I agree that the claim that religion is a solitary experience is nonsensical, and that religious organizations have some negative effects on society. However, I don’t think it’s true that religious organizations do more harm than good. It’s probably true that religions do less good than comparable non-religious organizations would, but if you eliminated churches, many of the community service projects and other positive externalities they produce would be lost. Therefore, I have to dispute this claim:
Religious groups waste resources. … Austin Cline claims that tax-exempt religious organizations own 20-25% of land in the US, denying the government billions in tax revenue.
The number given here is clearly the wrong order of magnitude; I think we would notice if one-fifth of all land in the country was owned by religious organizations! (Austin Cline, doesn’t assert it directly, either; instead, he uses the weasel words “It is estimated that”, with no source.)
If one wishes to argue that religions are bad because they waste resources, it matters how much they collect in donations, how much of it is put to good use, how much is wasted, and how much it would cost to collect the same amount of money in other ways. While I don’t support everything that churches spend money on, I think that on balance they do more good than harm.
I agree that the claim that religion is a solitary experience is nonsensical, and that religious organizations have some negative effects on society. However, I don’t think it’s true that religious organizations do more harm than good. It’s probably true that religions do less good than comparable non-religious organizations would, but if you eliminated churches, many of the community service projects and other positive externalities they produce would be lost. Therefore, I have to dispute this claim:
The number given here is clearly the wrong order of magnitude; I think we would notice if one-fifth of all land in the country was owned by religious organizations! (Austin Cline, doesn’t assert it directly, either; instead, he uses the weasel words “It is estimated that”, with no source.)
If one wishes to argue that religions are bad because they waste resources, it matters how much they collect in donations, how much of it is put to good use, how much is wasted, and how much it would cost to collect the same amount of money in other ways. While I don’t support everything that churches spend money on, I think that on balance they do more good than harm.