one debate we had

One interesting debate from today that I do recall, and which I’ve also had with a prominent fellow blogger, was this: “would the world be better off without religion?”

My side: absolutely not!

It’s not the fashionable side to take in our circles, I realize. But religion is one of the strongest bulwarks of the metaphysical instinct that exists, and as I see that as an unmitigated good. I don’t see much value in reducing all entities to a number of palpable properties, for reasons that are probably clear to those who have read this blog regularly. I don’t see the intellectual use of beating up gullible people, especially since they’re sometimes right.

For every religious dogmatist you show me, I’ll show you dogmatic bullies on the other side as well. It’s dogmatism we should be worried about, rather than specific scraps of supposedly false content.