The Harms of Religion

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THE  HARM  OF  RELIGION (originally submitted by Todd Peissig)

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To those who say that religion should not be criticized because it provides peace and comfort to believers and,  after all, religion brings no harm to anyone……….. I say to them…..You couldn’t be more WRONG ! ! !   Religions have brought much harm to millions and millions of people throughout our planet’s history.    Here is a list we have put together. You may disagree with some points and see others as trivial. But, as we come across more examples, we will add them. The fact that a list like this can exist and be attributed to such a “peaceful” and “loving” god should sicken you. Try and make a list like this for atheists… good luck.

GRETA CHRISTINA HAS A GOOD LIST TOO (click here to see it)

–THE TWO BIGGEST: Intercessory prayer fixes things (leads to a lack of personal action) and the belief that god is coming back to end the world (leads to lack of environmental stewardship and caring about world wars… which some believe ushers in the return of god).

–Wars

–The Crusades

–The Inquisition

–the 9/11 tragedy

–ethnic cleansing

–suppression of women

–suppression of homosexuals

–fatwa’s

–honor killings

–suicide bombings

–arranged marriages to minors

–human sacrifices

–witch burnings

–systematic sex with children

–prevention of stem cell research

–faith healing

–useless circumcisions

–prevention of minority rights

–promotion of slavery

–the Jim Jones tragedy

–dissolution of family bonds

–genital mutilation

–general misogyny

–religious terrorism

–the Catholic sex scandal cover-ups

–suppression of art and literature

–the Ku Klux Klan

–Islamic gang rapes of woman as punishment

–punishment and suppression of freethinkers

–belief in a better afterlife

–creation of bigotry

–Pope Benedict’s condemnation of condom use for the spread of AIDS in Africa

–missionaries killing heathens

–children dying because their parents prayed to their god instead of getting legitimate medical help

–censorship

–serial killers who claim to be doing the work of Jesus/God/Satan/Allah

–exorcisms that result in death of the victim

–the David Koresh/Waco Texas tragedy

–the Heaven’s Gate tragedy

–discouragement of critical or rational thought

–the indoctrination of children into a religion without giving them a chance to learn about all other religions

–self-flagellation religious rituals (beating oneself until bloody)

–abuse of power/authority by religious leaders

–cults (even those that stockpile weapons)

–the fact that Hitler confessed in Mein Kampf to be doing the work of God

–the Boxer Rebellion in China

–constant bloodshed in the Middle-East

–constant battles over control of Jerusalem

–bloodshed in Ireland between the Catholics and the Protestants

–Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons and so that can be the cause or their death unnecessarily if they ever medically need one.

–the suppression of the use of Gardasil in young women to prevent cervical cancer

–the Mumbai, India Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in 2008 perpetrated by a Pakistani religious group (Lashkar-e-Taiba) that calls themselves “the Army of God”

–the delay of the passage of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act by right wing groups (especially James Dobson’s group) which finally passed 10 years after his death

–teaching children inaccurate, misleading and outright false concepts in a place called the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

–constant car bombings in downtown Kabul, Iraq (as well as many other cities) by fundamentalist  religious zealots.

–the denial of adoption by loving and qualified parents just because the parents happen to be the same sex ( e.g. Florida’s outright ban on adoption by same sex couples).

–the Thirty Years War between Protestants and Catholics in 1618 that turned central Europe into a wasteland.

–the Aztecs killed 20,000 people annually to appease the gods.

–the Inca’s sacrificed 200 children in a single ceremony.

–in Tibet priests perform ritual killings.

–the Dravidians in India sacrificed a male child to Kali every Friday evening.

–Islamic jihads that have been going on for over 12 centuries have killed millions.

–in the early 1900′s Muslim Turks waged genocide against Christian Armenians and Greeks.

–Muslim countries today still practice barbaric punishments from their holy books such as amputations for thievery and stoning to death  for adultery.

–Muslim and Hindus took an estimated million lives when Indian became independent from Britain in 1947.

–an Islamic radical tried to blow up a Northwest plane on Christmas day on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in 2009.

–the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1852 by the Mormons.

–the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington D.C. is refusing to continue its’ social services (including feeding the homeless) in protest of the passage of the same-sex marriage bill in the district.

–Pat Robertson said of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands of people, that the people of Haiti deserved what they got because “they had made a pact with the devil.”

–In March of 2010 nine people in Michigan, calling themselves the Christian Militia, arrested for threatening to kill a police officer and bomb his funeral in hopes of killing many more in order to, as they said, battle the anti-christ.

– In July of 2010 the Vatican declared that ordaining a woman as a priest is as grave an offense as pedophilia.  So in essence a man raping a 6 year old little girl is the same as a woman leading a congregation in prayer.

–a preacher in Florida is advocating the burning of the Koran on the anniversary of 09/11 in 2010 and putting many soldiers in Afghanistan in harm’s way since many Afghani Muslims are now taking their hatred of protest out on them, according to the U.S. military leaders.

–a bigoted member of an Arkansas school board suggested on Facebook that it was ok with him that a “faggot” killed himself (referring to Tyler Clementi’s jump off the George Washington bridge) because after all this is not good “Christian” behavior.

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Added by readers since original post on 11/29/10

– Cultural genocide of American Indians by Church run boarding schools.

– Manifest destiny take over of North America from American Indians

– Legal hunting of American Indian in California.

– Racial segregation in Australia based on “God given duties”

– Global Warming deniers using the “God will protect us” defense to ignore science and the threat to our planet

….NOW WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT RELIGION DOING NO HARM ?……