I've been reading Sam Harris' The End of Faith and, like any good book, it has gotten me thinking. One of the central premises that spans the book is that there is good to be found in religion. Strange that, in a book entitled the end of faith, the Harris concedes that religion does indeed benefit individuals, communities, and societies.

In seeing the argument laid out, I realize that it's a truism that religion does provide certain, tangible benefits to people. I can help to illustrate this notion by relating a personal story of mine. Last Christmas I went to a Catholic mass at the behest of my girlfriend (whom is a practicing Catholic). If you are familiar with anything I've written here over the past months, then you know I am an atheist. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful, moving event. I felt a very strong sense of community and compassion there. At one point I was shaking hands with strangers as we wished peace upon one another. How can that be bad or evil? It's not. In fact, the ideals that underpin the behavior that went on are some of the same ideals that I strive for in my daily life.

More than my own personal experience, however, the actions of deeply religious individuals the world over exemplify some of the things that I liked best about religion when I did believe in God. Things like loving people. Things like giving to those who have not. Things like humility. A couple months back I read a story in my local paper about a faith-based youth group feeding the homeless at a downtown park (interestingly enough, the businesses surrounding the park were trying to get them to stop because they didn't like the homeless hanging around). It's things like that that restore my faith in humanity. My girlfriend was a missionary to Venezuela - helping the poor, the infirm, the uneducated. How is that bad? It's not. It's something I cannot criticize on any level, as I have never given up so much of my own time and life to help people I don't know.

The simple fact is that stories such as those are all over. Religion compels people to help others. Regardless of motivational ethics, doing the right thing is always better than doing the wrong thing. In other words, feeding the homeless to get in good with God is infinitely better than doing otherwise on principle (e.g. the conservative idea of self-sufficiency and ethical egoism).

Here it comes: I'm sure that those of you reading my fawning over the goods that religion provides-while at the same time knowing my own positions when it comes to religion-are waiting for the other shoe to drop. The second part of Harris' premise is that the goods found in religion not only come at a terrible price, but can be found elsewhere. Bam.

The sense of community. The sense of spirituality. The sense of compassion. The compulsion to help others. These can all be attained by various means other than church attendance, adherence to a theological doctrine, or a belief in God. This might not be logistically possible, at least at present. For example, take ethics. Religion has a good justification for why one should be moral (that is, if you accept what the justification is predicated upon) - you will anger God if you are not moral. Secular ethics, largely, has no such ironclad justification for why one should be moral. However, once a coherent science of morality gets off the ground (which may not be within our lifetime), this will become a non-issue.

However, many of the other goods that religion provides can currently be gotten elsewhere. Community? I've been to neighborhood watch meetings where I have experienced such a closeness - bound to others by proximity and shared interests. Spirituality? Even as an atheist and a materialist, there have been numerous experiences in my life that I would describe as "spiritual". Times when I have helped others, though I wish they were more numerous, I have felt a sense of humanity or spirituality. Times when I have heard a beautiful song, or seen a glowing sunset, I have felt a sort of tingling sensation all over my body that I don't really have the words to express. Compassion and the compulsion to help others? Like I said, I am an atheist and a materialist and yet I have experienced these same feelings that many people take religion as a necessary condition for. What about simply by virtue of our shared humanity? One of my favorite quotes is by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.: "Remember that everyone you meet loves something, is afraid of something, and has lost something". Simply by virtue of recognizing that, in others, moves me to compassion for them.

If you grant me that the goods in religion can be found elsewhere (that's a big if) then what are the costs, historically and currently, that are paid? You would have to be a true ideologue to hold that there are none. The biggies aside (such as the Inquisition), I think if you look at the historical record, you will find that religion has also been primarily responsible for insurmountable suffering and death. This continues to this very day. The rationale for the suicide attacks wrought on us by members of the Islamic faith was, in fact, Islam itself (if there was no paradise, there would be no justification for those individuals who committed those acts). There is also an argument to be made that the invocation of the civil-religious Christian doctrine was the principle catalyst for initial public support of the war in Iraq (you know, modern day Babylon and all). But it's not just war, oh no. Our theocratic prohibition against pleasure is annually responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands and the continued suffering of millions more via AIDs and other sexually transmitted diseases - not to mention the economic cost. The idea that marriage is between a man and a woman has become a lightning rod for hatred, prejudice, discrimination, and theologically motivated violence against homosexuals. The strict limits placed on reproductive autonomy, aside from brining unwanted children into the world, is currently preventing critical research from being done on stem cells that, in all probability, hold a large part of the puzzle in the quest for the cure for cancer (among other currently incurable diseases). You can lay all this squarely at the feet of religion and theological normative ethical theories. That's just the current state of affairs. Go back several hundred years, and you will find a similar plot line with different characters.

My point here is not to denigrate anyone's faith, nor is it to point out how evil religion is. As I stated and explained, upon examination, I do earnestly believe that there is good within the hallowed halls of religion. But there is a downside - a big downside - that many either fail to recognize, mis-attribute it to other causes (e.g. Well they weren't true Christians/Muslims/Jews), or actively deny it altogether.

If you take your purpose to be one of remaining comfortable and self-assured in your beliefs, then you can (and will) safely forget everything that you have just read. I don't imagine anything that I have to say will give you cause for thought or pause. However, if you take your purpose to be alleviating suffering in others, abroad and at home, then you should demand nothing less than an open and honest discussion of these matters.

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