Poll: Would the world be a better place without religion?

[ThePlasmatizer]

i believe the world would be much better without religion, mostly for the fact we would only have had about 1/2 the wars anyways.

Who noes, we may even have been able to form together as one world and work together rather than argue over the stupidest things! I believe we would be far more advanced than we are now if half of us just sit here saying 'God did it' (or whatever u believe in) and not try to find a solution.

done...

I think you'll find if you removed religion the religious extremists would find another banner to flock to.

How would an absence of religion change human nature? I don't think everyone would suddenly make peace with each other, they would highlight more differences between everyone and focus on that. It also gave fledgling civilizations moral codes preventing quite a few wars.

 

[Yassen]

No, the world would not be better off without religion, because some people just need it. Being logical should only apply to those with power and who are rational. If irrational people tried to use logic they would come up with stupid or violent realisations.

The only way for the world to be a better place is if the different religions and societies can actually learn to respect and tolerate each other. Seems simple but right now it's impossible.

 

[Labyrinth]

Religion has no place in state, but what people believe is up to them. Except possibly Scientology.

 

[yourkie1921]

Here's a list
-I don't think culture would had been similar to what we have today.
-I don't think that the crusades woud had existed.
-I think America would had a non-religious goverment. You have to admit, if you don't beleive in God, americans won't vote for you.
-No Holocaust.
-No Conservapedia.
-No pope.
-Bisexual sex would have been accepted.
-No "accodement raisonable" for the province in Quebec. (Canada)
-Less cultural differences.
-Less people like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4QcyEjMydk&feature=related

There's alot more, but I think you got the point.

Agreed.

The only religiion I know with values that aren't bad enough to want to use my own ass cheeks to cover my ears from them trying to communicate to people is satanism. And I don't want the church of satanism to become national.

I think you'll find if you removed religion the religious extremists would find another banner to flock to.

The worst they can flock to is communism if there is no religion............and I just pictureda Russian Ned Flanders.

 

[Serious_Stalin]

The ten commandments appear to make a lot of sense, I guess the people who wrote that stuff up probably believed it was neccesary to help people have some sort of a moral code. Though neither me nor my parents were religious perhaps without the moral code set up thousands of years ago my moral guidelines could be somewhat different. I think nowadays it is different, most people do know right from wrong and when you have a look at the few which don't they are the ones which are probably worshipping something or another.


Religion is very powerful, when the Nazis took over they made all of their churches "Reich Churches" as they were afraid that the Church may otherwise go against them and say "this is wrong", cunningly however they used the Church to brainwash people even more into the Nazi belief. However I think that if no Church was their propaganda could have suitably brainwashed a nation alone.

Religion is a useful tool of war but I do not think it is the cause, it can be used to tell people who they should be killing and why they should be killing them and instantly give them the "ok" on forgetting one of those 10 commandments. If religion wasn't there to do that i'm sure the governing power could of found another way.

Though some people argue that a lot of beauty has come out of religion (and I agree with you), such as great architecture, amazing paintings, I have to say even without religion I think people would find other beatiful things to draw and create.

Obviously this is a hypothetical situation and even if we went back to day 1 religion and worship of an idol will always come about (I think) because people need aspirations and something to achieve a goal of some sorts. I'll vote that the world would be a better place without religion, I think if there was no religion then at first there would be war and fighting such as there was anyway, and eventually people would realise what sort of things bring unhappiness to them, the deaths of others, somebody having it large with your girl,somebody stealing your mobile phone. And from this LAWS would come about which would be much like the ten commandments, I think that most people would live by and respect this laws much as many of them do today. There may still be war, people fighting over land and money, I dunno.

I think that the human race will always find something or somebody to worship.

 

[HSIAMetalKing]

It's impossible to say, of course, but I think that-- yes, the world would be a better place without religion.

I'd have to assume that, in the place of blind faith and worship, there would be pure logic and science. People have always and will always demand a reason for "why things are", and if religion was completely eradicated from the equation, they would not be complacent with filling in the blanks with "God".

Morality can exist without religion-- in fact, I would argue that it thrives in the absence of religion, which history has shown breeds intolerance and violence.

Without the chains of religious tradition and oppression society would flourish. Art would be freed from censorship. Government would be freed from the religious traditions that inhibit change. People would be more rational and accepting of one another.

This all makes sense in my head, but then again it's almost 7 a.m. and I've been up all night playing Warhammer.

 

[Hawgh]

the prime advantages is that it forces a moral code upon the amoral stupids who wouldn't do something that wasn't to their own advantage unless they're threatened with great anguish.

Then again, history has shown the efficiency with which clergy sidesteps around the supposedly absolute rules of their God.

Kant made a single rule in an attempt to argue in favor of morality without the presence of God, it goes as follows; Do not take any action that you do not wish to become commonplace(might not be entirely accurate, I didn't read it english).
It appeals to me for much the same reasons as stuff like democracy, seeing as people will end up with a society reflecting themselves, all without requiring God.

