Global Issues: Cultural Conflict - ‘The Pope, the Prophet and religious support for evil

>Johann Hari in today’s Independent in ‘The Pope, the Prophet, and the religious support for evil’ argues that religion does not justify violence. This is of obvious relevance to the Global Issues topic on Cultural Conflict and in particular how religion has become more important in global politics.

“People can behave bizarrely when they abandon any commitment to fact and instead act on faith, writes Johann Hari. In 2005, 12 Europeans drew cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. This resulted in Islamist plots to kill the artists. This week, another similar plot has apparently been exposed. But many have condemned the cartoonists, instead of those accused of attempted murder. The religious have been wrongly allowed to claim that their ideas belong in an exalted category, and that it is abusive to question them. This enforced respect soon extends beyond religious ideas to religious institutions—even when they commit the worst crimes imaginable. The Catholic church has systematically covered up paedophilia cases across the globe. Due to considerations of faith, even good people have unquestioningly collaborated in this. But if someone bases their behaviour on the belief that an invisible, supernatural being approves of such behaviour, they need to be checked by criticism and mockery.”

For the full article