Is religion good or evil?

[galvatron]

Is religion good or evil?

Scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins is challenged on whether religion is a force for good or evil in the world.

With the headlines covering fanaticism, fundamentalism, superstition and ignorance, religion is getting a bad press these days. And much of the conflict in the world, from the Middle East to Nigeria and Myanmar, is often blamed on religion.
But how are things from a different perspective? Some defenders of religion claim Adolf Hitler was an atheist. Communism under Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot or Mao Zedong banned religion, but also massacred millions. And science brought incredible and amazing advances, but also pollution and the atomic bomb.


A critic of religious dogmatism, Professor Richard Dawkins revolutionised genetics in 1976 with the publication of The Selfish Gene. He has since written 12 more bestsellers, including The God Delusionwhich sold millions of copies, was translated into more than 30 languages, and catapulted him to the position of the world's foremost atheist.
Mehdi Hasan challenges evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins at the Oxford Union in front of a varied and lively audience.
In a frank and at times heated exchange, they discuss: Is religion a force for good or evil? Can it co-exist with science? Is science the new religion? And why if god does not exist, is religion so persistent?
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/...038231381.html

What do you think?
Do you believe God exist ?
I from Malaysia and i from Muslim Nation ,i remember when i was student ,my friends was beaten by a Muslim teacher who get very angry when he said in this world that was no Allah .

[Ken Cheng]

Like any other phenomenon, it's not innately either: it all depends on how it's used.

[wkeej]

Personally all religions are good. As what Ken advocated, it is how it is used that the evil effect may come about.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Religions in and of themselves are vessels which people fill with all their hopes, aspirations, but also fears and hatreds. People fill religions with themselves in their entirety. When you fill them with the good, they become powerful forces for good. When you fill them with fear and hate, then they become a vessel for evil.

[Trien Chieu]

Religions are supposedly good, but society abuses it for personal gain so they are bad. Pretty much all religions no longer function as they were intended to, they are institutions just to brainwash followers for personal gain. They would care about the reputation of the institutions more than the well being of their followers. It's no accident that the Catholic Church covered up (I think they are still doing it) for countless child molested/rapist priests. Honestly, the world would be a much better place without religions.

[LuNaR]

religion is good except for extremist who takes things way too literally and way too far

[PJ]

Religions in and of themselves are vessels which people fill with all their hopes, aspirations, but also fears and hatreds. People fill religions with themselves in their entirety. When you fill them with the good, they become powerful forces for good. When you fill them with fear and hate, then they become a vessel for evil.

+1

I'm willing to believe religion, like many things, had good intent. But it screwed up along the way.

[darkcser]

Hope seems to be the primary good that religion brings. The idea that no matter how bad things are right now, there's something to look forward to.

Ironically it seems that morality and "truth" which are often touted as good in religion are often the root of conflict that results in evil.

[Nan Ling]

I think religion teaches people to live a happier life. There are lessons and morals.

[XiaoYe]

there are no evil religion, only evil followers.

I am atheist, but i'm not against anyone believing in what they want to. Everyone needs some sort of support and whether u can form that support from your family and friends without the help of religion, or if you need religion for that kind of support or guidance, it's up to each and every individual's choice. Just don't abuse your support and use it as an excuse for your wrong doings.

[charbydis]

I think it is people who corrupt religion, and not the other way around. Just look at how many percentage of religious people who are nice, law-abiding citizens and the minority which are extremists (any religion, not just Islam. You can get some really crazy Christians and Buddhists all throughout history as well) that tends to give the religion a bad name.

I believe that all religions (except Satanism) preach towards a peaceful lifestyle with their own set of rules. But it is the extremists who twists the meaning of religious texts (looking superficially at words rather than cultural and social context at teh time the texts were written), changing the religion to suit them rather than to change themselves to suit the religion.

I respect that all religions have their own rules that they have to comply by, but followers should not hide behind the name of religion to commit violent acts that go against peace.