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

[darthzew]

There's two sides to look at here. If we assumed that every religion is wrong, then yes, the world might actually be a better place. However, if one of them happens to be correct then if religion were to suddenly disappear, then so would the world.

I don't see my Christianity as a religion, to tell you the truth. I don't like religion. I have a faith, not a religion. You see, the difference is that I don't rub around what I have in to everyone and I don't judge people based on what they do. If you don't think that, say, sex outside of marriage is wrong, then who am I to judge you based on rules that you haven't chosen to follow? I just wish other Christians would do the same.

I've said this before here and I'll say it again: I love my Jesus but not always my Christians.

 

[The Iron Ninja]

I just read this whole thread and everyone has been saying the same thing over and over again.

What did you expect?

Everyone needs to go back and look at the first few pages, there is some groundbreaking discussion (that may or may not have involved me) there that covers all the points the rest of you keep bringing up.

 

[perfectimo]

maybe, that is the best answer anyone can give.

with having multiple religions there will be conflict because foo will say this and bar will say that therefore the followers of foo will say join foo not bar and followers of bar will say what's wrong with bar and so conflict begins.

but having a single is good in theory because it would be uniform but the problem arises with free choice and with that there will be lots of people who don't agree with some things and some who don't agree with others.

the last example is pretty much how religion has ended up where it is today with there being X,XXX,XXX,XXX many religions existing in the world. and so comes the many differences that seperates them and then seperates the people because of "their personal beliefs".

 

[Phoenix Arrow]

Was talking about this with some friends today. One is a Jehova's Witness and was all "God exsists to make people happy, Christianity doesn't".

Then I thought, if God exsists to make people happy and by following the path of God, these religious types feel like they can... fathom life more ably and therefore feel happier in themselves (words couldn't come then but those will do). Surely this justifies the existance of God in a more physical sense, i.e. these believers DO feel happier with themselves with their belief in God. So, whether he is an actual being/spirit/whatever or not, he lives up to his purpose. So can this really be viewed as a bad thing?

I'm talking at a very grass roots level of course. I relise that when you look at when the ones in charge take their religion into account when making decisions then this can cause a lot of suffering. I guess, hypothetically, it can sort of alleviate suffering too though, not that I can think of any cases of this from the top of my head. But, at a fundamental level, religion keeps a lot of people happy within themselves, if a little ignorant and docile.

Sorry if this doesn't make much sense, went on a bit of a ramble with this post.

 

[Masterthief]

I would like to clarify something to all those who argue that the commands in the old testament are
"trying to control you and provide some people power and money"
The old testament commands were MEANT to be controlling. The Israelites had never existed as a nation before the exited Egypt. They had been a family of nomads before, and then they had lived under Egyptian rule. They didn't know how to survive in such large numbers and be self sustaining. The rules had to be harsh, because they needed to learn what it take most cultures many generations of trial and error to learn in a very short (respectively) time. The rules against eating pork, for example: pork is one of the most dangerous meats, it has to be cooked just right or it can kill you, God had to justify this to the Israelites (who would not have understood the full explanation yet) by calling it 'unclean'. There are other rules as well, such as one determining where toilets had to be (far away from the food and water and outside the camp) which make pratical sense, but the Israelites would not have had to think about before. The rules laid down in the old testament were created to help the nation of Israel survive in the desert and survive as a nation, as a people and as a culture.

 

[nmmoore13]

If religion could be banished from this world, it would be a fanatstic thing. Less people trying to control me through their ghost in the sky? I'm all for it. A chance for people to be more rational? Yes!

 

[Unknower]

sad face. no one replied to my "all 200 of them" thing. oh well, if you want to know, there are like 200 commandments in teh bible. Strange ones about not boiling a goat in its mothers milk or nailing your servants ear ot a door post.

You took the second one out of context. Israelites had a habit of releasing israelite slaves after they had been slaves for couple of years (I don't remember how long). If a slave wanted to remain in his owner's household rather than go free, the owner was then supposed to mark the slave from his ear. It was probably easier to do while holding the ear to a door. Hell, I don't know.

The first one... that's kinda sick, you know.

 

[Gxas]

Religion is a necessity to humankind. Without it, there would be chaos.

Religion is also the main cause of all major wars.

In order to achieve a better world, there must be a single unifying religion with no separate sects or anything like that. Sadly, that will never happen.

 

[videonerd250]

To answer the question, the world would not be a better place without religion, but it also wouldn't be any worse off. There is a time and place to be "openly" religious and that differs between religions, only does religion become a problem when it steps out of bounds. I'll kind of cut myself off here so I don't start ranting, but that's my opinion in a nutshell.

