historyA few recent questions have been seen about the positive or negative impacts of religion. Some ask in a present state, some imply throughout history. My question is not specific to any particular impact, or what the impact is.
However, as atheists (more likely- as pattern-observing humans in general), we have a tendency to make claims about the impact of religion upon history. If we are going to make these claims it is worth asking:
Some things to consider; religious wars always include a political aspect, religion has been a part of every society so how do separate its impact, claims of religion by leaders are not always authentic. There are obvious inherent problems in this question. For example, the lack of a control group. It is not possible to isolate a population large enough to be a valid non-religious group.
Although broad, I think the question is worth consideration to help focus other discussions. Without some sort of methodology, it is over-simple to let any discussion to devolve into “all religion is bad”. There is a persistent idea that all religion should be eradicated. Besides being crass and ignoring history and culture, this clouds any real discussion of how atheists should approach the real world or how we might prioritize the goals of a movement.
First, it might help to separate actions carried out only in the name of a religion and actions carried out by a religion, i.e. officially sanctioned by the religion being studied.
A study of any religion will show it evolving over time, when it is exposed to reason and old excuses no longer work, then they change and adapt.
In current times atheists act like a darwinian force on religion, exposing the obvious problems and challenging the best thinkers within each religion.
If there is indeed a god, then atheists are perhaps one of that gods closest friends.
To be a bit glib, I don’t think that’s entirely possible. While religion suffuses through all human activity, it really only serves as a veneer or wrapper for more fundamental forces – i.e. political power, control of resources, etc.
Scientifically- if religion were a variable we would have to set up an experiment with a control group and then measure the difference between human society with religion and human society without religion. But since religion seems to be intertwined with our culture throughout history, such an experiment seems to be impossible to preform. Furthermore- man is more than simply a biological organism- we are a social one too. We are as much as we are today due to our DNA as we are due to our path taken through history and the way that knowledge has been assimilated. But religion is there, next to us, the whole time.
Can we imagine prehistoric man, bereft of religion, and how his future would unfold? Is it clear that if man could have existed that way then it would indicate a fundamental difference in the way he interacts with the world, and as such could not be classified as a man at all?
I believe that the answer lies there- we would not be man without our historical experiences of the supernatural- it’s not even clear where or what we would be. So it seems the criteria for judging the impact of religion is intractable from a judgement of ourselves as a species. Are the foundations of man firm enough to carry him to a better future?
It seems that while technologically we have greatly surpassed our ancestors- in the social realm we have not advanced much beyond the ancient Romans. So if civil progress can be made by moving, as a society, away from religion- I’d say we have a good way to judge what it is currently doing for us. However, such a judgment cannot be extended into the past to cover religion for all time. There, I believe, there should just be the simple acknowledgement that it is part of who we were and as such necessarily lead to who we are.
It’s difficult to see religion in isolation. It is usually intricately confused together with politics and control. Actions speak louder than words - ask: What has religion done, what are the consequences of religion?
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