Karen Armstrong on religion

Karen Armstrong covers the nature of compassion, the history of the conflict in the Middle East, and tough questions such as these:

* Religion seems to cause racism, extremism -- why not get rid of it?
* What's the point of a God that doesn't intervene?
* Why not discard religion and just teach the Golden Rule?

http://blog.ted.com/2009/11/ted_and_reddit_3.php