Is Religion Really Good for the World?

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Victor Stenger doesn’t think so. He is an American physicist and an outspoken atheist who advocates that religion is an evil force that keeps the world from advancing scientifically, economically and socially. Science is the saviour of mankind whereas religion is the dark force which brings destruction. In short, science flies you to the moon; religion flies you into buildings. Neither does Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion). The unmentionable evil at the centre of our culture, according to him, is religion. Faith is one of the greatest evils of the world comparable to the small pox, he says, but harder to eradicate. He writes, “From a barbaric Bronze Age text known as the Old Testament, three anti-human religions have evolved: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.” Dawkins has even gone to the extent of saying that forcing religion into a child is a form of child abuse. Daniel Dennett (philosopher and cognitive scientist) likens religion to cancer – it grows and is destructive. The late Christopher Hitchens (literary critic and journalist) wrote an entire book denouncing religion titled God is not great: How Religion poisons everything. In it he argues that religion is immoral, man-made and is grounded in nothing more than wish fulfilment. What do all these writers have in common? They are the leading figures of the so-called New Atheist Movement and they want to abolish religion from the face of the earth. Religion is the green- eyed monster which brings about violence, destruction and hinders the progress of mankind and hence should be eradicated. They want to create a modern utopia freed from the shackles of religion. Religion is seen as a malignant disease and the sooner it is eradicated, the better it will be for the progress of mankind. Secularism has certainly become the banner under which the modern man wishes to march. My aim in this article is

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