Religion: Divisive, not Divine

Many people wish to use religion as a way to heal divisions and achieve peace. This should seem like a strange tactic, given how much of a role religion plays in conflict and strife. Religion may have a good influence on relationships among people within the same religious group, but does it really do more good than harm once we move beyond this?

A couple of years ago, Gordon McLauchlan wrote in the New Zealand Herald about the growing presence of religious schools in Sydney and New South Wales, Australia. According to McLauchlan, religion in general but also in Australia specifically is doing more to divide people along religious and ethnic lines than it is to unite them in peace and harmony. This quote really stands out:

"[R]eligion is essentially and inescapably a human activity. If it were a divine activity, it would have a single version authorised and authenticated by the one true god."

McLauchlan also thought it is strange that religious leaders would be promoting religious schooling as a source for moral education and character building, considering all of the scandals around the world where children have been abused both physically and sexually by their religious superiors while religious leaders make excuses and cover up the truth:

"It seems to me that while secular teachers may occasionally breach their trust, they have considerably less power over their children than religious teachers whose very presence endorses their moral superiority in the eyes of their pupils."

So why is it again that religion is necessary for peace?

 

Read More:

• Separation of Church and State 101
• Church and State News
• Religion in Public Schools
• School Prayer
• Secularism 101