Comments on: The Root Of All Evil?

By: over the edge

over the edge — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:29:00 +0000

@Georgia Lignou
“I can not agree that all religions are at their foundation evil, ” i agree with that statement. i believe that most religions have at their foundation a desire to understand the world around them and to give answers where none existed. but many of the answers given have been proven false while little to no evidence exists to back up the claims of religions. over time most religions have been reinterpreted,translated into and out of various languages, many text lost or edited, and the original purpose lost or distorted beyond usefulness. religion does not cause people to be evil but it does give a gathering place for evil to organize and rally support, it provides lines of division and push otherwise good people to do things against their better judgement. look around how many conflicts have been fought with religion as a cause or at least an excuse . how many acts of hate and violence have been attributed to religion, how much science and progress has been held back by religion, how many dollars have been spent by broke school boards to keep religion from perverting science (money better spent on education our children), how many governments have been hijacked by religion and so on and on and on. empires rise and fall usually because they grow fat and corrupt the empire of religion has to end in order for us to progress as a race. we as a species are growing up and as a child grows the beliefs of a child have to be discarded no matter how much comfort those beliefs give us .

By: Georgia Lignou

Georgia Lignou — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:47:00 +0000

as I have implied before ms. robertallen religiosity comes in many shapes and forms. fare well.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:59:00 +0000

Over the Edge responded well to your last post.

The most despiccable and pernicious thing about religion in terms of intellect, morality and ethics, is what’s at the heart of it, blind faith (euphemistically termed spirituality) and with it abrogation of intelligence. It is this alone which keeps the ignorant ignorant and not only gives rise to but feeds the evil hierarchies engendered by religion to engage in the wanton destructiveness, both physical and intellectual, limned so accurately in these posts.

Think of how much better off mankind would have been without religion and with science.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:22:00 +0000

Correct and you have just described just what makes religion despiccable.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:20:00 +0000

It’s one thing to have blind faith and a belief in a supreme being and as long as it’s just personal, that’s fine although it doesn’t say much about one’s intelligence. But it’s another thing to attempt to spread it where it is neither wanted nor appropriate, i.e., schools, especially biology classes, and it’s another thing to lie and distort in its defense like creationists and other such vermin.

By: Georgia Lignou

Georgia Lignou — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:13:00 +0000

Thank you for your time,
I can not agree that all religions are at their foundation evil, the same way I do not see all religions to be the same. There is a difference between the polytheistic and monotheistic, Eastern and Western religions. Religions have often been used for evil by the people who were to administer them. I do not equate the crimes committed in the name of religion with those committed in the name of science, religion is by far worse, however to add on the previous examples, nuclear bombs were invented by scientist as it is true for biological weapons, I am still waiting to see the scientists that have been poisoning children with over-medication for real and imaginary diseases to be held accountable. I would never use these examples to attack science, but that is exactly what he is doing to religion when he is evaluating the impact of all religions by focusing on fundamentalism only, even though I also think that religious fundamentalism is a great threat in our times.

What can make otherwise good people do evil things is fanaticism and you can have that through science as you do through religion, or through anything that becomes an ideology.

By: over the edge

over the edge — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:46:00 +0000

@Georgia Lignou
science is neither good or evil it is a tool, how people use these tools might be good or bad. science does not claim any moral authority, a set of rules to live by or commands any actions . religion claims all these things that is where the difference lies. you would never blame the manufacturer of a hammer (science) for someone using it to kill someone but you might blame someone who provided the instructions and reasoning (religion) for the killing ,

“With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion. “Steven Weinberg

By: Georgia Lignou

Georgia Lignou — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:20:00 +0000

I am not a religious person but I find the approach of Dr. Dawkins on religion as superficial as the examples he uses. Religions ancient and modern incorporate some basic mythical archetypes that have survived through the ages as symbols and for whatever reason help the people spiritually. For ex: virginity and purity, an idea usually connected to fertility, Water and symbolic cleanliness or initiation in connection to rebirth. We might argue that the root of religion as it is for mythology is ignorance and the fear of the unknown, but this will be an over-simplification. Also in a discussion about religion and related practices we can not disregard the power and the value of culture and tradition. There are plenty of people who will participate in these practices aware that the biblical stories are just symbolic. In fact the biblical beginnings are almost irrelevant in the practice of religion and the rich cultures associated with them.
Yes, evil has been committed in the name of religion but evil has also been committed in the name of science. I will remind you of the time of the electric shock therapy, lobotomies, syphilis experiments, and the list is much longer, not to mention how animals have been used in the altar of our scientific method.
I am not a polemic of science at all, and I am not religious, and although I enjoy shooting at easy targets too I enjoy depth of thought more.

By: becky

becky — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:56:00 +0000

evil….live

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 06:38:00 +0000

Interesting documentary. At the end it comes to whether people are smart enough to understand what’s going on. Unfortunately this is not the case. I find however very curios that Mr. Dawkins talks about scientific evidence and then when it comes to islamic values they show the twin towers and the london bombings. In both cases there is hard evidence that islamist have really nothing to do with it. More strange is when he is in that so called state “Israel” and he inteviews 2 islamic fondamentalist but forgets to interview the many ultra nationalist jews whose main concern is to wipe out all the arabs from what they feel as their land, and this is their religious mission. Makes me therefore wonder who edited this program and who controls the TV channel or channels. I’m sure some of you understood.

By: Samuel Morrissey

Samuel Morrissey — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 10:24:00 +0000

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad. For good people to do bad things however, invariably requires religion.

Religion is too often used as an excuse for the worst of human behavior.
Religion is too often used as a tool for malevolent control and manipulation of populations.
Religion has no answers, and reveres blindness that undermines all questioning.

A lot of talk about ‘facts’ here, although from a scientific viewpoint u there is no such thing as a ‘fact’ there are only theories to be tested. What we accept as fact is always open to being proven wrong by subsequent tests. This is where Religion truly fails, by insisting that the ‘truth’ is immutable and unquestionable.

By: Zach Fraser

Zach Fraser — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 09:09:00 +0000

people are the root of evil get over it, with or without god people are more than capible of doing awfull things the end!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:27:00 +0000

Hiroshima bombing? It was a Christian, a religious person, who ordered it, one of yours.

Feel better now? Surely ….

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:27:00 +0000

Speak for your self … you have mine

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:11:00 +0000

How would any of these religious/spiritual people feel if they were forced to adopt another religion? They would go nuts.

I have no problem with adults and their fantasies but forcing them into children is plain cruelty. Or is it the excuse that they do with their children whatever the want to? like slaves, no?

The only problem with religion is its very existence. Anything within religion is part of the fantasy and fantasies are boundless. They can justify and explain anything in an endless game like Pokemon.

“Tell the children the truth” if you don’t you are bringing up liars. I, for one, make very sure that I do like all religious/spiritualists and brainwash my children into atheism and teach them to mistrust any one who says trust me. Just telling them few anecdotes ( for example the spanish case of single mothers being robbed of their children by nuns and religious doctors because the child was outside marriage) has them running scared as soon as they see a nun in the street.

All Dawkins wants is to put religion in its place: history books.