In a society, religion has various harmful effects. Religion is distinctively armed against any force that might bring to an end its absurdity and rebuff of reality. Religion may act as means of giving individuals certainty in life; however, the certainty may conflict with open-mindedness and critical thinking. Since inception, religion has been a force behind authoritarianism, control, and repression.
Religion tends to harm society in numbers of ways. First, religion acts as a catalyst towards, disunity, oppression, and persecution within and among societies. Religions create disunity within and among the societies because the solidarity of one community may frequently condemn another community. Some religions may resolve to use force and violence in promoting its religious goals. Most religious groups are against religious pluralism and this result in one religion dominating a certain region. Consequently, the minority religions are oppressed or persecuted. The divisions created by religion can result in exclusiveness and wars. In a world with large domination of with varying factions’ moralities, every society will still be constantly beset by brutality, wars, and injustices.
The religious groups will always neglect Individual choices thus encouraging intolerance of values and ideas that put its beliefs and practices into question. Some religions have always come into conflicts with both the Law and the medical profession, for example, some religious parents rely on prayer and withhold medical attention to help their ailing children thus resulting in harm or death. In legitimating, protecting, and promoting the society, religion often ends up protecting ignorance, injustice, and inequality. In addition, the questioning of the societal social patterns by the religion does not always give a clear indication on whether the changes will make the society an enhanced or a worse place.
