The longer that religions —particularly the current brands of monotheistic faith—continue to be embraced, to the exclusion of science, human progress and knowledge, the more lingering harm is being done.
I will add that little-to-none of whatever ”good” that can be attributed to religion: charitable works, healing the sick, community support, etc; could not also have been accomplished without the imposition of religion. Of course, all the uniquely “bad” aspects (hatreds, wars, enforced mass ignorance, clerical pedophilia, and suppressions of freedom) would likely not have occurred at all if there were no religion to cause it.
I admit to being of the Hitchens school of secular philosophy: Religion poisons everything; false, fossilized thinking more appropriately recognized as the primitive mythology from which it arose.
This post was edited by Don Barzini at June 6, 2018 8:48 AM MDT
Christianity has done a tremendous amount of harm sending souls to Hell to this day. On the day of judgment many will hear The Lord YH say.. "Depart from me doers of iniquity! I NEVER knew you." as they plead naming works they have done in his name. It is not that they went astray and did not follow his commandments or were not good little boys and girls. He says he NEVER knew them. They have been worshiping the WRONG God! "I come in my father's name and you do not receive me, but another will come in his own name and he you will receive" The Christian church today worships Jesus not Yeshua.
This post was edited by O-uknow at June 3, 2018 2:43 PM MDT
Only the person himself is capable of sending himself or herself to Hell (whatever that entails).
If you are attempting to good in the name of the wrong "god," I see that as a mitigating factor.
But of course, the first line of your answer implies that Christianity is a false religion---and I couldn't possibly disagree more if that is what you think.
Religion has been used as an excuse to justify some of the most horrific atrocities perpetrated by humankind. An excuse. Muhammad preached tolerance towards "the People of the Book", Yeshua's message was LOVE. Most Muslims and Christians tend to forget that.
Q "All things considered (charity, morality, holy wars etc.) have the religions of the world done more harm or more good?" ====================================================================================
The question is about religions and not about those who claim to be their followers.
Some followers may have got the wrong end of the stick and wreaked havoc.
Of course there is no living being on earth capable of wreaking more havoc than human beings. However, although religion may be an apparent cause of a lot of harm done, in most cases it is used as an excuse. The real underlying causes of almost all harm done are avarice, megalomania, hegemony, racism, bigotry and other evil characteristics and inclinations which all good religions want their followers to control.
So good religions seek to mould human character and inclinations to bring out the best in human beings. They define limits in order to maintain human integrity and give structure and stability to society.
Theistic religions make humans aware of their duty to God, fellow humans and the rest of creation and make them aware of their accountability to God.
They satisfy people's spiritual and emotional needs and give them a link to God who transcends the universe.
I don't think the Baha'i Faith has done any harm yet. They do a good job of promoting equality among fellow humans. Their long term goal is to encourage all religions to unite as one.
I would suggest that while some religions have done some good, they have done no good that could not have been done without religion, while on the other hand they have done much harm that would not have been done without religion. So I feel that in general religions do more harm than good especially in the way they need a high birth rate and child indoctrination to thrive, in my opinion this is nothing short of child abuse, teaching young minds not how to think but what to think, to tell then that something is true when there is not one shred of evidence to support it outside of that particular cult's holy book.
The world empire of false religion is the reason for all the bloodshed, all the lies to confuse mankind, and bring on its destruction. (Revelation 18:1-24)
O-uknow 