Believe vs Ditch

There are many people in America and across the world that are frustrated with politics.  It is clear that nuclear proliferation, poverty, and genocide, as Harris lists, are more crucial discussion topics to the world's survival than social issues like gay marriage and abortion.  With the economic turmoil America faces, we should not be diminishing the issues that could displace the balance of world power by belaboring controversial topics for religious extremists.  That said, it is unfair to declare that religion is the downfall of politics as Harris does.  The New York Times article discussed the cognitive desire for answers to the unknown, saying  it was an evolutionary byproduct of survival skills.  Our opinions and "leaps of faith" come from an insatiable desire to feel confident in the unknown, and they may be more or less counter intuitive based upon each group's imagination and emotional strife.  This has caused many religious wars that inevitably introduced the governments and politics of many nations.  The governments, however, were also involved in these conflicts for economic and strategic reasons.  The Crusades were not just about getting the Holy Land, but trade and a power struggle throughout Eurasia.  Atran suggests that religion is the "tragedy of human cognition," which is far less extreme than to say people who take certainty from uncertain situations are usually plain wrong in their beliefs.  The former is more palatable but also much more accurate and allowing of other cultures, for which we as a species must allow. 

Coming from a non-religious background, I feel there are very useful parts to having a framework of religion in one's life.  It provides a set of morals and motivation with which to help others (less than Tom Cruise may require) and maintain a high quality of life.  It also creates dissonance among people with its absolute terms and intolerance.  A utopian idea of religious society would include allowance for other beliefs on specifics and the afterlife.  While a Jewish person may not eat pork, he should not necessarily preach to others to follow him.  Religion should be used as a tool to instigate improvement in world conditions and focus on issues like genocide and nuclear proliferation, not to distract from the big problems.  As discussed in the first day of class, religion is separate from spirituality, and almost secular in what should be its inclinations towards international stability.