How to Discuss the Negative Aspects of Religion

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Last Updated: January 6, 2024 References

Religion is defined as "a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." and "a specific fundamental set of beliefs and practices generally agreed upon by a number of persons or sects." ^{[1]
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This article is not about the existence of God or gods. This article will provide guidance for discussing the negative aspects of organized religion.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Preparation and Personal Understanding

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1
Understand what religion is. Religion is a system that establishes symbols, narratives, and traditions that relate humanity to spirituality and moral values. The word religion is often used interchangeably with faith or belief in God, but religion differs from personal belief in that it has a public aspect.
- Basic belief in the God of Abraham would be theism. Catholicism would be the religion.
At the very least you should have an understanding of the main Christian religious ideologies (Catholicism, Presbyterianism/Protestantism, Immersionism) and hold an understanding of Islam and Judaism as these are the most discussed religions.

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Purchase books and reference material for research; Books like God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens, The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett, and others. Having an understanding of the history of various religions and counter arguments to points about morality is important.
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Understand some of the basic arguments against organized religion.
- General Religion:
  - Lack of personal thought: When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute group-think for focused, independent thought. Instead of learning to discern truth on your own and formulate your own beliefs, you’re told what to believe.
  - Fixed perspective: By saying “I am a Catholic” or “I am a Buddhist” you rob yourself of spiritual depth perception and attach blinders that do not allow you to see all realities.
  - Lack of power: Religions are authoritarian hierarchies where power is heaviest at the top and lightest at the bottom where the majority of believers are. Religions are very good at turning human beings into sheep. They operate by eroding your trust in your own intellect and gradually convince you to put your trust into some external entity, such as a deity, or great book, convincing you that without these you would be lost.
  - Wasted time: Religions often dictate that you have to pray, attend church, and read religious texts regularly. Some people take this even further with memorization of religious texts or other time consuming activities.
  - Forgo intelligence or become a hypocrite: When you subscribe to an organized religion, you have only two options: You can forgo intelligence, or you can become a hypocrite. You either willingly believe everything decreed to you by the religion (for example, believing that the earth is only 6,000 years old) or you can recognize that many parts of religion are nonsense but believe it to be infallible all the same.
  - Where you're born has a lot to do with your religion: Born in North America? Chances are you follow a Judo-Christian religion. Born in India? Maybe you're a Hindu. Born in Tibet? Could be a Buddhist. If you were born somewhere else, to some different set of circumstances do you think you still would have found your way to your religion? Or are your current beliefs really just a by-product of your environment and not a conscious choice you made.
  - Religion rules with fear: Fear of hell, fear of excommunication, fear of disappointing one's parents, fear of abandoning the community, fear of being different. When you practice organized religion instead of conscious decision making, you live under a constant fear. Eventually you forget it's even there.
- Christian Religions:
  - Pick and choose your morality: Christian morality changes over time and is interpreted differently by different Christian sects. Individual Christians disagree among each other over what they think is God's moral law.^{[2]
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    Research source} Most Christian religions take their morality from the Bible but like the pick and choose what is relevant and what can be ignored.
    - Homosexuality? Wrong, the gays are going to hell because the book of Leviticus says so. ^{[3]
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      Leviticus 18:22}
    - Poly-cotton T-Shirts? The book of Leviticus says those are bad too but that was a different time, it's not relevant any more.^{[4]
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      Leviticus 19:19}
  - Intolerance is rampant: Far too many Christians assume that atheists can’t be moral or are morally defective. After a former Christian deconverts long standing Christian friends or family members occasionally decide without reason the former Christian isn't or can't be moral any more. ^{[5]
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  - Violence: Although many atrocious acts have been carried out by individual believers violence in Christianity has also been sanctioned by religions as a whole. From the crusades to the inquisition to witch hunts, many lives have been taken in the name of God and Christianity.
  - Forced teaching of religious ideas: Nowhere is this more prevalent then in the USA where to this day debates still rage about whether or not evolution should be taught in public schools.
  - Specific to Catholicism:
    - AIDS and unwanted pregnancy are God's will: In parts Africa where there is a serious AIDS problem (in some cases as many as three out of every four people) and many families are unable to care for the children that they already have The Catholic Church continues to maintain their position that condoms are bad putting further lives at risk and bringing more impoverished children into the world.
    - Sexual abuse scandals: Among the morally questionable activities of some of the catholic clergy have been the physical and sexual abuse of persons in their custody. For decades the church covered up the abuses. Abuse victims were told to keep quiet or be excommunicated and the abusers were in most cases moved to other locations.^{[6]
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      Rachel Donadio. "Vatican Revises Abuse Process, But Causes Stir." The New York Times. July 16, 2010, A1, A3}^{[7]
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- Islam:
  - Violence: Although the majority of adherents are peaceful, those who do choose to commit acts of violence and terror in the name of Allah will find ample justification for their actions in the Qur'an and the sayings and examples of the prophet Muhammad. ^{[8]
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  - Human rights issues: The greatest obstacle to human rights under Political Islam is its strong adherence to Sharia law. Many aspects of the Sharia are at odds to the ideas enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In an Islamist state no individual or group can have any rights that do not conform to the tenets of the Sharia.
  - Death for Apostates: "Apostasy in Islam (Arabic: ارتداد, irtidād or ridda‎) is commonly defined in Islam as the rejection in word or deed of their former religion (apostasy) by a person who was previously a follower of Islam."^{[9]
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    Research source} Freedom of belief is enshrined in Islamic texts however there is disagreement among Muslim scholars as to the limits of that freedom. For example, Afghan Abdul Rahman, who converted to Christianity, faced the death penalty for his apostasy and it was not an isolated incident. ^{[10]
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  - Women's Rights: Muslim proponents never tire of telling everyone that will listen that Islam has given more rights to women than any other religion. Certainly, if by "Islam" they mean "Qur'anic Islam" the rights that it has given to women are impressive. However, Islamic Law is not derived solely from the Quran and many of Muhammad's extra-Quranic sayings (the Hadith) appear to curtail women's Human Rights severely. For example, Muslims who practice female genital mutilation cite authentic ahadith to support the practice (Muhammad encouraged it as he believed it was 'more pleasurable for the husband'). Furthermore, a review of Muslim history will bring to light many areas in which - Qur'anic teaching aside - women continue to be subjected to diverse forms of oppression. Muslim societies, in general, appear to be far more concerned with trying to control women's bodies and sexuality than with their human rights.
Religion enhances local communities in which human relationships can flourish, religious communities make massive contributions through deeds of charity and social action, and religion can give people a sense of community and make people feel welcome.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Opening a Discussion

