Religion: good or bad

**in posting this i do NOT mean to insult anyone and if you are offended, i am terribly sorry**
i want to hear people's opinions on this. just how important is religion in this world and does it really do us more bad than good? think abuot it how many fights and wars have been caused by religious diputes. in the past, religion was a very special thing with great meaning and signifigance, but today it has become hollow and somewhat meaningless. religion has become more of a contest to see how many people you can convert to your religion versus someone elses. think what peace it would bring the world to do away with specific religious categories and just let people believe what they want instead of putting beliefs into their heads at a young age or trying to force people to believe what you say about God or Jesus or Buddah or whatever.
what do you people think?

alright then, this has been up for a week now, so could some one please close this thread?

will a mod please close this thread, its buggin me

Hopefully no one will close this before I put this up

Personally I think it's a very gray area. Religion can be a wonderful thing; sometimes it's the only thing someone can fall back on. On an individual level, if religion is entirely personal and not thrust into everyone's face, it's a great thing. It's when money and power get involved that it becomes a problem. As I've stated on another thread, I don't remember Jesus preaching in a church; I don't see why there needs to be a big, fancy building with all the bells and whistles. And for some reason a lot of Christians forget the verse "Judge not lest ye be judged." I think religion is great if you keep it to yourself. That's just my opinion though.

listen to the song by john "John Lennon - Imagine", that what i hope the world will be like one day.
good or bad? its just an opinion, a perception. my opinion is that mankind as a whole would do better off without it.

how do u define good? how do you define bad?...

i totally agree with both of you.
what i meant by good or bad is that does religion as it is today (at least the catholic religion, anyways) do more harm than help in the world. i agree, cheeser that as an individual thing, not a contest, it can be the greatest thing in a persons life.
i was speaking of the catholic religion specificly, that has gone so horribly wrong. being raised in America,whic is a country ruled by catholics, so i guess i should have been more specific, other religions arent bad in the way catholicism can be.

To me, politics and power have tainted organized religion. At the uppermost levels in the Church it seems as if money comes first, spirituality second. Belief is a strong motivating force and has been used as a tool of violence for centuries, look how maligned the Muslim religion is portrayed today? Though that portrayal pales in comparison to Christianity during the Crusades.

I wouldnt say Religion is good or bad... id say its a good excuse for most people to do bad things in its name...

RELIGIOUS FANTICISM = really bad....

if you can follow your religion with respect for life, there is no problem to it ...

Nothing can good can be said about religion .
Religion is nothing more then a means of controlling the masses I see religion as the NWO.
My hope is that one day that the world will be free of religion.

I believe that religion has served many good purposes. From the darkest, most prehistoric times, religion has served to unite people, establish the most rudimentary social structures and, in its' own way, religion has been the precursor to science by asking the most basic, yet deepest, questions....why are we here? and how did we come to be and who (or what) caused everything? Furthermore, religion has been the precursor to law. In fact, by striving to find the ultimate truths, religion has established laws and social order. We can all, for the most part, see the wisdom in coming to the conclusion that stealing or killing is bad. Not coveting a neighbors goods or, egads, a neighbors wife is a pretty reasonable path towards peaceful coexistence. Religion has served many important purposes. Of course, religion has also been obviously a negative force. But can the philosophy of Christ, for example, be genuinely and totality be compared with actions of the man who often purport to be His servants? No, too often man has used Christ's philosphy to their own ends by perverting His teachings. The same can be said about Islam and other faiths. Even when the essential message is desirable, the base nature of Man can twist things to their own end. So, again to restate, I believe that religion has been a positive force but one which has been tainted by the actions of the men who might not necessarily be faithful to the spirit of the philosophy of the religions that they might have represented.