1. Dualism leads individuals & societies to be less moral
Summary:
Detaching the soul from the material self can lead perverse moral priorities or impede spiritual growth.
Bertrand Russell, British philosopher & polymath, 1872-1970
“With this [early Christian] separation between the social and the moral person there went an increasing separation between soul and body, which has survived in Christian metaphysics and in the systems derived from Descartes. One may say, broadly speaking, that the body represents the social and public part of a man, whereas the soul represents the private part. In emphasizing the soul Christian ethics has made itself completely individualistic. I think it is clear that the net result of all the centuries of Christianity has been to make men more egotistic, more shut up in themselves, than nature made them; for the impulses that naturally take a man outside the walls of his ego are those of sex, parenthood, and patriotism or herd instinct. Sex the church did everything it could to decry and degrade; family affection was decried by Christ himself and by the bulk of his followers; and patriotism could find no place among the subject populations of the Roman Empire... He has come to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and he that loveth father and mother more than Him is not worthy of Him (Matt. 10:35-37). All this means the breakup of the biological family tie for the sake of creed–an attitude which had a great deal to do with the intolerance that came into the world with the spread of Christianity.
“This individualism culminated in the doctrine of the immortality of the individual soul, which was to enjoy hereafter endless bliss or endless woe according to circumstances. The circumstances upon which this momentous difference depended were somewhat curious. For example, if you died immediately after a priest had sprinkled water upon you while pronouncing certain words, you inherited eternal bliss; whereas, if after a long and virtuous life you happened to be struck by lightning at a moment when you were using bad language because you had broken a bootlace, you would inherit eternal torment... In countless ways the doctrine of personal immortality in its Christian form has had disastrous effects upon morals, and the metaphysical separation of soul and body has had disastrous effects upon philosophy.”
— Bertrand Russell, “Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization?” (1930) Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects, Touchstone Books, 1957, p34-35
“With this [early Christian] separation between the social and the moral person there went an increasing separation between soul and body, which has survived in Christian metaphysics and in the systems derived from Descartes. One may say, broadly speaking, that the body represents the social and public part of a man, whereas the soul represents the private part. In emphasizing the soul Christian ethics has made itself completely individualistic. I think it is clear that the net result of all the centuries of Christianity has been to make men more egotistic, more shut up in themselves, than nature made them; for the impulses that naturally take a man outside the walls of his ego are those of sex, parenthood, and patriotism or herd instinct. Sex the church did everything it could to decry and degrade; family affection was decried by Christ himself and by the bulk of his followers; and patriotism could find no place among the subject populations of the Roman Empire... He has come to set a man at variance against his father, the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and he that loveth father and mother more than Him is not worthy of Him (Matt. 10:35-37). All this means the breakup of the biological family tie for the sake of creed–an attitude which had a great deal to do with the intolerance that came into the world with the spread of Christianity.
“This individualism culminated in the doctrine of the immortality of the individual soul, which was to enjoy hereafter endless bliss or endless woe according to circumstances. The circumstances upon which this momentous difference depended were somewhat curious. For example, if you died immediately after a priest had sprinkled water upon you while pronouncing certain words, you inherited eternal bliss; whereas, if after a long and virtuous life you happened to be struck by lightning at a moment when you were using bad language because you had broken a bootlace, you would inherit eternal torment... In countless ways the doctrine of personal immortality in its Christian form has had disastrous effects upon morals, and the metaphysical separation of soul and body has had disastrous effects upon philosophy.”
— Bertrand Russell, “Has Religion Made Useful Contributions to Civilization?” (1930) Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects, Touchstone Books, 1957, p34-35