm have Christianity and Islam done by convincing billions of people of the fantasy that they might be damned to an eternity of unimaginable suffering? Not only is there no Hell to go to, there is no soul to do the going. It’s little wonder that the thousands of denominations worshiping Yahweh cannot agree on details of the afterlife and how one ensures a satisfactory one. Over the past 2,000 years, they have turned life on Earth into a virtual hell with their inquisitions, witch hunts, and murder of those they claim are demon-possessed. They have built mountains of corpses with the wars they have sparked because somebody was worshipping the same imaginary friend in an unacceptable way.
No, my friend. Religion is hardly a benign deceit. If Hades were real, the lies of religion could be called lies from the pit of Hell.
Additional Reading
Here are some valuable references for a more in-depth study of this topic.
Bart D. Ehrman
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
Thomas Paine
Nietzsche
Plato
This article is one of a series of articles introduced by Flawed Reasons to Believe in God. If you’re new to the series, you should read the Introduction before (or after) reading the material above.
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