Criticism of Religion - Criticism of Religious Concepts

Criticism of Religious Concepts

See also: Faith and rationality

Some criticisms have been aimed at theistic religions such as :

  • Religions sometimes posit facts that are conflict with certain scientific models or findings (e.g. evolution, origin of the universe, miracles); for example, the claim that prayer has a beneficial effect on others has been disputed.
  • Religions often require behaviors that are not sensible (such as the Old Testament prohibition against wearing garments of mixed fabrics, or punishing children of guilty parents).
  • Religions often contain multiple conflicting accounts (for example, discrepancies in the Bible among the four Gospels of the New Testament).

Counterarguments against assumed conflict between the sciences and religions have been offered. For example, C. S. Lewis, a Christian, suggested that all religions, by definition, involve faith, or a belief in concepts that cannot be proven or disproven by the sciences. However, some religious beliefs have not been in line with views of the scientific community, for instance Young Earth creationism. Though some who criticize religions subscribe to the conflict thesis, others do not. For example, Stephen Jay Gould agrees with C. S. Lewis and suggested that religion and science were non-overlapping magisteria. Scientist Richard Dawkins has said that religious practitioners often do not believe in the view of non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA).

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