Imagine
In the introduction of The God Delusion
- No Welch’s Grape Juice
- No Harvard, Yale, or Princeton
- No World Vision or Compassion International
- No Habitat for Humanity
- No Salvation Army
- Far fewer (if any) homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and orphanages
- No antislavery efforts from William Wilberforce
- No Sistine Chapel (with all its artwork)
- No Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings
- No Music Notation
- No Handel’s Messiah (among other classical pieces)
- No United States of America
- And no Christmas (Richard Dawkins wants to cancel Christmas?)
You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I think the world would be a drastically different place without religion. And I don’t think it would be as wonderful as Dawkins imagines. This is just a brainstorm of some of the things we wouldn’t have without religion. There are certainly more, and that’s where I would like to rely on you. What can you think of that we wouldn’t have without religion?
Filed under: Religion
No Crusades, No Islamic Jihad
No Reconquista, Tutonic Order or Holocaust.
Thanks for commenting.
Holocaust
True, Hitler would have had a much harder time manipulating the masses if he didn't have religion to use, but I suspect he still would have been just as power hungry. Even if there were no holocaust, Hitler was small potatoes compared to Lenin and Stalin.
A friend of mine said that Christians invented hospitals. I haven't had enough time to do the research to find out if that is true. Even if it isn't can you imagine how few hospitals we would have if there were no Catholic Church?
Well said! I do want to comment about the Crusades. I think if we take the sum total of deaths caused by the Crusades AND Jihad they will pale in comparison to the sum total of lives saved and benefitted through all the other advantages of Christianity.
There would be no public education system without Christians who started it.
Thanks for taking the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love learning more on this topic. If possible, as you gain expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more information? It is extremely helpful for me.
The Beatles music is still great! I wish i could write music like them.
lol quite a few of the opinions people enter make me giggle, time after time i ask myself whether they actually read the pieces and items before placing a comment or if perhaps they take a moment to read the subject of the blog post and come up with the first thought that drifts into their heads. nonetheless, it really is pleasurable to browse sensible commentary from time to time rather than the same exact, classic blog vomit that i continually see on the web have a pleasant day
This is a great post and a very interesting read Thanks
. I’ve read it a few times as i found it so interesting. i’ll pass it round to my friends and they’ll probably post it up on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks Again