Is religion the root of all evil?

last updated 8 January 2015

Alan Jacobs

The Wall Street Journal

Religion, atheist authors argue in a spate of recent books, is “a social evil‚” the root cause of terrorism, hatred, and war. But this premise is based on a surprisingly simplistic reading of why extremists such as Osama bin Laden do what they do. Faith can indeed be powerful, yet it does not fundamentally alter human nature. When people claim to be acting out of religious conviction, they usually have motives for which faith merely provides a convenient rationale. Bin Laden, for example, claims to be following the dictates of the Koran in his campaign to kill all infidels. Yet he has made it clear that his rage originates primarily in ethnic humiliation, not religious conviction. If you took away bin Laden’s religion, would he be a peaceful, warmhearted man? Atheist authors such as Richard Dawkins appear to think so, with Dawkins saying that if we just rid people of their religious beliefs, we would have “paradise on Earth.” This, obviously, is “wishful thinking of the silliest kind.” Religion may not rid mankind of prejudice, envy, and other dark impulses, but neither does it cause them.