Religion is a Solution to a Non-Problem

At the 2005 World Religions Conference, I was asked to represent atheism, sitting on the stage with a Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Sikh, Hindu, and Native American spiritualist. (I accepted the invitation only after making it clear that atheism is not a religion, and they agreed to include it as a “world philosophy.”) The theme of the conference was “salvation,” and each of us was asked to summarize our respective positions on that topic. After pointing out that “sin” is a religious concept, hence “salvation” is merely a religious solution to a religious problem—would we respect a doctor who ran around cutting people with a knife in order to sell them a bandage?—I ended with these words: “If salvation is the cure, then atheism is the prevention.” Many in the audience laughed at that comment, some who should not have been laughing. They got the point: Much of religious education is an endeavor to solve a nonproblem. It is a confusing waste of time.

Notes:

It's like a doctor going around cutting people in order to heal them.

Folksonomies: atheism

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Islam (0.790778): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Sikhism (0.779818): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc | yago
Religion (0.741442): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Judaism (0.541472): website | dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
God (0.539709): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
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 My Father's House
Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book Chapter:  Barker, Dan (2007), My Father's House, Retrieved on 2012-03-28
Folksonomies: parenting atheism