The Bellman

Philadelphia Inquirer | 01/29/2006 |:

Is religion the root of all evil?

Imagine, sang John Lennon, a world with no religion. Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no witch-hunts, no Gunpowder Plot, no Kashmir dispute, no Indian partition, no Israel/Palestine wars, no Serb/Croat/Muslim massacres, no Northern Ireland "troubles."

More grumblings from Richard Dawkins.  It may sound stark and drear to suggest science and reason as alternative to religion, but it strikes a particular chord with me.

It's interesting when you compare it with the ideas in this brief interview with Daniel C. Dennet which begins thus:

Q: How could you, as a longtime professor of philosophy at Tufts University, write a book that promotes the idea that religious devotion is a function of biology? Why would you hold a scientist's microscope to something as intangible as belief?

Dennett: I don't know about you, but I find St. Paul's and St. Peter's pretty physical.

Q: But your new book, "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon," is not about cathedrals. It's about religious belief, which cannot be dissected in a lab as if it were a disease.

Dennet: That itself is a scientific claim, and I think it is false. Belief can be explained in much the way that cancer can. I think the time has come to shed our taboo that says, "Oh, let's just tiptoe by this, we don't have to study this." People think they know a lot about religion. But they don't know.

Might be worth tracking the book down.  I'd be particularly interested to see how anthropological he gets in his philosophy.  I imagine one could have a lot of fun comparing the functions and tenets of the aspects of religious practice from various cultures and faiths.  Be interesting, also, too see how much deeper than 'mere' behavoiur he goes in his study too.