I want to break here quickly enough to say that I rather doubt Dawkins claims any such
'proof' in his writings, and would encourage
Mjs to double-check this statement for accuracy. -Ahh! I see Marius has corrected the claim.
The dangers of organized religion
People in my country, the U.S., typically fail to grok the insidious nature of blind conviction, characteristic of religion.
The world history of religion is writ in the blood of intolerance for the beliefs of others and the lacking of reference to the whole of humanity. Anyone who would still deny that organized religion has played a significant role in perpetuating evil upon others across the millennia are really ignorant to world history.
(This is right up Teach's alley!)
Ever since Muslims swept across the European continent in the fourteenth century to assimilate Constantinople, the last vestige of the Christian Roman Empire, the wars of religion have wraught bloodbath after bloodbath. Later, Christian warriors as directed by the Pope would go on to prosecute the notorious Crusades seeking to annihilate
their enemies.
Which of course segues into the centuries-old feuding between Kurds, Shiias, Sunnis, Christians, and Muslims of today in the broader Middle East. In the name of religion and of defending holy lands, these wars are responsible for some of the bloodiest, most intractable feuding of the last two-thousand years.
Make no mistake, organized religion of today does good only to the extent that it does not divide... fuel prejudice and intolerance such as homophobia... and create factions which fight bloody civil wars.
* * *
These citations demonstrate the nefarious influences brought on by organized religion, as over the centuries dissident faiths and traditions have given rise to the systematic slaughter of mankind.
How that can be in any way equivocated is beyond me, and the sooner we as a species are rid of this fiction of the ages, the better for all.
Ten