Honestly, this is a silly question. It would be more accurate to ask “can we still be a moral society despite religion’s influence?” Let’s remember for a moment the world is still made a more miserable place because of sectarian infighting. How many regions of the world are currently engaged in immoral acts of violence against one another specifically in the name of their religion?

When the Catholic bishop chimes in his pointless opinion, he tries to argue religion is needed to provide a framework. Perhaps a few thousand years ago – before the advent of ethics and philosophy – this may have been true. But we’ve made leaps and bounds in our moral understanding since then, and there’s very little in “old world religion” that is in fact compatible with our modern sensibilities. When this pastor says of morality that “We start to make it up as we go along”, you’ve got to wonder if he’s even aware of the terrible irony of the statement he just made. Probably not.

Speaking of delicious irony, did you catch that black guy trying to argue that society is worse than it’s ever been? His audacity to cite his grandparent’s long standing marriage as an example (despite them living during a time of great racial prejudice) is a shocking degree of historical blindness. Try reading a fucking history book instead of the Bible, pal! And what about that woman claiming Islam encourages critical thinking…is that why the woman beside her was draped in a suffocating blanket? Lots of fucking critical thinking going on there, I’m sure.