One atheist friend of mine had a really good argument against what I was doing, that I’m still grappling with. He said that religion is like a hydra. It does so many evil things, and the fact that some of its heads—like mine—appear good or even are good, makes it harder to fight the whole thing.
My own thinking is that people who believe in gravity or that the sky is blue or that 2+2 is 4 also “are a hydra” and also do some evil things.
But the difference is that they’re not doing those evil things in the name of gravity, or the blue sky, or the 2+2 being 4, the way people do evil things in the name of religion.
I don’t have a good answer here.
I love religion (albeit it’s weirdo syncretic religion culturally appropriating stuff from all over the world) because I can’t not. I can’t not be grateful. I can’t control it.
People do evil things for money but I’m not advocating for money so that’s not on me.
Maybe the best analogy is love. People do evil things for love, in the name of love, for the sake of love, in the hope of love, for lack of love. Doesn’t mean love can’t do good things also.