18/02/2024
Is religion necessary for morality?
“Some people claim that if there were no religions there would be no morality. Some people who profess to be open-minded believe that religions are useful because they occupy the same ground as morality. But this is merely a problem of nomenclature. If religion and morality occupy the same ground, they are naturally inseparable. It is apparent that the terms ‘religion’ and ‘morality’ can be easily distinguished and should not therefore be confused. It is said that those who love people of their own herd are good Christians. But in fact anyone may have a loving heart; not only Christians but also Buddhists may love others. It is fortunate to love other people, but it cannot be assumed that those who do are believers of this or that religion.
I do not think that religion is beneficial to morality, first, because belief in religion is not completely based on fact, and is hence erroneous. Second, those who take a religious attitude either refuse to hold any beliefs other than those of their religion, or else they acquire the bad habits of insincerity and inconsistency by holding beliefs which they know to be false.
In fact, we can say, first, that the demerits of religion derive from its attitude of conservative opposition to new ideas and institutions. Religions reject anything opposed to the old customs, regardless of truth, so that any progress in ideas and institutions becomes impossible. Second, religions always make judgements exclusively in terms of human desires, substituting sentiment for objective evidence. As a result, they create a universe full of Gods; the more deeply people believe in a religion, the more Gods exist. It is always believed that the universe loves Man, that the Gods are representative of the universe, and, therefore, that the Gods may love and help Man. Man must not irritate the Gods since they can bring about disasters—all plagues have been the result of Man’s wrongdoing.
I cannot claim that the universe is harmful to Man; nor can I say that the universe loves Man, since I do not have much evidence either way. I think that Nature is neutral to human beings and that it is better to believe that it may, to a certain degree, be controlled. We should study Nature rather than assume without evidence that the world is created by God. By doing so, our minds will become calm, and at last we will be able to perform our proper duty to Mankind.“
— Bertrand Russell, Russell on Religion: Selections from the Writings of Bertrand Russell (1999), Part II. Religion and Philosophy, 6. The Essence and Effect of Religion (1921), pp. 75-6
