At Issue: What Is Religion Good For?

I would not like to go toe to toe with Christopher Hitchens on whether religion is a force for good in the world. He is far smarter – and funnier – than Richard Dawkins.

Opponents risk the intellectual equivalent of prolonged body-line bowling.

Nor is there any sense in denying that "religion" has been a force for division, oppression and even cruelty. Any system of belief that denies this historical reality, claims to be pure, exclusively liberating, just and true – whether religious or not – is more likely to be a force for ill rather than for good.