Food for Thought

[MarkCharles]

14. And how would a philosopher regard the history of religion's contribution

to the advancement of humankind?

I can see some values religion MAY HAVE played in previous centuries to the organization and control of societies. When people were largely illiterate, and when people were untrained in the sciences and the philosophies, religion may have had a positive role, from time to time, when one religious group was not waging war with another one.

Nowadays, we see religious extremists favoring wars, degrading the best forms of self-government ever developed, (democratic rule), and yet insisting upon special favors and exemptions from the rule of law when it comes to any number of topics, from the accountability of men in the Catholic clergy to the need for horse carts of Amish to comply with reasonable practices of transportation safety.

So I think we live in an age when religion is reasonably being challenged to prove itself a worthwhile pursuit and to prove itself a reasonable course for the indoctrination of young minds. From 9/11/2001 to the endless Christian and Muslim rants against gay folks, we must question the value religious institutions offer a modern democratic world of advanced nations, and we must ask those religious folks to keep their religious beliefs out of the workings of our democratic governments.