http://vimeo.com/35020654# NPR... Debate: The World Would Be Better Off Without Religion. Watch if you have the time. Let us know what you think when you finished the debate video.
Religion is a tool to divide us, if we could all learn that we are all fam things would be much more peaceful.
Meh, the people pushing the negative aspects will just find something else to use to the same ends and the people falling for it will do the same again. The unknown enemy is more dangerous, I say keep them around and keep letting them ostracize & marginalize themselves.
Im an athiest and voted yes, but after further thought im not sure. There are so many people whos only reason for being "good" and behaving like good moraled people is their fear of punishment from their diety.. Imagine if everyone was athiest and "knew" that when you die, there is no afterlife or reward/punishment for your behavior..The world might be kinda chaotic and crazy....
That's just what the world needs to go through first. Nihilism is an unfortunately necessary step between here and there, religion isn't failing because we've drifted to far from it it's because we lived far too close to it and people only see objective meaning as important meaning. When the illusion of objective meaning is eventually shattered people lose all sense of perspective because they don't realize their subjective meaning is just as important as their previous subjective meaning was (that they mistakenly thought was objective). That may have been poorly phrased, if you're interested though I'd suggest reading "Twilight of the idols".
You'd think the world would be better off. But with the amount of just plain ignorant or stupid people, society needs a crutch. Humans are not strong enough, yet.
[quote name='"AfganiKush"']Im an athiest and voted yes, but after further thought im not sure. There are so many people whos only reason for being "good" and behaving like good moraled people is their fear of punishment from their diety.. Imagine if everyone was athiest and "knew" that when you die, there is no afterlife or reward/punishment for your behavior..The world might be kinda chaotic and crazy....[/quote] well I'm a nihilist and an atheist, doesn't mean I go around killing everyone
Your post proves nothing and quite honestly doesnt seem to have any thought put into it. Did you half-assedly read my post or not at all? You are an athiest, yes, so you would not be undergoing a paradigm shift and having your whole perception of reality collapse in front of you. But a religous person has lived their life under the impression that every action is being watched/judged and therefore they often live their lives for this fake god..imagine living your life a certain way only because a book and the thought of an all powerfull man in the sky told you to or else...and then boom, it was all a lie..yeah thats gonna fuck with some weak minded people..think what you like, its gonna cause problems..
Religion, contrary to what some of you may think, has led to much reform and positive change throughout the world. Jesus Christ, love or hate him, was one of the first to propose that all people are equal under god and promote this view wide scale. If if it wasn't over religion, those religious wars throughout history would have been fought over something else. I'm not religious, but when I look at the worlds past, there isn't too much that I wish I could have changed, and abolishing religion isn't one of them.
This comes down to definitions. Define religion and define better. Would the world be farther along the process to a Type I advanced civilization if, say, Judaism and its descendant religions never existed? I'm tempted to say yes, but if Abrahamic religionists hadn't killed a bunch of cities in the name of Yahweh in the ancient Mideast, perhaps some other barbaric deity of the time like Moloch would have replaced Yahweh/Jehovah/Allah in today's world. Or maybe some Norse god, Greek/Roman god, etc. Would the world be more cooperative, healthy, and sustainable without the divisive absolutist dogmatic paradigms of organized religion? Probably. But "religion" will always exist in some form, since how one answers the question of what the purpose of life is is effectively one's worldview or in a way one's religion. To have no purpose-based beliefs at all would be like me, a nihilist. But a totally nihilistic society would dissolve and go extinct due to negligence. As long as people are motivated and also given the opportunity to think freely, our civilization will continue to grow in the way it is now.
Not really. Eastern religions teach more unity and peace, between mankind and nature itself even. Jesus said he came to divide families between believers and non-believers. He also said that those who didn't believe in him were going to an eternal lake of torturous fire after death and that they were leading others along that path as well. That's pretty divisive if you ask me, as if those lucky enough to be born into the right family are the chosen ones. Why do you think Christians are far more likely to spew hate speech than Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, etc.? Many of those religions are older than Christianity too.
Being non religious and generally disgusted by it I still voted no.We would just find something to replace it with if religion was removed.People are always going to be judgmental and competitive,we will always have war and people will still worship idols.As long as we have unanswered questions we will have fear and disagreement.As long as those exist we will not really change all that much.
just for the record, im not a follower of an organized religion or an athiest, im agnostic Personally i feel religion is a good thing, when it is accounted for personal beliefs that are driven by morals see, its part of human progression, the need for guidance, a figure of grand authority to watch over us as we venture into parts of our lives that may conflict with our morals- what is really the right thing to do? first it's our parents, then our peers, then obligations, duties and shaped morals/beliefs, but religion "may" help guide many people, think of it like the parent type figure that lives on, one we can never outgrow no one knows the answer to that in a general sense, religions just help many to confront and answer these life questions without feeling empty, fearful or morally drained the problem is that once religion became a social contract, one driven by expectations and guilt, it is easy to twist and reshape such beliefs to keep followers in order, the worst thing anyone can turn on is thier morals as it is like betraying all those life expierences that helped shape those morals the thing is with a social/group obligation to religion rather than a personal one, it also creates an unneeded bridge between our morals and our EGO"S the EGO is the greatest element of progression and downfall- ego's are responsible for much of the destruction across the world, not religions religion is like money, by itself it doesnt mean anything, just an entity left up to personal interpretation it takes an ego to drive that entity, either fueled by self interest, greed, self-centered movites, or altriusm, compassion and love we talk aboout religious followers like they are 5 years old. of course people know killing another person is just wrong, yet it is thier ego's that use the idea of religion to justify the act this is the problem today, and with the rise in consumerism, wealth and dog-eat-dog attitudes of the world, id say religion is on the same plane as money The ego is the root of all evil.........and good morals keep this ego in check religion is superficial, not the cause of human atrocity
"So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds." -Jesus F. Christ --Ahhhh good 'ole peaceful loving jesus. He sure does love killing children and his enemies..
I put undecided, not a religious person nor am I atheist. Not all religion is necessarily perceived as a evil, brainwashing tool to create discrimination, fuel hatred, negative judgement against others but notice the distinguish difference between old religion & new religion was the new religion was basically edited to breed these human beings as what you people seem disgusted by. But there are religions that are prophecies created by philosophers before the modern age to create moral messages such as being obedient, be good to your neighbor, to be tranquil, to be wise, question things instead of following other points of view and accepting them but these religions aren't related to the belief of a God but more of bettering yourself and self-awareness. If you read a bio on Confucius who lived before Jesus appeared, he didn't exactly appealed to the popularity of God or was feared that others seem to perceive him as the almighty but weakened the status as it was a mere abstraction, his teachings was basically how to be a good person.
Even if the God of the bible was real, I would never worship something that creates inherently imperfect beings and demand they be perfect or face everlasting torment in a lake of fire, to say nothing of the other acts of inhumanity committed by your all loving God. Instead, just dismiss and disregard it with, "Oh, well God works in mysterious ways" Now tell us, what logical data can anyone provide for the existence of God? If you answer that you just have to take it on faith, you are choosing to base your life and sense of morality on in indoctrination that has no evidence to support its claims what so ever.