"Religion Poisons Everything" (Rebutted)

A brutal takedown of an extremely common atheist argument.

Our proclivity to sin is what poisons everything. Love of God is the antidote. People who blame religion for evil do not properly grasp the problem at hand. All humans have the propensity to do great evil regardless of race, background, religion, etc. If you can’t even grasp the problem, you will seriously struggle with understanding the solution.

Sin poisons everything.

this shirt opened my eyes to what the true shirt can be. I've been living a lie thinking the only true shirts were grey and black bc any other color would would stand out from the other colors, so i played it safe living my grey life. Then, I saw this shirt, and my mind was opened. FISH?? in MULTIPLE COLORS?? and lines and outlines and a cream background. I can't believe I've missed this in my life, so I vow today to make up for lost time. The fish shirt is the only True Shirt, so I found bulk pricing, sold my house, and bought enough for a lifetime. Thank you, Joe.

We need a response to the Protestant version of this statement aka “Relationship, not religion.”

Every English speaking Catholic should be watching this channel.

My 1949 catachism defines religion “religion is the virtue by which we give to God the honor and service due to Him alone as our Creator, Master, and Supreme Lord.

Joe's voice is so soothing. I need Hallow apologetics for Sleep by Joe. ha

When doing apologetics, always wear your best shirt . 😊

The traditional Catholic definition of religion is the virtue by which people render to God what is due to Him. It is part of justice.

Excellent analysis of this fake argument. May many non-believers receive the grace to ponder these truths and have a change of heart!

Thank you for the clickable title that drew me in. I have been binge-watching your videos for the past two days after viewing your excellent refutation of the theory that "religion poisons everything." I've enjoyed your appearances on Catholic Answers, but haven't made the time for your videos until now. I like Catholic Answers because it doesn't require a long attention span. I thought that I would become distracted due to the length of your videos, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Your presentations are more than just essays. They are mini-classes, with audio and visual bits holding my attention, emphasizing the major points and providing easy to understand apologetics. Even better, I don't feel as bad that I haven't read the Catholic books I'd hoped to do this Lent, because your videos are serving the purpose of furthering my Catholic education. I was poorly catechized in my youth, and Catholic Answers has been a big part of my reversion. Had I known how beautiful my faith truly was, I never would have left. Keep up the good work!

The explanation of “the law of conservation of religion” was excellent. I think it’s something we inherently know deep down too, “if you don’t worship God, you’ll worship something lesser”

That is the greatest shirt I've ever seen. Where can I obtain a similar shirt?

Very good, even the music, as usual.Thank you, Joe.

The most brutal phenomena were not universally present in religious organisations, but rather in authoritarian or backward civilisations. Instead of blaming religion for poisoning the world, it's more accurate to point out that civilisations lacking understanding and respect for life are the main culprits of harming human life. Take, for example, cultures like the Aztecs and Mayans were conducting human sacrifices as late as the 16th century. The Mongols in 13th century massacred every single city upon encountering resistance, or the despotic rulers of ancient China brutally executed whoever offended the elite, widely disregarding the lives and properties of common people. During times of chaos and conflict, millions of people could perish, up to 2/3 of the population. During China's Cultural Revolution, countless people were randomly killed in the most brutal and bloody ways, many of the killers were teenagers. At least 20 million people died in man-made starvation during China's Great Leap Forward in 1957-1960. Cambodia's population fell by 2/3 during the Khmer Rouge era. Far more people were killed by Soviet persecution than by religious conflict during the same period. You can say that communism is also a religion, but the reason they kill people isn’t out of a belief in communism, rather a hatred of the opposition and a toxic desire for power. Compared to these atrocities, the extremist ideologies within religions pale in comparison in terms of trampling on human life. Rather than blaming religion for poisoning the world, it's more accurate to attribute massive deaths and perpetual conflicts to unfair systems and toxic authoritarianism. The author of this book seems to have only considered a small portion of historical realities (Western and Middle Eastern history for instance). It would be better for him to investigate global history extensively rather than making judgments based on limited historical knowledge. I made this argument as someone who is an amateur historian with relatively deep understanding of East Asian history. Edit: Add one more argument - Why can't people like this author see this? For there have been very few such periods of absolute dictatorship in western history, yet whenever it has appeared in history, it has always led to much bloodier massacres. For example, Britain under Cromwell, France during the Revolution, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union etc. Some would render the Catholic Church as some kind of authoritarian institution, but the Church hardly did equal things, because the Church can’t fundamentally have military power. In fact, whenever the Church wanted to "crusade pagans”, she could only encourage those Catholic military lords to carry out such. Unlike in ancient Islamic countries, the Catholic Church has always been separate from secular authorities, which limited the church's ability to indeed manipulate secular life and military conflict.

Cool shirt, Joe.

Another great episode! You always have a unique angle on these topics, thank you for what you do!

In response to Weinberg, Freeman Dyson said it well: "For bad people to do good things – that also takes religion."

Cool shirt man!