A Rationalist's Defense of Religion

Before I make this post, let me make it crystal clear: I am an atheist. I find religious belief to be illogical, unfounded, and ridiculous. I live in a world based in fact and logic, and will sooner say "I don't know" to unexplained phenomenon than "God did it!" It is a crumbling reservoir of obsolete explanations about the world, continually recycling and recombining the same tired old ideas. At any rate, there is one thing that many other atheists do that I absolutely, positively despise to no end: lumping all supernatural beliefs into an all-encompassing "RELIGION" label.

You've probably seen posts like this in blogs and social networking sites, where the atheist will blame all of the world's ills on "religion" or claim that the world would be hunky-dory if no religion was around. Well, it's bullshit, and here's why.

One of the most common claims one would come across is that the majority of the world's conflicts are caused by (the big word here) RELIGION (dun dun dunnnnn!!!!!!!). I guess the people that say that slept through the parts in history class about the American Revolution, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and both Iraq Wars. Those are just the American wars religion had nothing to do with. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find a major religious war in modern history aside from the Crusades.

However, many smaller conflicts going on today are about religion. But is ALL religion to blame for these wars? Or is there perhaps one religion that is over-represented as far as world violence is concerned? Could there be a religion that has over 10,000 violent acts done in its name every year? How about a religion that demands women be punished for being raped, or encourages killing yourself for God? In case you haven't guessed, that religion is Islam. The vast majority of religious violence is done by Muslims in the name of Islam.

You can talk about abortion clinic bombings (when's the last time THAT's happened?) and the Westboro Baptist Church all you want, but the difference between Christianity and Islam is that mainstream Christian leaders for the most part condemn the occasional violence an extreme Christian sect will commit. Islamic violence, on the other hand, is given a wink and a nod by it's mainstream leaders. When others comment on their violent nature, they respond with violence.

Many Christian churches, Muslim Mosques, and Jewish Synagogues have a very positive impact on their communities. Some operate homeless shelters and soup kitchens. The Salvation Army is a religious organization. Linking Islamic extremist violence to these religions is the same black-and-white attitude that the extremists have. The belief that all religions are harmful is irrational. I don't go to bed at night worrying about Amish terrorists.