Should Religion Be Banned?

There are those who recommend banning some movies and video games because they appear to incite some people to commit acts of violence.

I don’t doubt that this may be true, but in the grand scheme of things, considering how many people watch movies (and TV shows), and how many people play video games, the percentage of those who steal and kill, for example, because of what they’ve watched or played, must be remarkably small – I’m guessing less than 0.1% of people, and maybe even that’s too high an estimate, although I admit this number if not scientifically-based.

The rules by which society lives seem, to a large degree, to be based on curbing the actions of a minority, at the expense of the law-abiding majority, and while it’s hard to argue that murder and theft should go unpunished, you have to wonder what’s a reasonable threshold for some crimes.

For example, supposing that a handful of people start killing young children because when they themselves were young, they were denied a teddy bear, so they now have this fixation on murdering anybody who has one of these popular soft toys.

The same people who are arguing for a ban on violent movies, etc. should be arguing for a ban on teddy bears, because a small group of people have been “incited to violence” because of them.

This may be a silly example, but is this a reasonable solution?

I don’t think so!

Taking it one step further, and being somewhat more realistic, just how many people have lost their lives because of religion and faith?

I’m talking about violence committed both by the church (think Spanish Inquisition) and by individuals (e.g. people who claim to be “doing God’s work” by killing others).

I strongly suspect that there are far more crimes committed in the name of religion and religious beliefs than there are caused by watching violence on TV or by playing shoot-em-up video games.

Because, let’s face it, most people are perfectly able to separate real life and fantasy – they know that what they watch on TV isn’t real, whether it’s Tom & Jerry beating the crap out of each other at one end of the scale or movies like Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction at the other end.

In fact, watching these movies is nothing more than a way of letting off steam vicariously – we know it’s wrong to riddle people we don’t like with bullets (however attractive the idea may be in some cases), but we also know it’s only entertainment and a distraction from the problems of everyday life.

So, back to religion and faith?

Should all that be banned too, on the basis that some people undoubtedly commit acts of violence because they “hear God talking to them”?

BELIEVE IT OR NOT:


Powered By Odd Facts