Criticism of religion
Criticism of religion is the criticism of the validity, concept, or ideas of religion. Historical records of criticism of religion go back to at least the 5th century BCE in ancient Greece, in Athens specifically, with Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos. In ancient Rome, an early known example is Lucretius' De rerum natura from the 1st century BCE.
Every exclusive religion on Earth that promotes exclusive truth-claims necessarily denigrates the truth-claims of other religions. Thus, some criticisms of religion become criticisms of one or more aspects of a specific religious tradition. Critics of religion in general may view religion as any number of the following: outdated, harmful to the individual, harmful to society, an impediment to the progress of science or humanity, a source of immoral acts or customs, and a political tool for social control.
Definition of religion
is a modern Western concept that developed from the 17th century onwards, not before. For example, in Asia, no one before the 19th century self-identified as a "Hindu" or other similar identities. The ancient and medieval cultures that produced religious texts, like the Hebrew Bible, New Testament or the Quran, did not have such a conception or idea in their languages, cultures, or histories and neither did the peoples in the Americas before Columbus. Into the 21st century, even though modern researchers conceive religion broadly as an abstraction which entails beliefs, doctrines, and sacred places, there is still no scholarly consensus over what a religion is.History of criticism
In his work De rerum natura, the 1st-century BCE Roman poet Titus Lucretius Carus wrote: "But 'tis that same religion oftener far / Hath bred the foul impieties of men." A philosopher of the Epicurean school, Lucretius believed the world was composed solely of matter and void and that all phenomena could be understood as resulting from purely natural causes. Despite believing in gods, Lucretius, like Epicurus, felt that religion was born of fear and ignorance, and that understanding the natural world would free people of its shackles. He was not against religion in and of itself, but against traditional religion which he saw as superstition for teaching that gods interfered with the world.During the Islamic Golden Age, philosopher Al-Ma'arri criticized all prophets' statements as fabrications, and branded God in Islam a hypocrite for forbidding murder but sending angels to take each man's life. In the 18th century, the French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire was a Deist and strongly critical of religious intolerance. Voltaire complained about Jews killed by other Jews for worshiping a golden calf and similar actions; he also condemned how Christians killed other Christians over religious differences and how Christians killed Native Americans for not being baptised. Voltaire claimed the real reason for these killings was that Christians wanted to plunder the wealth of those killed. Voltaire was also critical of Muslim intolerance towards other religions. Also in the 18th century, the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume criticised the teleological arguments for religion. Hume claimed that natural explanations for the order in the universe were reasonable. An important aim of Hume's writings was demonstrating the unsoundness of the philosophical basis for religion.
The 18th-century American Enlightenment political philosopher and religious skeptic Thomas Paine criticized the Abrahamic religions. In The Age of Reason and other writings he advocated Deism, promoted reason and freethought, and argued against institutionalized religions in general and the Christian doctrine in particular.
File:The God Delusion.jpg|thumb|Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
In the early 21st century, the New Atheists became focal polemicists in modern criticism of religion. The four authors come from widely different backgrounds and have published books which have been the focus of criticism of religion narratives, with over 100 books and hundreds of scholarly articles commenting on and critiquing the "Four Horsemen's" works. Their books and articles have spawned debate in multiple fields of inquiry and are heavily quoted in popular media. In The End of Faith, philosopher Sam Harris focused on what he perceived as negative qualities of religion including violence. In Breaking the Spell, philosopher Daniel Dennett focused on the question of "why we believe strange things". In The God Delusion, biologist Richard Dawkins discussed religion broadly. In God Is Not Great, journalist and polemicist Christopher Hitchens claimed religious forces attack human dignity and wrote about corruption in religious organizations.
