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Christopher Hitchens’s argued that religion is not at all moral and individuals have the ability to be good without the influence of religious backing. Hitchens believes that all religion allows for the ignorance of the observable truth in favor for the indulgent of wishful thinking. That people are allowed to do immoral actions while being forgiven through the sacrifice on another human scapegoat and that anyone who was born after the event must bear partial responsibility for a sacrifice that they would not have agreed to. Hitchens also believe that people have the capability to be good without religion due to how divine permission leads man to actions unheard of. Circumcision and war are widely accepted as morally wrong, and yet due to rights
given by a divine being do they allow such practice. Our understanding that these actions are wrong in any circumstance is why Hitchens believe people don’t need religion to be good. I find Hitchens’s argument, though appealing in some areas, not convincing for his thesis. Vaguely speaking, I find some of his claims to be extreme. While it is easy to see that there are individuals who use their belief as a means to suppress people and instigate war with others, I believe that a belief, albeit a religious one or not, does allow some to act with a way seen good. If someone helps another due to their religious belief, should we fault them for following that? Granted I would have rather they believe they are doing good for the sake of being good, but I can’t disapprove if they used their religious belief as a medium for their ability to be good.
“Religion Gives Meaning to Life” outlines how life is given meaning through theistic religion in Louis Pojman’s opinion. In this short reading, autonomy is described as in the meaning of freedom or self-governing and argues how it is necessary for ideal existence. By being honest and faithful with ourselves shows how we can increase our autonomy. “I think most of us would be willing to give up a few autonotoms for an enormous increase in happiness” (553) shows our willingness to practice good purpose.
In the article,"An Atheist Manifesto," by Sam Harris he discusses how God does not exisit because if he did exist there would not be any evil in this world. As I was reading this article I found it very intresting how Harris is so negative and believes that everything that happens is God's fault. "....at this very moment that an all-powerful and all-loving God is watching over them and their family. Are they right to believe this? Is it good that they believe this?No,.." stated Harris. He should understand that God gave us a gift called "free will," and with that gift it comes with a price that we should live with the consequeces by the descisions we make as human beings. I liked this article because it showed me the other side of the coin
Christopher Hitchens was a leading controversial writer of his time (20th-21st century) who wrote several articles on subjects such as religion, literature, art, politics and war. (Hitchens, Christopher) In the article “Free Exercise Of religion? No Thanks”, the writer proposes a question and then proceeds to answer it, thus stating his opinion. The topic itself highlights the writer’s stance on the issue as it shows that he is against the idea of “free exercise”(Hitchens, 1) of religion. Hitchens has used the view of the majority, sarcasm, vivid imagery, pathos and sarcasm to back his claim and appeal to his audience to see his point of view. However, despite its strengths, Hitchens condescending attitude combined with some illogical claims made in the article means it is offensive to some of his audience and his contradictory tone makes the readers question his judgment.
In “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini, religion plays a dual role. Most of the hardships that befall the two protagonists, Mariam and Laila, are due to the many doctrines of Islam interpreted by men in their lives who use it for their own gratification. However, also provides comfort to the women. For example, as a child, Mariam used to study the Korah with her mother’s friend, Mullah Faizullah. She enjoyed these lessons very much because Mullah Faizullah would listen to her problems and help her to find parts of the Korah to give her hope. Religion and the Korah give the women comfort. It is the selfish men who use the word of the Korah to justify their evil actions who do not.
This course dove into medieval history and touched on all of the most critical elements of the period giving a well-rounded look into the lives and cultures of the middle ages. As the class moved forward it became evident that religion is central to understanding the people, advances, and set backs of this period. We learned how inseparable the middle ages and religion are due to how completely it consumed the people, affected the art, and furthered academics. Since, there is a tendency to teach about history and literature separately from religion and since religion possessed a dominant position in every aspect of a medieval person’s life, while many of us had already looked into the period we missed some crucial cultural context allowing
Morality and ethics have always been a large source of debate and contention between different factions of various interests, beliefs, and ideals due to its centrality and foundational role in society and civilization and incredible importance to everyday life and decision making. In many of these disputes religious belief, or a lack thereof, serves as an important driving force behind one or both sides of the argument. In the modern world, one of the bigger instances of this can be seen in the many debates between Atheistic and religious individuals about the implications of religious belief on morality. One of the most famous Atheists, Christopher Hitchens, asserts that religion is not only unnecessary for morality, but actually impedes it. In his work God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything, Christopher Hitchens challenges religious believers to “name an ethical statement or action, made or performed by a person of faith that could not have been made or performed by a non-believer”, and proudly states afterwards that many have made the attempt but no one has given him a satisfactory answer. However, the best response to this challenge is to point out the inherent flaws in his logic, the unfairness of his challenge, and the fact that Hitchens is asking the wrong question in the first place.
