Killing, raping and looting have been common practices in religious societies, and often carried out with clerical sanction. The catalogue of notorious barbarities wars and massacres, acts of terrorism, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the chopping off of thieves hands, the slicing off of clitorises and labia majora, the use of gang rape as punishment, and manifold other savageries committed in the name of one faith or another attests to religions longstanding propensity to induce barbarity, or at the very least to give it free rein. The Bible and the Quran have served to justify these atrocities and more, with women and gay people suffering disproportionately. There is a reason the Middle Ages in Europe were long referred to as the Dark Ages; the millennium of theocratic rule that ended only with the Renaissance (that is, with Europes turn away from God toward humankind) was a violent time.Morality arises out of our innate desire for safety, stability and order, without which no society can function; basic moral precepts (that murder and theft are wrong, for example) antedated religion. Those who abstain from crime solely because they fear divine wrath, and not because they recognize the difference between right and wrong, are not to be lauded, much less trusted. Just which practices are moral at a given time must be a matter of rational debate. The 'master-slave' ethos obligatory obeisance to a deity pervading the revealed religions is inimical to such debate. We need to chart our moral course as equals, or there can be no justice.
bible crime crusades dark-ages debate desire divine equality faith genital-mutilation god immorality inquisition justice justification killing looting massacre moral-precepts morality order quran raping religion religious renaissance safety savagery society stability terrorism the-bible the-quran theocracy war

About This Quote

About Jeffrey Tayler

Jeffrey Tayler. Jeffrey Tayler is a U.S.-born author and journalist. He is the Russia correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and a contributor to several other magazines as well as to NPR's All Things Considered. Read more on Wikipedia →

Themes

  • Faith — Reflections on belief, spirituality, and trust in the unseen
  • God — Spiritual reflections on the divine, faith, and creation
  • Religion — Exploring belief systems, worship, and spiritual practice
  • War — Reflections on conflict, peace, and the human cost of war

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