Adam Smith sees religion both as having a useful and a dangerous role. People create gods to explain what they do not understand and appease their desire of justice when human justice is perceived to fail. These are socially useful functions of religion. But when religion is used as a political...

Introduction: the choices for wealth over health of nations -- 1. For economic growth and individualism over the land: Adam Smith -- 2. For deductive method and rent over poor relief: David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus -- 3. For maximizing wealth with social redistribution over production reform:...