 

[mipegg]

In order to achieve a better world, there must be a single unifying religion with no separate sects or anything like that. Sadly, that will never happen.

Atheism?

 

[nmmoore13]

Religion is a necessity to humankind. Without it, there would be chaos.

Religion is also the main cause of all major wars.

In order to achieve a better world, there must be a single unifying religion with no separate sects or anything like that. Sadly, that will never happen.

Morals don't come from religion. Not all atheists are anarchgists so no, chaos isn't neccessary in an atheistic world.

 

[Gxas]

Religion is a necessity to humankind. Without it, there would be chaos.

Religion is also the main cause of all major wars.

In order to achieve a better world, there must be a single unifying religion with no separate sects or anything like that. Sadly, that will never happen.

Morals don't come from religion. Not all atheists are anarchgists so no, chaos isn't neccessary in an atheistic world.

Never said anything about Atheism, which is a form of religion by the way.

I mean that, in a world with no war, there must be a single religion. Along with that, there must be no classes or anything separating people from eachother.

I like to quote Stephen King's "The Mist" when talking about human nature:

"As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up ways to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?"

Just think about it. Humanity has always fought and always will. It isn't even a matter of survival anymore.

 

[Jenny Creed]

Religion has been vital in dragging the world out of the dark ages.
Religion does give hope and relevance to several billion people today.
Religion will continue to reduce the intolerance it advocates until none remains.

Is this anything to discuss?

 

[Serious_Stalin]

I suppose a lot of people say that being religious makes them happier and gives them somthing in there otherwise dreary unfulfilled lives. Which is a good thing! My life is rather dreary and unfulfilled and I can't even say I have the satisfaction that i;m going to heaven because i've been a good boy which some do. Perhaps it is bitterness that they have something which brings them happiness and I do not.
I'm not really looking at the bigger picture here (I suppose its been covered *20) but perhaps if religion wasn't there a lot of people might be a lot less happy (if a little more intelligent in my own opinion). I guess happiness is some sort of factor in the deciding of whether the world would be a better place or not with or without religion.

 

[nmmoore13]

Religion is a necessity to humankind. Without it, there would be chaos.

Religion is also the main cause of all major wars.

In order to achieve a better world, there must be a single unifying religion with no separate sects or anything like that. Sadly, that will never happen.

Morals don't come from religion. Not all atheists are anarchgists so no, chaos isn't neccessary in an atheistic world.

Never said anything about Atheism, which is a form of religion by the way.

I mean that, in a world with no war, there must be a single religion. Along with that, there must be no classes or anything separating people from eachother.

I like to quote Stephen King's "The Mist" when talking about human nature:

"As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up ways to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion?"

Just think about it. Humanity has always fought and always will. It isn't even a matter of survival anymore.

Oh okay. I've had far too many people pull that religous moral card on me, I've come to expect it. I have to agree with the rest of your post. Wars are always over some sort of disagreement, so if we can't all agree, they're will always be war.

 

[yourkie1921]

But no, it won't. People won't have anything to hold on to. There would be no more morals. Millions of people live by these rules, without them the world would descent into chaos.
Fear of death would become more, no-one would care what they do because they won't have to think about what would happen when they die, etc.

Bull. Morals don't come from religion and if the only reason for you to have morals is because you fear a man in the sky than you should go burn in hell. And by hell I mean a place that combines all laws and taxes of New Jersey and the south.

Also, you're supposed to fear death. And I don't see the logic behind that.

 

[Gxas]

Wars are always over some sort of disagreement, so if we can't all agree, they're will always be war.

I've never agreed with someone on a forum more. I'm not trying to play any religious moral card or anything. I'm agnostic and find it funny that people follow the sayings of a book (no offense to anyone at all). I respect everyone's opinion on religion. It is your right as a sentient being to choose what or who you worship IMO.

 

[pilf]

In my eyes religion is the cause of most problems, no matter how hard people try to hide that fact. So the world would deffinately be a much better place without religion. religion causes confussion due to the conflicting views each religion has, such as which non specific daetie(s) created us.

 

[pilo]

I doubt it...

Religion has always gaved us the guidelines to how we should behave and also respect our fellow people.

It also depends, we are all humans and commit mistakes at interpreting subjects, so we shouldnt take things as we read it at first but we have to take time on it and get to understand it, so we could talk about it.

 

[MarcusStrout]

Religion is not a fast food order, guys. It's a fucking stepping stone. We needed it to get to where we are now. We still need it, obviously, because it only exists for the people who need.