Thomas Jefferson once stated, “Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites.” This (1) profound statement gives the (2) implication that people often use religion in order to avoid blame or criticism for their (3) reprehensible actions. Many individuals hold great (4) disdain for organized religion because it allows people to believe that they are no longer held by the morals of society if they have religion on their side. Religious individuals can be seen to have a (5) propensity for going against what they believe and twisting their beliefs to support their hypocritical actions. (6) Contempt for organized religion is (7) engendered by the idea that since religious people are so engrossed in their principles, they are excused of any obligation to consider the evil in their actions because their religion automatically makes them righteous. The concept that organized religion is (8) loathed for its hypocrisy is demonstrated in various pieces of literature. In the novel entitled To Each His Own, by Leonardo Sciascia, the animosity towards the Catholic Church demonstrates how organized religion is looked down upon because of the insincerity of its followers and how they tend to use their religious beliefs to conceal many actions that would be judged as evil and immoral.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived during the time of the Holocaust. He was interested in and influenced by religion from an early age. He always tried to live for God. He was a big part of the anti-Nazi movement. He continues to inspire Christians all over the world. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a very influential theologian who dedicated his whole life to his religion.
Nietzsche's critique of religion is largely based on his critique of Christianity. Nietzsche says that in modern Europe, people are atheistic, even though they don't realise it. People who say they are religious aren't really and those who say they have moved on haven't actually moved on. Certain people in society retain features of Christianity. For example, socialists still believe in equality in all people.
Albert Camus was an existentialist. He was also not a religious person and even though he was born and raised a Catholic; he soon quit his religious faith and turned into an atheist, believing that religion was “philosophical suicide”. He described his attitude toward religion in the lines “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.” Yet, it is seen that even though he denied being an existentialist, he is seen to have ‘brooded over such questions as the meaning of life in the face of death.’ “Men are convinced of your arguments, your sincerity, and the seriousness of your efforts only by your death.” This quote shows that Camus believed death was what created people in society and brought their life into the spotlight.
Richard Dawkins believes faith and religion are dangerous because they are viral and lead people to believe irrational ideas that can be perverted to discriminate against others. He is correct because religion is based on faith which is blind to reason, religion is too open to interpretation and thus too easy to pervert, and it is viral and easy to spread in its nature. Blind faith is extremely dangerous because it can lead almost anyone to believe something unwaveringly, whether it is good or bad. When coupled with the openness of religion to interpretation, faith in discriminating and harmful beliefs can lead to hard-to-negotiable conflicts. Add the ability of these belief systems to spread and a danger to society
Nietzsche attacks religion for its stance against of healthy instinctive values and the intolerance and complacency that religion breeds.(Nietzsche 52) Nietzsche believed that the Christen morality prevented us from reaching our full potential as human beings(Janaway). Nietzsche most classical explanation for how this repressing of healthy values, such as passion and ambition occurred is the slave revolt. In this theory he states that the priestly classes of the ancient world invented an evaluative system for the downtrodden, according to which what their masters considered virtues, such as pride and strength are evil(Milgram 93). A result of this is this pervasive feeling of self guilt when our natural instincts provoke such feelings from within us, which has a negative impact on our mental health (Janaway).
There has been a clash between secular thought and religion since its formation of societies in the classical age. Both have made an equal effect on the culture of each empire by influencing people to change their belief on the world. Major religions have made interactions, which affected some of their ideas for what they have become now. The major religions during the classical age are Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Daoism, and Zoroastrianism. These religions also have similarities and differences between each other in which it has involved them to what they've become. The major empires that have affected are Persia, India, China, Greece, and Rome. These empires' culture has influenced by religion to the extent where it has changed their lifestyle. Although secular thought has made a huge impact on the world, world religion has affected history since its reemergence of empires by exchanging culture of their ideas during the classical age.
Emile Durkheim, regarded as the father of sociology, worked roughly during the same period of time as Tylor and Frazer. However, despite their timely similarities, Durkheim claims that humanity will not outgrow religion. Durkheim differs from Tylor and Frazer because he considers religion and science to have separate purposes for humanity. For this reason, he affirms that science will not be the force through which religion becomes outgrown. To explain, Durkheim suggests that unlike science, “[r]eligion’s true purpose is not intellectual, but social” (Pals: Nine Theories, 102). The social function of religion manifests itself as it “serves as the carrier of social sentiments providing symbols and rituals that enable people to express the deep
Religion can be defined as a system of beliefs and worships which includes a code of ethics and a philosophy of life. Well over 90% of the world 's population adheres to some form of religion. The problem is that there are so many different religions. What is the right religion? What is true religion? The two most common ingredients in religions are rules and rituals. Some religions are essentially nothing more than a list of rules, dos and don 'ts, which a person must observe in order to be considered a faithful adherent of that religion, and thereby, right with the God of that religion. Two examples of rules-based religions are Islam and Judaism. Islam has its five pillars that must be observed.