by Joseph Whalen

Created on: May 12, 2010

As much as religion has been used to manipulate and control societies over the centuries it is easy to make a case for it as being the root of all evil.  However we must look at the question from a higher perspective.  Religion, while proven to have an evil history is nothing more than a tool, a means to an end so to speak.  Religion is something that was created by man to prey on the primitive and paranoid nature of human beings through their superstitious beliefs and lack of understanding of the world around them.  In this sense religion is like a gun.  Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.  Religion isn’t the root of all evil; man is the root of all evil.

Without bogging this topic down in the religious rhetoric of Adam and Eve and the apple and all that, the fact of the matter is all the evil in the world today is the result of human beings.  Whether this be religious persecution, genocidal dictators or the average street criminal who would just assume stick a knife in your back for your wallet as he would give you the time of day.  Man is what makes the world evil, this is an inescapable fact. One of the tools man uses to do this is religion.

For centuries whether it be eastern or western culture, religion has played an integral part of society.  Before the age of enlightenment and the dawn of scientific discovery the world as man knew it was a strange, mysterious and often dangerous place.  Natural phenomenon that we take for granted today took on mystical and supernatural meaning.  Man struggled to explain the world he saw, and he did so without the benefit of science.  As a result religion was born.  Faith in some all powerful being or beings that make the heavens move and cause the events on the earth that no man could possibly comprehend.  It wasn’t long before the more intelligent and crafty individuals in society saw these superstitions as a means by which to manipulate others, thus was born organized religion.

Perhaps it is too harsh to say that man is the root of all evil.  In reality the root of all evil is probably the intelligence and sentience that are inherent in man.  Humans are the only known species on the planet to exhibit these traits to the extent that we do.  It is this ability to reason and think that has put us on a pedestal above all other life forms on the planet as we see it.  Stripped of these traits we would be slaves

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