Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that. Revealed faith is not harmless nonsense, it can be lethally dangerous nonsense. Dangerous because it gives people unshakeable confidence in their own righteousness. Dangerous because it gives them false courage to kill themselves, which automatically removes normal barriers to killing others. Dangerous because it teaches enmity to others labelled only by a difference of inherited tradition. And dangerous because we have all bought into a weird respect, which uniquely protects religion from normal criticism. Let's now stop being so damned respectful!
"Has the world changed?" (11 November 2001), The Guardian.
ReplyDeleteWithin hours of the apocalyptic events of September 11, headline writers, pundits and politicians were agreed on one thing: the world had changed for ever. But has it? And, if so, how is the one we live in now different? One month after the attacks, 23 eminent figures (including Richard Dawkins) offered their answers.