The chapter I am presenting for my Intro to Sociology (go ahead, snicker) class is Religion (fitting, right?). This was in the introduction, and it really struck a chord with me:
"Religion can be the greatest thing on earth or the worst. It can be the greatest healing therapy in society, or the greatest hazard to a society's health. It can be a democratic republic's greatest good or its worst threat.
Look at the hot spots of the earth and you see religious extremists lighting the fuses--whether in Northern Ireland, Israel, Bosnia, or California. Religious extremists are breeding all kinds of "culture wars." Religion can breed all kinds of harassment, bigotry, prejudice, intolerance and deception.
Religion is peculiar. When it is not in earnest, it doesn't hurt anyone, but it doesn't do any good either. When it is in earnest, it is a most powerful force for good or evil....We Christians must face up to the fact that our Christianity has propagated, in the name of Jesus, devilish acts, bloody wars, awful persecutions, hate crimes, and political chaos...."
This is an excerpt from a sermon by Robert H. Meneilly when he was the senior pastor of the Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas.
I want to hear the rest of it.
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