Challenging Wally in Chicago re his views on religions.

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jan 7, 2022 at 19:29

Dear Dr Pipes, Some of the frequently used and repeated arguments are at best incorrect and at worst very dangerous. People often paint all religions with the same brush, consider them all equally bad, and discard them all. Even Karl Marx who said, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people." was being myopic when he made the above statement. This is because besides being all the things that Marx included (sigh, heart and soul), religion is also the basis of human bodies of law and ethics.

People don't just do the mistake of painting different religions with the same brush, they also fail to notice the distinctions between the good and bad parts of the same religion.

The mistake that we make when we evaluate religions is abandoning our ability to rationally discriminate. I am quite familiar of the religious milieu in India. Debate and discussions are routinely encouraged in Indian religions. Even Christian religion has allowed room for discussion, debate, and reflection at different times and places if not universally. How can things that allow questioning be fully bad or the 'opiums of people'? How can all religions be equivalent and equally bad?

Criticizing religions is, once again, a matter of knee-jerk reactions and convenience. Given enough thought, religion has a peaceful place in our lives.

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