All religions are bad!

A common trope amongst atheists and antitheists. It is an example of the faulty generalization fallacy along with the association fallacy.

Faulty generalization.

Saying all religions are bad doesn’t take into account that religions are different. Religions teach vastly different things which encourages very different behaviors.

For example the core teachings of Islam encourages violence and abuse. While the teachings of religions like Christianity and Sikhism encourages charity and acceptance. The teachings of Jainism are so gentle that followers even sweep the ground for fear of accidentally stepping on an insect.

Seeing a suicide bomber in the news you can be sure it is likely not a Jainist, so it is totally unfair and dishonest to put the blame of the guilty upon the innocent and generalize every religion as being equal in teachings or what behavior they encourage.

Association fallacy.

This fallacy is when you see one member of a group being in a certain way and conclude that all members of that group are that way. This thinking is what discrimination like racism and sexism is based on.

While different worldviews encourage certain behaviors, in the end it is the follower who decides how to act it out. Even the best worldview produce assholes, and even the worst worldview can produce shining epitomes of human excellence. And there are hypocrites in every camp.

How a person chooses to act out their beliefs, whether positively or negatively, is not a reflection of the beliefs, but of the person. If you want to judge whether a worldview is positive then judge the worldview itself and not how the outliers of its followers behave when they fail to live up to its ideals.

Image courtesy of Ryan McGuire