Reply #33: There’s the rub

[ironbark]

“the contention of anti-theism is that the sum total of goods that religion has contributed does not outweigh the sum total of negative consequences that religion and popular religiosity has wrought on society” Varkam

“Exactly. Given a choice between having both Faure's Requiem (IMO, one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written) and the Inquisition, or neither, I would not miss the Requiem all that much.” TechBear_Seattle

If the direct and explicit ‘Commandment’ of Christianity is “Thou shalt not kill”
does not the killing Inquisition become a reflection of the failure or refusal to adhere to the religion?

How is acting in a manner diametrically opposed to an instruction a reflection or result of that instruction?

(The prior stated Varkum pov is that misbehaving atheist ought not be considered or named as reflective of atheism but rather viewed as "jerks" or "arseholes" (?)...I struggle to see how anyone breaching "Do unto others as you would......" with torture and death ought be considered 'Christian')

“..the sum total of goods that religion has contributed does not outweigh the sum total of negative consequences…”

I’m going to suggest that the proposition above is not only unverifiable but ultimately unknowable and that the position stated (or its opposite) can only be reached via the most superficial subjective personal inclination.

History (like newspapers) thrives on the horrific and dramatic…’The Inquisition’ is writ large as banner headline. The lives, joys, “goods” (spiritual and material) of those millions who embraced religion are rarely if ever recorded…it just aint news/history. This includes those millions who lived through the Inquisition/Holocaust and yet retained their faith.

Even were it possible to gain the personal account of every human being who had ever embraced, experienced or suffered a religion it would remain impossible to ascertain “the sum total of goods that religion has contributed”.

Such an assessment (one way or the other) is purely subjective/personal and cannot be based on any objective or historical data,