Are people the problem or religion?
Is religion inherently dangerous? Oxford theologian Alister McGrath would argue, and I think rightly, that people are the problem; not religion per se.
“All ideals—divine, transcendent, human, or invented—are capable of being abused. That’s just the way human nature is. And that happens to religion as well. Belief in God can be abused, and we need to be very clear, in the first place, that abuse happens, and in the second, that we need to confront and oppose this. But abuse of an ideal does not negate its validity.”
This observation is important because it removes simplistic statements about religion being the root of all evil and violence in the world today. The issues are far more complex because human beings, who posses freedom of the will, are involved.
In the Craig-Hitchens debate, Hitchens kept appealing to the argument that religion is dangerous so God can't exist....but that doesn't follow. At most all that follows is that people can be dangerous when they believe deeply in something - money, politics, god, etc.
“All ideals—divine, transcendent, human, or invented—are capable of being abused. That’s just the way human nature is. And that happens to religion as well. Belief in God can be abused, and we need to be very clear, in the first place, that abuse happens, and in the second, that we need to confront and oppose this. But abuse of an ideal does not negate its validity.”
This observation is important because it removes simplistic statements about religion being the root of all evil and violence in the world today. The issues are far more complex because human beings, who posses freedom of the will, are involved.
In the Craig-Hitchens debate, Hitchens kept appealing to the argument that religion is dangerous so God can't exist....but that doesn't follow. At most all that follows is that people can be dangerous when they believe deeply in something - money, politics, god, etc.
Labels: Apologetics, Current Events, debate, New Atheism, Philosophy
posted by Jonathan Morrow at
9:37 AM
2 Comments:
At most all that follows is that people can be dangerous when they believe deeply in something - money, politics, god, etc.
Agreed. Question: Can people be dangerous when they DISbelieve in something?
@Frank, great question. God's intent is divine, however, with man's imperfection, we skew that divinity with corruption. Regardless of the medium--religion, money, politics, etc.--men will use it to their own greed.
OP, The Craig-Hitchens debate was amazing. I'm assuming you were there. Great environment and it was exciting to see so many young faces interested in apologetics.
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