Part two of an open letter to BBC

My dear BBC,
You claim to be a reasonable man and a man of science but you put forth unsupported arguments and proclaim them as facts.

You say the world would be a better place without religion.
But you don’t support the argument.

You say religion has been responsible for most of the wars in the world. But you support it with no historical study.
Indeed historical study indicates that religion has little to do with bringing countries into war. Historians tell us that lust for power, or territory , or gold are the underlying reasons for war. Even some that were called religious. What historian of any repute supports your argument ? You tell me and I will read his work.

You say religion has been bad for mankind.
I can’t speak for religion in general but Christianity
1. Fought against child labor.
2. Gave us the first hospitals in this country.
3. Created the first schools.
4. Gave us the first colleges.
5. Was the first group to care for orphans and old people.
6. Now is in the forefront of the fight to feed everybody and to see that everybody gets decent health care.
That doesn’t sound bad to me.

You claim that science will be our salvation. But when I pointed out that science gave us the weapons of mass destruction you said that men misused science.
Sometimes mankind also misuses religion but that doesn’t make religion wrong any more than the misuse of science makes science wrong.You can't have it both ways.

You said that some Hindus killed some Christians so we should get rid of all religions. Is it logical to want to destroy Christians when we were the one’s who were killed.
Sometime ago an atheist was put to death for insulting a particular religion. Should I now call for the death of all atheists? How illogical. On the other hand if we killed all religious people and all atheists there would be peace. The peace of the graveyard.
Of course you could argue religious people did the killing so get rid of them. But then Stalin who was an atheist killed thousands of people. Should we then kill all atheists? Of course not. Human beings misuse everything at one point or another. The problem is not religion but people.

So you see BBC what stands between you and the perfect world that you want is people. People kill other people not religion. Religious people kill and non religious people kill. You have two choices.
1. Get rid of all the people.
2, Change the people.
God, the real God , opted for the second choice and sent Jesus to change the hearts of people. That's why Christians:
Give up Saturday baseball or golfing to work in the church food pantry.
Help build buildings for the homeless.
Do with less themselves so others can have something.
Are willing , like the Assistant to the Bishop in El Salvador to lay down their life for others.
And I could go on and on. God changed these people from self centered to people who reach out in love.

Would the world be better without religion ?
I doubt it. People would live out of self interest. Who would fight for the poor, the hungry, the one’s trampled on by society? It would not be in anybody’s self interest to do so.

The Christian loves and serves because the real God calls us to. The world is better for it.

If you have evidence to the contrary lets see it.

In closing I want you to know that God, the real God, still loves you.

DR. John.