The Negative Effects of Religion

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Religion causes conflict between people. Almost everyone would agree that conflict is bad, since it causes physical and psychological harm to people. Conflict is more likely to occur when there are organized groups of people, or “tribes.” This is because each group has a cause they are fighting for, and people they are fighting against. In the case of religion, this is very evident as people in each religion would fight for their God, and would fight against other religions or against non religious people.

Religion is based on non substantial evidence. Religious texts outline events which are not supported by our current understanding of the universe. These include the events of creation, various “miracles” performed by a divine being, and contemporary interaction between God and followers, such as through prayer. Although depending on who you ask and what their interpretations of the religious text is, some of these problems may be resolved as being merely metaphorical statements, many people also choose a more literal interpretation. Almost every seriously religious person would believe something that is at least partially contradictory to what has been proven to be possible, or is plausible given our current knowledge.

Given that religion accepts statements as knowledge despite them not being able to be proven, this will negatively affect the future choices made by people. One of the most fundamental differences between knowledge with proof and knowledge without proof is that the knowledge without proof is a lot more resistant to change. Think about someone challenging a scientific theory, and comparing it to someone challenging the existence of God. Since our knowledge affects the choices we make, and knowledge that is closer to the truth will cause people to make better choices, it would be better to allow for positive change (as in non religion), as opposed to not allowing positive change (as in religion).

Although there are some positive effects of religion, such as trying to balance wealth between people (such as through charities), the negative effects far outweigh the positive ones.