Meeting of 28 February: Debate—That religion is a force for good
Throughout history and across the globe religion has been a cause of both peace and violence tolerance and inflexibility charity and selfishness. This mixed history invites the question of whether religion on the whole is a cause for good or ill. People like Hildegard of Bingen Florence Nightingale Gandhi Mary McKillop and Dietrich Bonhoeffer have been inspired by their religion to do good but others such as Crusaders Inquisitors Jim Jones and Osama bin Laden have been motivated to wreak hatred and violence on others.
In a debate sponsored by The Economist last year the vote was 25% for good and 75% for ill a result that may surprise us. An excellent report on the debate can be seen at www.economist.com/debate/overview/185. This contains the opening statements for and against the proposition by Mark Oppenheimer and Sam Harris as well as the first round of response blogs by readers of The Economist.
In preparation for our discussion on the topic we invite you to read the Economist report. We also ask you to think up three examples of religion as a force for good and three as a force for ill.