Individual

I think that Steven Weinberg put it best.

"Good people will do good things, and bad people will do bad things. But for good people to do bad things -- that takes religion."

If you want an example consider this:

"The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which HIV can pass - potentially exposing thousands of people to risk.

"The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to HIV.

"A senior Vatican spokesman backs the claims about permeable condoms, despite assurances by the World Health Organisation that they are untrue."

See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/oct/09/aids

Do you think the good priests, bishops and cardinals telling these outrageous porkies would be doing so if their minds were not afflicted by religious dogma?

How many people do you think have died as a consequence of such blatant misinformation?

Can we really appease people like this?

stevenlmeyer,
The problem with condoms not being used is not the Churches responsibility as they are available. The Church teaches pure sexual relationship with one partner and is the Church stand and that does not spread HIV in a community. Most pomiscuous males refuse to wear condoms as it reduces their pleasure and they do not adhere to the Church teachings.

The same sexual diseases happen in every society where pomiscuous multiple indiscriminate sexual partners engage, especially anal.

No Philo,

I'm afraid this will not do.

As the linked article makes clear, Catholic clergy taught that condoms are permeable to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

See also here

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3176982.stm

and here

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18024161.200-catholic-church-claims-condoms-do-not-stop-hiv.html

This is plain wrong.

What is more the Vatican persisted in spreading this sort of misinformation even after they were informed of their error. So far as I am aware there was never a retraction; never a "sorry, we made a mistake".

In other words, the Church, as an institution lied.

Whether people refrained from using condoms because of the falsehoods spread by the Catholic Church is another question. However, it is not germane to my point.

The question I ask is this. Would Catholic clergy (and some lay people) have knowingly spread this falsehood if their minds had not been corrupted by Catholic dogma? I think not. To my mind this is a perfect illustration of Weinberg's dictum that religion makes good people do bad things.

However, in case you think I'm just a "Catholic-o-phobe" consider this British honour killing case.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6884530.ece

Would Mehmet Goren have killed his daughter had his mind not been corrupted by Islam?

Quotes:

"The trial heard today that punishments in cases where the honour of the family was believed to be at stake were sometimes discussed in advance by a council of relatives."

"Giving evidence for the prosecution, Professor Ertürk added: “If the family or the father of the girl who is alleged to have brought shame on the family did not do enough to punish the girl then he would be considered as guilty.”

“Honour-based violence does not normally occur on the spur of the moment but is an escalation of the tension when the woman is seen to openly challenge acceptable modes of behaviour,” she said."

Muslims and their kafir apologists will assert that honour killing is not part of Islam. I will believe them to the extent I would believe the Pope if he claimed that lying about condoms was not part of Catholicism.