I really miss Christopher Hitchen's, he was fun to watch/read. Have you seen his debate with Tony Blair along the same topic? I'm in the process of putting together a podcast ( #tngpodcast ) that asks the question, "what is the difference between spirituality and religion?" I'm still in the process of putting it together, any chance you'd be interested in participating? If so, PM me and I'll fill you in.So, as a non-fundamentalist, I've been asking myself, "is religion a force for good?" Or, like nuclear weapons, does it produce significantly more harm than good? If so, ought religion exist?
-I think that many religious people would tell you that without religion, there would be no impetus for the kind of outreach and charity they provide. I think this is complete hogwash, but that seems to be a driving factor for Blair in that debate. I think that a world without religion is a far more peaceful one. But I think a world in which we deny our spiritual natures would be a dangerous one too.
I hadn't seen that debate. It was worth watching, but there was a great deal of cherry-picking on both sides. To be fair, it's hard to assess the "goodness" of anything. Suppose you eschew the cherry-picking and exclusively use statistics. Is that any better? Strict Universalism leads to some dark places.
I completely agree, there can be no conclusive decision with such a objective. Still, the whole debate makes for some good theater. Hitchen's is always good for that.o be fair, it's hard to assess the "goodness" of anything.