Harm To Society
Some aspects of religion are criticized on the basis that they damage society as a whole. Steven Weinberg, for example, believe it takes religion to make good people do evil. Bertrand Russell and Richard Dawkins cite religiously inspired or justified violence, resistance to social change, attacks on science, repression of women, and homophobia.
Hartung has claimed that major religious moral codes can lead to "us vs. them" group solidarity and mentality (often referred to as moral superiority) which can dehumanise or demonise individuals outside their faith as "not fully human", or less worthy. Results can vary from mild discrimination to outright genocide. A poll by The Guardian, a UK intellectual newspaper noted that 82% of the British people believe that religion is socially divisive and that this effect is harmful despite the observation that non-believers outnumber believers 2 to 1.
Read more about this topic: Criticism Of Religion
Famous quotes containing the words harm and/or society:
“We confess our faults that our sincerity might repair the harm those faults themselves have done us in the esteem of others.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“He was all for catharsis and purification, he dreamed of an aesthetic consecration that should cleanse society of luxury, the greed of gold and all unloveliness.”
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955)