The Problem with Religion

Discussions with a couple of my friends on Facebook persuaded me to write down my thoughts about religion and why I think most religions are doing more harm than good.

1. Denial of Death. A factor which seems common to all religions is the denial of the finality of death. Practically all the religions seem to have the concept of a soul, something that continues after we die. The soul may be reincarnated (as in Hinduism and Buddhism), rewarded (Heaven in Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Moksh in Buddhism and Hinduism) or punished (Hell, Purgatory, an unpleasant reincarnation etc). In any case, the soul apparently retains the memory of actions performed in life (what would be the point of punishing someone for a crime they do not know they committed?), retains the ability to suffer (Hell) or enjoy pleasures (Heaven, Valhalla). There is, of course, no reason to believe that anything like this occurs. One can imagine ancestors, intelligent enough to recognize that death is inevitable but not yet aware enough of how the world around us functions, making up stories to console themselves that some sort of life continue after death, pretending that their ancestors still survived in invisible form, watching how their bodies were dealt with and so on. All that we know about Biology, Physics and Chemistry (and it's a lot more than humans knew when they invented religions) does not suggest that anything of the sort occurs.
2. The Nature of the Universe. We have learned a lot about how the universe works. We know that the Earth revolves around the sun while rotating. We know that there are hundreds of billions of suns in our galaxy revolving around a large black hole at the center. We know that there are hundreds of billions of galaxies like the Milky Way. We know that the universe is expanding and must have been very small and dense about 14 billion years ago. We don't know what there was before that but if we believe religious ideas about the origin of the universe and it's nature then we might as well stop looking and answer all questions with "God did it", which, of course is no answer at all.
3. An Arbitrary Moral Code. Most religions lay down a fairly arbitrary code of conduct for their adherents. Some of the rules make sense (don't kill people, don't lie) but these are the ones most often violated by their adherents. Others (don't eat a particular animal or plant or kill animals to eat in a certain way) make no sense and probably represent the tribal traditions from which the religions arose. The most dangerous one is that non-believers are going to hell and can be treated differently from believers. This allows murder and rape and slavery in the name of religion.
4. The Concept of Reward and Punishment. A lot of undesirable behaviour can be justified by a concept that evil is punished and good is rewarded by a mystical Karma or an omniscient deity. This allows us to ignore avoidable tragedy (children starving to death for instance) and avoid taking the trouble to repair systems which allow evil people to flourish (he may have become rich with ill gotten gains but he can't take the money to his grave and God will punish him or Karma will catch up with him). If we merely react to the world as it appears to be then we would make more of an effort to prevent suffering, share resources and plan for a sustainable future.
5. The Division of Humans into Competing Groups. Religions divide people into 'us' and 'them'. It creates what are essentially large tribes of people who share common beliefs. These tribes look at other tribes as competition, to be defeated instead of as humans with essentially common interests in terms of scientific and economic progress.

Religions have had good effects. The desire to propagate their religion led missionaries to set up hospitals and schools providing education and healthcare to those who would otherwise not have had access to them but the harm done far outweighs the good. The countries which have developed enough to reduce inequality, provide social supports and opportunities are also the ones in which religion has declined as a factor in governance and conduct. Hopefully that is the future.