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Before all else, enter the discussion with respect for all parties involved. The majority of theists will assume that an attack on religion is an attack on their god or gods. Make it clear that you wish to discuss aspects of organized religion only and are not questioning their belief in a personal god.
Religion is a touchy subject for a lot of people and is generally not considered "polite conversation." Always ensure that everyone present is open to discussing religion.
There are plenty of positive points in favour of religion that are perfectly valid.
No simple discussion is going to pull anyone away from their religion, the purpose of the discussion to broaden everyone's horizons, including your own.
Although debate can be positive if the conversation degenerates into an argument be prepared to walk away.

References

↑ "Religion." Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2011. dictionary.com online. link
↑ https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Essay:Christian_Morality
↑ Leviticus 18:22
↑ Leviticus 19:19
↑ https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Essay:Christian_Morality
↑ Rachel Donadio. "Vatican Revises Abuse Process, But Causes Stir." The New York Times. July 16, 2010, A1, A3
↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_sex_abuse_cases
↑ https://answering-islam.org/Terrorism/islam_and_violence.html
↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostasy_in_Islam

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Is religion important?

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Some people believe so, and others don't. Overall, religion is just a way of living according to what one believes in. Some people join the religion they believe is right, some join because their parents or spouse is part of it, and some just live life as they believe, without ever choosing a religion. When talking about religion, just be respectful, and remember that a person's religion is probably very important to them, even if it isn't to you.

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What are the positive effects of religion in society?

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Religion is an outlet for many people to relieve their stress and find meaning, and it provides a moral code to make sure people treat each other well.

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What are the negative effects of religion?

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Religious persecution is very negative. Some religious people try to persecute others for not just their beliefs, but because of their gender or sexual preferences. A lot of money is tied up in religion, money that some people may think is better spent on the welfare of humans. Some religions are secretive, allowing those that practice it to commit crimes.

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Tips

The more research you can do before entering into a discussion on religion the better. Religious adherents should do the same as atheists tend to know more about religion then actual believers.^{[11]
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Be aware of your surroundings. People not directly involved in your conversation who can hear it may be offended. Religion is never a matter of "polite conversation."

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Always be open minded and accept it when you are wrong. There is no right answer to the question of religion.

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Warnings

Remember, for those who are strongly believing in their religion, they might get upset or they might not want to talk to you anymore.

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It will be hard to persuade so gather actual proof.

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Going around and invading others' privacy by discussing this frequently is annoying and will make people avoid you. Only use this argument when necessary.

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