by Perry Cox

Created on: August 26, 2008

Religion the opiate of the people? Such a cynical view of things yet one that is increasingly popular in an increasingly doubting Western world. Religion gets blamed for all sorts of things nowadays. We tend to blame Islam for Worldwide terrorism and Catholicism for unwanted pregnancies in Third World and developing countries. Meanwhile, the religiously devout will happily blame the atheist and agnostic's liberal views on high pregnancy and abortion rates and the increase of violent crime.

What we tend to forget is that these blames are interchangeable. Not so long ago every Irishman and woman was a potential terrorist thanks to the IRA and a frenzied media. Islam extremism is the new IRA and it is a sad state of affairs when every man wearing a turban and woman in a Burkha is immediately marked as a threat. Brown really is the new black in terms of mistreatment in modern society.

So, rather than presuming all religion to be damaging to society perhaps it would be better to think of the positives? Whenever people (and by people we are largely talking about stuffy Sociologists with too much time on their hands) talk about religion they talk about it being an opiate as if that were a bad thing. Religion can be about oppression and conformance, of that there is no doubt but I also see religion as a comfort to many people. Religion provides reassurance and a belief in life beyond death. While teaching us of our mortality, many religions also give the sense that the good are rewarded whereas the bad are punished in this life or the next. This must be of help to many. As an agnostic I can openly say I fear death, I do not have the confidence to say there is anything after I die so it must be great to have that sort of confidence that this is not it.

Religion also gives a sense of community and belonging. After all, our individual beliefs are largely what gives us our identity. Membership of a place of worship provides many with an extended network of friends that feel almost like an extended family. In a modern society were a real extended family is rare, this must be reassuring for many.

Of course, religion also forms so many of the laws in society. In the UK the majority of criminal law is based on the ten commandments. "Thou shalt not kill", "Thou shalt not steal", "Thou shalt not go 30 in a 40 zone". These are all fundamental in law and are also what many people use as a foundation for their own code of ethics. Even a non-believer should be able to see the value

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