Does Religion Make Us Better People?

Finding God may not always make someone a better person, but is it correct to say that it never does?

Yes, many of our world’s most evil people were/are church-goers, and from there, it could be argued that their belief in God did nothing to help them become kinder and more humane.

Further, one could say that these terrible people’s religion only solidified their confidence that their desire to …. (fill in the blank) torture suspected heretics, enslave the blacks, commit genocide against the Jews, invade a neighboring nation, etc., was ordained by their Creator.  As they say, “Nobody counts the bodies when God is on your side.”

It’s a hard question to answer.  Even most atheists know many fine human beings who walk around all day believing that God has a plan for them.

Personally, I’m taken by the rhetoric of folks like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and the late Christopher Hitchens, who summarize their positions as follows: religion is to the human mind what a virus is to a computer.