Want to sound ignorant? Denounce "Organized Religion."

Have a look at Elton John's tirade against "organized religion," as harangued in the Observer Music Monthly Magazine:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,1942193,00.html

And a BBC article attempting to summarize his spew:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6140710.stm

He repeats a lot of the dopisms I hear often from people who don't have a clue about religion.

"Organized religion" is a favorite scapegoat of the typical ignoramus for so many problems in the world. It controls people. It causes wars. It promotes bigotry.

How myopic and pathetic. This is called anti-religious prejudice.

First of all, how can you make blanket statements about such a specious notion? In mathematics (and most natural sciences) there's a principle called significant figures. You should have learned about them in high school. If you have a number with very little precision, such as 1.5, and it interacts with a highly precise number like 2.7182818284... (this is Euler's number), the result cannot be any more precise than the least precise factor. Behold:

1.5 x 2.7182818284... = 4.1

The number 1.5 contains all numbers from 1.4500000000 through 1.54999999999; it represents the entire range. However, 2.7182818284 only represents one number (to ten decimal places). In the same way, "organized religion" represents a vast spectrum of institutions, and Elton John's single bloviation cannot deal with them all... yet he pretends to.

This isn't just mathematics; this is reasoning. "Organized religion" is a broad-brush epithet that lumps together all religious institutions from the Roman Catholic Church to the Hanbali school of Islamic jurisprudence to the Dalai Llama's authority over the Tibetan Buddhist sangha. How on earth can you make any -- ANY -- claim indicting all organized religion? Bring a claim and I'll show you a dozen exceptions. Nobody in academia with any reputability or scholastic integrity talks about "organized religion." Why not? Because you can't say anything about it at all! It's a contrived catch-all phrase used by uneducated anti-religious propagandists, and has no place in any intelligent discussion.

Be precise with your statements if you presume to make a serious critique. Elton John evidently acid-soaked his brain into a perpetual, swirling state of psychedelic delusion, like so many other basketcase damaged goods who stumbled glossy-eyed out of the hippy movement with an irrational antagonism toward anything resembling authority.

While "organized religion" is an empty, useless expression, we can talk about specific "religious organizations." You can criticize, for example, Opus Dei, the Catholic organization popularized by Dan Brown's anti-Catholic novel The Da Vinci Code. Careful, though, because you'll shoot yourself in the foot if you think you know a lot about it just by reading contemporary fiction. But if you do an honest study of Opus Dei, you can evaluate it intelligently. Then again -- an evaluation of Opus Dei as an organization is not an evaluation of each of its 85,000 members.

So let's assume that Elton John had an inkling of consciousness and said that religious organizations lacked compassion and turned people into "hateful lemmings." It's still ridiculous, because exceptions to this principle abound so much that the claim is outright false.

Are there, in fact, many Christian organizations that feed and educate the poor, shelter the homeless, build hospitals, inveigh against racism and sexism, etc, etc?

Take a look at this very brief, incomprehensive list:

The Salvation Army, Beyond Tears Worldwide, Christian Aid, Joy of a Child, The United Methodist Committee on Relief, Bread for the World, Feed the Children, International Orphans' Assistance, Christian Peacemakers International, Global MissionAir, Church World Service, Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, Adventist Community Service, HOPE Worldwide, Mennonite Economic Development Associates, Northwest Medical Teams International, International Christian Concern, Family Care Foundation, Christian Blind Mission International, Christian World Service, Samaritan's Purse, Global Aid Network, The Association of Evangelical Relief & Development Organizations, Mildmay HIV & AIDS Care, Healing Hands International, Dorcas Aid International, Hope for the Suffering, Operation Blessing International, Engineering Ministries International, Mission Without Borders International, Kingscare, World Hope International, Christian Relief Services, India Partners, Bright Hope International, Great Commission Air, For Haiti With Love, Eastern Europe Aid Association, Philanthropy, Dream Machine Foundation, Several Sources Foundation, Amazon Relief Project, Sewa Ashram, Nigeria Health Care Project, Partners International, United People in Christ, Caring for China, Global Samaritans, Camillian Task Force CTF, Beyond Borders, Interfaith Refugee Ministry, International D.O.V.E. Association, Aid to Russia and the Republics, ARRC, Global Harvest Outreach, The International Refugee Center of Dakar, Christian Mission Aid, HeartSprings International Ministries, Pamoja, and countless more.

...Still think "organized religion" is harmful? Bring your complaints, I'll be glad to respond.