I moved this from the Dawkins thread.
"unmitigated evil" are doing so only when there are huge propaganda campaigns being waged by several interested religious and political groups against the same religion. A possible comparison is that if Dawkins existed in 1930s Germany, would he point to Judaism as the "unmitigated evil", given that Jews were being targeted by religious and political groups back then?
(23-May-2011, 03:00 AM)P11 Wrote: 1. Can you point to some success stories? I believe more down-to-earth factors than the belief in a god determine whether there is a resolution or not, irrespective of how religious or irreligious the parties in a conflict are. The numerous examples of alliances and conflicts between the West and the muslim world in the last 60-70 years is enough to convince me so.This is quite an important point. The fact that certain "new atheists" have come into being recently, claiming that religion is the root of all evil only ignores the fact that there were several Old Atheists who lived through previous stages of world history when today's circumstances existed in their opposite form. It is no coincidence that New Atheists like Dawkins point to Islam as the
"unmitigated evil" are doing so only when there are huge propaganda campaigns being waged by several interested religious and political groups against the same religion. A possible comparison is that if Dawkins existed in 1930s Germany, would he point to Judaism as the "unmitigated evil", given that Jews were being targeted by religious and political groups back then?
Quote:People find a need to belong to a group of people. Religion is just one of many many ways in which groups form. If religion is eradicated people just find other ways to group. Where there are groups there are conflicts. As an example, in my undergraduate days students were extremely loyal to their hostels and there was intense rivalry among the hostels, sometimes resulting in dangerous physical violence. Religion/caste played zero role in those conflicts.This is another important point. Human life is complex enough that human beings find all kinds of excuses to identify themselves to different groups. For example, most religious people today identify themselves with not just religion, but several other things. For example, a religious Hindu may simultaneously be an engineer, a religious Christian may simultaneously be an avid footballer etc. Speaking of football, if one knows the kinds of ugly passions sports like football or cricket generate among people, would "new atheists" argue against football or cricket? Or is religion also behind the fights between football club fans as well?
Quote:2. There is also a place for criticism of the New Atheist movement lest it turn into a religion itself. I have seen quite a few atheists who are as blind as some religious people. And history provides an example in Buddha, who was an atheist and yet spawned, probably unwittingly, a religion.