This get's a "Yes" from me.

 

[Unknower]

Soviet Union and China were both atheist countries. They had a border conflict which nearly escalated to war and the Soviet documents show that they had more detailed plans for nuking China than USA.

So no, the world wouldn't transform to a happy happy yay yay -place by removing religions.

morals(American Civil War)

I wouldn't say morals were the reasons for the civil war. The South had always been more poor than the North and abolishing slavery would have crippled their economy.

Money strikes once again!

 

[The_Toe_Bighter98]

you are just begging for a lock, you know that right?

the world would be a lot better without religion, I mean half our wars are based on religious differences, but then again there are a lot of people in this world who put up with a lot of shit in the hopes that maybe after they're done here they get a reward of some kind. this gets a no

Could I get some sort of proof here? Otherwise, dont start spouting those same lame 'religion is teh evilness' argument. Sure, it starts wars, but gotta remember those wars would probably still occur.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

If a man declares war on all those people who like Golden Grahams because he likes Weetabix and will DIE for Weetabix...

Do you blame cereals for starting wars or do you think "Hey, this guy seems to be mad"?
(Even if it says "Weetabix : Now Best Ever" on the packet.)

 

[stompy]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but has anyone considered how religious people would feel, or react, should their cherished religion be taken away from them?

 

[Serious_Stalin]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but has anyone considered how religious people would feel, or react, should their cherished religion be taken away from them?

This is more a question of if religion was never there.

 

[Ultrajoe]

The worst they can flock to is communism if there is no religion............and I just pictureda Russian Ned Flanders.

You'd be surprised how unrelated religious extremists are to the beliefs. Take that away, all they lose is an excuse.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but has anyone considered how religious people would feel, or react, should their cherished religion be taken away from them?

This is more a question of if religion was never there.

And would be better sandwiched alongside, What happens if atheists gained religion?

 

[JaggedIron]

Would the world be a better place without religion?


There is no easy answer. However, the basic principles of every organized government tend to follow one form or another of the 10 commandments. Basic law there is you shall not murder for example. If there was not a religious cornerstone in most goverments. Well I could go out anywhere and kill whoever whenever I wanted.

So you have to ask yourself, overall in a society, "Is a religion that raises children to believe in a basic truth like, You shall not murder/steal bad for the society"?

Also keep in mind during the Crusades, the church/government allowed itself to be corrupt and told the people(common folk did not read or speak latin) lies about what they should do for their country. See I believe that those wars were designed by Rich Nobles who wanted to be richer and decieved the public that they would be doing God's work.

It wasn't until the bible was translated into common languages that THAT never happened again on such a large scale.

Christians haven't engaged in a war as a united army since 1271 AD.

Muslims on the other hand different story, and even then it is more of a cultural thing than a religion thing and actually a seperate extremist group. Than the whole.

Bottom line is this. Wars will be fought for money, for life, and for hate. No one needs religion to be warlike or monsterous. Look at the island cannibal. Isolated however a monsterous group of people who were quite barbaric.

Its funny to me that people want a one shot one kill for the world problems. Lets blame this for that, even though its completely unrelated. Kinda like when a man kills another person, media askes "Did he play counter-strike"? Oh he did? oh thats why he killed that person.

Oh and just for the person who made this thread. Atheism is a religion. As instead, what would the world be like if people just gave a hoot about eachother. Famous Atheists, the boys from Colombine/ The Soviet and Chinese Communist atheists, Nazi atheists.

The issue then is not that atheism or religion causes violence. As both atheistic and religious views can inspire murder and war, it is reasonable to argue that neither religious belief or lack of it causes the problems. It must be either then a part of human nature that God created or an aspect of human behavior that has evolved with the human species.

 

[stompy]

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but has anyone considered how religious people would feel, or react, should their cherished religion be taken away from them?

This is more a question of if religion was never there.

Ah, I've re-read your OP, and I see what you're asking.

In my opinion, religion was the glue that binded humanity together long enough for us to advance into some semblance of an organised society. Religion allowed people to create unity and peace, because, face it, a person would more likely listen to a man who can shoot lightning bolts, and is invincible, than a local chief. At the time before society as we knew it, people wouldn't listen to reason or logic; you needed to scare them into submission. Religion allowed people to introduce this fear factor, but it also provided rules and regulations to create a working society that made members of the community contribute to its advancement.

Without religion, humanity would not have gotten so far. It held us together, it provided the blueprints in order for us to become what we are today. Without it, we'd... well, I don't have a time machine, so I can't have a look at this altered timeline. Lest it be said, the world would be a very different place to what it is now. Better... perhpas. Most likely not though.

 

[Stalington]

no religion=mass suicide,cutting,rape,etc

 

[gigastrike]

People would just find another reason to hate each other.

 

[Simski]

Right now, I think so.
It was essential in the past though, like, 2000 years ago or so.

 

[Simski]

The messiah would have ended religion, not created another one.

Crap, why did I not just edit my old post...