Student Essay on Religion: Source of Inspiration or Discriminating Excuse?

A persuasive essay about religion and its role in modern politics, ethics, and thought. Both throughout history and today, religion has been used as a tool for discrimination, resulting in corruption in politics, discrimination against individuals and groups, and holy wars around the world.

There are those among us who view the idea of religion as a source of inspiration and a reason to be righteous, generous, and good to our "fellow man", but can this really be true? As a race, we have seen thousands of crimes against humanity committed simply in the name of this feeble concept. It has been seen too often a war or murder justified because the perpetrator's "God" demanded it, for example the crusades, or holy wars throughout the Middle East. The view of religion as an architect of good deeds has been completely flipped around, now, in many parts around the world, religion no longer sparks the urge to do good in the name of one's deity but rather punish some other being in its cause. The world has been subject to the.....