Origin and function of religion
Social construct
Dennett and Harris have asserted that theist religions and their scriptures are not divinely inspired, but man made to fulfill social, biological and political needs. Dawkins balances the benefits of religious beliefs against the drawbacks. Such criticisms treat religion as a social construct, and thus just another human ideology.Narratives to provide comfort and meaning
argued that religion developed as a source of comfort in the face of adversity, not as an honest grappling with verifiable truth. Religion is therefore an unsophisticated form of reasoning. Daniel Dennett has argued that, with the exception of more modern religions such as Raëlism, Mormonism, Scientology and the Baháʼí Faith, most religions were formulated at a time when the origin of life, the workings of the body, and the nature of the stars and planets were poorly understood. These narratives were intended to give solace and a sense of relationship with larger forces. As such, they may have served several important functions in ancient societies. Examples include the views many religions traditionally had towards solar and lunar eclipses and the appearance of comets. Given current understanding of the physical world, where human knowledge has increased dramatically, Dawkins and French atheist philosopher Michel Onfray contend that continuing to hold on to these belief systems is irrational and no longer useful.Opium of the people
According to Karl Marx, the father of "scientific socialism", religion is a tool used by the ruling classes whereby the masses can shortly relieve their suffering via the act of experiencing religious emotions. It is in the interest of the ruling classes to instill in the masses the religious conviction that their current suffering will lead to eventual happiness. Therefore, as long as the public believes in religion, they will not attempt to make any genuine effort to understand and overcome the real source of their suffering, which in Marx's opinion was their capitalist economic system. In this perspective, Marx saw religion as escapism.Marx also viewed the Christian doctrine of original sin as being deeply anti-social in character. Original sin, he argued, convinces people that the source of their misery lies in the inherent and unchangeable "sinfulness" of humanity rather than in the forms of social organization and institutions, which Marx argued can be changed through the application of collective social planning.
Viruses of the mind
In his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins coined the term memes to describe informational units that can be transmitted culturally, analogous to genes. He later used this concept in the essay "Viruses of the Mind" to explain the persistence of religious ideas in human culture. Some people have criticized the idea that "God" and "Faith" are viruses of the mind, suggesting that it is far removed from evidence and data" that it is unreasonable to extract certain behaviours solely through religious memes. Alister McGrath has responded by arguing that "memes have no place in serious scientific reflection", or that religious ideas function the way Dawkins claims.Mental illness or delusion
compares religion to a mental illness, saying that it "allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy". According to a retrospective study of Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and the Apostle Paul, they may have had psychotic disorders that contributed inspirations for their revelations. He concludes that people with such disorders have had a monumental influence on civilization. The issue of Jesus' mental health has been and is the subject of discussion and analysis.Psychological studies into the phenomenon of mysticism link disturbing aspects of certain mystics' experiences to childhood abuse. Clifford A. Pickover found evidence which suggests that temporal lobe epilepsy may be linked to a variety of so-called spiritual or "other worldly" experiences, such as spiritual possessions, which occur as the result of altered electrical activity in the brain. Carl Sagan, in his last book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, presented his belief that the miraculous sightings of religious figures and modern sightings of UFOs were all caused by the same mental disorder. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran suggests "It's possible that many great religious leaders had temporal lobe seizures and this predisposes them to having visions, having mystical experiences". Michael Persinger artificially stimulated the temporal lobes of the brain with a magnetic field by using a device which he nicknamed the "God helmet" and he was able to artificially induce religious experiences along with near-death experiences and ghost sightings. According to John Bradshaw "Some forms of temporal lobe tumours or epilepsy are associated with extreme religiosity." In his research recent brain imaging of religious subjects praying or meditating show identical activity in the respective human section of the brain which Ramachandran calls God-spots.
Psilocybin from mushrooms affect regions of the brain including the serotonergic system, which generating a sense of strong religious meaning, unity and ecstasy. Certain physical rituals may generate similar feelings.
In his book Why People Believe Weird Things, Michael Shermer theorizes that emerging mankind imposed made-up explanations and bizarre rituals for natural phenomena which they did not and could not understand. This theory is similar to the arguments which Daniel Dennett wrote in Breaking the Spell however, Shermer's argument goes further by stating that the peculiar and at times the frightening rituals of religion are but one of many forms of strange customs that survive to this day.