Don't use religion as a scapegoat

I was disturbed by Principal Gloria Trejo's comment in the March 18 Daily Herald column, "Meet the Principal." When asked, "If you could change one thing about the world…it would be? Trejo answered, "Eliminate ALL religions. All the negativity that exists in today's society is due to religious beliefs: wars, hatred, racism."

I'm unaware if Ms. Trejo considers herself an atheist or religious antagonist but her comment is surprising. Could educated individuals who are committed to academic excellence seriously hold to this scapegoat opinion? To assert that religion is the root cause of war, hatred, racism, indeed the world's ills, is a spurious proposition that is limited in scope and historically and logically flawed.

In fairness, while religion has done much good in our world (obviously not a consideration of some), one must concede it can be divisive and lead to conflict, cruelty, terrorism and war. History proves this. History also proves that efforts at outlawing religion have produced the same kind of tragic results.

There have been several massive atheistic efforts to suppress and eliminate religion of any kind. In the 20th Century, Soviet Russia, the Khmer Rouge, Cuba and communist China were all determined to keep religion from dividing society or eroding the power of the state. The result was not more peace and harmony, but more suffering and oppression. Atheism can claim no less responsibility when it comes to the world realities of war, hatred, racism, suffering and human rights violations.

A significant and disturbing paradox of humanity over the past century is how the greatest intolerance, oppression and violence were practiced by those who believed religion caused such intolerance, oppression and violence.

While I appreciate Ms. Trejo's desire to explain the problems of our world, to make religion the scapegoat lacks depth, logic and reasonable credibility.

Ray S. Kollbocker

Wheaton