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Permalink Reply by Joan Denoo on March 12, 2013 at 4:34pm

Religion provides a sense of superiority, of being better than others, of having a stronger god, of being entitled to goods and services of others without regard for how much delivering those benefits costs to the giver.

Oh my goodness, have we not heard the stories of how hard people work for their earnings, implying those who do not work do not deserve a way of making a living. If there are no jobs, the unemployed receive criticism for not working. If a person is too young, old, injured, or too ill to work, they have to live on "charity". Entitlement programs for wealthy claim some sort of rationale for their receiving benefits.

Many think the free market economy provides charity, without seeking to understand the underlying causes of need for charity. Blame, criticism, judgment, accusations, become the language of superiority. Religious justification endorses their faulty beliefs. Compassion and care have no part of this value system.

Another important factor of judgment has to do with birthrights. A person from a different race, or a different economic class, or level of education, or sexual orientation or even appearances may be eliminated from consideration for partnership in community because of characteristics not of their making.

Factors of religion enter the picture as well. If a person builds his/her value system on dogma, not only excluding non-believers or imposing judgment on differently believing individuals, the outsider not only suffers from the judgment, but also aften must submit to laws created that are not in his/her best interest. Race, gender and sexual orientation offer obvious examples.

Religion underlies prejudice, indifference, manipulation, exploitation, abuse, neglect, and it even is used to justify the sexual mutilation of male and female babies. Religion provides justification for refusing medical care for procedures, even when medically indicated. Religion rationalizes not using condoms, even to prevent spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Religion glorifies ignorance when using Bronze Age understanding of nature and imposing it on our public education science courses. Religion glorifies such scoundrels as Mother Teresa even in face of her denying proper care to dying and suffering. She denied palliative care to suffering people, even as she sought it for herself when she need such care.

Religion uses delusions to justify immoral, unethical and uncaring beliefs.

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Permalink Reply by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on March 12, 2013 at 5:49pm

Interesting. I agree that the study needs to be replicated with a larger population in other settings.

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