Argumentative Essay On Religion

Religion is often a force for great evil, moral confusion, sexual repression, and a catalyst for uncritical thinking. We need not look at many of what would consider to be the “extremes” of religion such as suicide bombers, the Westboro Baptist Church, or Spanish Inquisitions to arrive at this conclusion. Almost exclusively because of religious beliefs, various religious leaders(and laypersons) have misled people into thinking that abortion is murder of a child and it should be illegal. Members of the Knights of Columbus have marched in the Philippines in an attempt to ban governmental distribution of contraceptives. Religious organizations have funneled millions of dollars into a massive campaign against gay marriage. Parents and priests

“Who can declare what the proper interpretation of religion is,” the atheist should say. Isn 't the whole name of the game to be open to interpretation? How can we only claim that someone is interpreting wrong when they do harm? Religion is very much unlike a gun because a gun is simply a vehicle to do harm while religions provide ideas and profess that such ideas are mandated by a divine authority. People don 't do harm because they have a gun, but rather deal harm because of ideas they have.

I will argue that religious belief is not morally defensible. To defend my conclusion, I will argue that all good that can be had without the extra harm religion can bring about, there is a logical connection from religious commitments to harm, and that religious belief can warp one 's moral

Places of worship can be converted into meeting places and homeless shelters. Former believers can still band together and do great things. People can still take moral lessons from religions and apply them to their lives. No longer would we have such a mass of unsubstantiated beliefs and the idea that faith is admirable. A post-religious society can be had in which people demand extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims and do good just for the sake of doing good. Without religion, we can still come to the conclusion that we should help others, make this world a great place to live in, and respect other human beings. Millions are good without God. If religion is needed for good, theists should be able to answer Christopher Hitchens ' challenge, “Name one moral action or statement that a religious person can make that can 't be made by a non-believer.” It is very clear that religion is not needed for good and we are better off without