The Ability to Desecrate God's Name

Like always, I'll happily drop my plans for 'the next blog' whenever someone makes comments that demand to be answered by more than another comment.  My friend Nikki's words qualifies without question.  I should also note first, however, that much of what I would say has already been spoken by Sarah (my wife, for anyone not in the know).  We both share your belief that love is not prerequisite upon shared religious belief, or even the hope of future shared religious belief.  I'll always love you Nik - period. 

Sarah also pointed out that we don't ever want to live in Utah, because so much of what you said about the place is true.  What I would like to clarify though, is that the Utard mentality exists in spite of Mormon teachings, not because of them.  The tendency to mindlessly buy into the dominant paradigm is one of the most common of human failings.  Utards are no different than religious people living in places where other faiths are dominant.  However, this is not a "religious phenomenon" either.  Whether it's politics, fashion, or devotion to sports teams, most people just go with what is familiar and are dismissive or hostile toward anything that isn't.  LDS doctrine has always taught that this is the wrong way to approach religion, and life in general.

One of the juicier parts of your (Nikki's) comment (for me) centers on the use of religion as a tool of war.  You point out, quite correctly, that religion has always been a justification for the killing of others.  This viewpoint is quite popular today and is perhaps best captured in John Krakauer's bestselling book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, which even focuses on Mormonism.  Being a Mormon, the part about the Mountain Meadows Massacre was most interesting (although completely biased by anti-Mormon sources that fruitlessly try to pin the blame on Brigham Young - Krakauer is a good writer but an incredibly crappy historian).

You then went on to note that:

Religion should not make you want to kill, invade, torture, or judge anyone else but that seems to be what it does. Look at all the atrocities that have been carried out in the name of one God or another. I don't believe in or like any of those Gods.

This is where I have to disagree with you, Krakauer, and this entire perspective.  This argument presupposes that it was in fact religion that caused the violence.  As a psychotherapist, I find it to be pretty simplistic to assume that the stated justification for an action is necessarily the actual cause for an action.  In my own practice I daily deal with people who have done things that they justify through rationalizations like "it's for the greater good", "it's what I was taught to do", or "that's the way things are done".  People are always looking for something that gives them license to act badly. 

Religion offers the ultimate justification for violence.  It's the nuclear option for making poor behavior appear acceptable.  Want to attack another country?  Why not say God told you to?  This is not usually even a conscious choice.  Remember my old friend cognitive dissonance?  Our drive to reduce it can induce a belief in divine endorsement of slaughter just as easily as it could  make a teenage version of me believe I was in love with a total loser.  While it is possible to estimate how many wars were started with religious justification, it is impossible to know how many of those would have happened anyway - without the supposed endorsement of the divine.

Just as important, but even more unknowable, how many wars and atrocities have been averted by religious teachings?  How many would-be slaughters were prevented by religious teachings?  We can't know.  It's entirely possible that ten times as many people have been saved by religion as (supposedly) killed by it.  We just can't know.  It's easy to place blame concerning events that did happen - harder to give credit for events that didn't happen.

Sure, any true God could prevent people from killing in his/her name.  That would ensure that said God's name remained pristine and honorable.  However, it would also make that God a tyrant - denying his/her followers their free will.  Any loving God must be at peace with the fact that corrupting forces in our world guarantee that his/her name will be dragged through the mud due to the horrible actions carried out in his/her name.  Needless to say, if there ever were something approximating a "Satan" in this world, his number one priority would be pinning the blame for his own handiwork on God.