10 Reasons why I am an Atheist: #9

"Religion has bequeathed to the world at least as much evil as it has good, and probably more of the former than the latter. We have only to think of the Inquisition, the witch mania, and the mass slaughter of thousands of men, women and children in the name of their gods by Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and almost every religious body; and it continued TODAY!"

ASSUMPTIONS:
1. If there is a God, his followers would do more good than evil.
2. Religious people have done a lot of evil in the world.

VERDICT:
Logical fallacy (red herring)

DISCUSSION:
We all can agree that religious people have done a lot of evil things throughout history. But it does not follow that there is no God. Regardless of whether God exists, people who claim to believe in God can choose to do evil. The Bible is full of examples of this. Notice I said "claim to believe" -- doing things in the name of a religion does not necessarily make someone a genuine believer in that religion.

posted by Matt @ 8:08 PM