I think he makes some good points tbh.
In the same edition of the New Statesman, chief Rabbi Jonathon Sacks wrote this
“A powerful store of social capital still exists. It is called religion: the churches, synagogues and other places of worship that still bring people together in shared belonging and mutual responsibility. The evidence shows that religious people – defined by regular attendance at a place of worship – actually do make better neighbours”.
“Religion creates community, community creates altruism and altruism turns us away from self and towards the common good.”
Now my instant lefty atheist knee-jerk reaction is to think – ‘screw you Jonathon Sacks, how dare you make out that religious people are superior’.
But I have started to wonder recently – I have many problems with organised religion, but maybe society does need a moderating force to encourage people to be less self-centred and materialistic, and more altruistic. I’d like to think people wouldn’t need this but maybe they do?