Forgiveness: How Religion Endangers Morality

In his book The Moral Case against Religious Belief (1997), the author argued that some important virtues cease to be virtues at all when set in a religious context, and that, consequently, a religious life is, in many respects, not a good life to lead. In this sequel he takes up the theme again because ‘the intervening decade has brought home to us the terrible results of religious conviction’. He writes in the Introduction: ‘Most religious people are conventionally devout. Religion does not play a huge part in their everyday lives and their moral life is not continuously under its gaze. I regard this as a thoroughly good thing…My suspicion is that the more intense the religious devotion the more the morality is in danger.