What the World Needs is Less Religion, and More Humanitarians...Desperately

This is my wholehearted belief. If people could start ignoring their religions and begin paying attention to the problems we face everyday in society, and as people, we could accomplish so much.

It is a changing world, and I feel that religion is serving to slow us down on a tremendous scale. Mankind has been around for millennia, and instead of pulling together as brothers and sisters, we still use old thinking and ancient scriptures to define how we act in the world. Religion separates brother from brother, and sister from sister, all in the name of avoiding Hell, or becoming close to an unproven figure who people assume would rather see mankind fight and hate towards one another instead of helping or understanding each other.

We should be pulling together to get past bigotry and set aside differences to advance further as a society. We can be a great society one day that knows no prejudice, or hate, or misunderstanding of why others believe and do what they do. Instead, we set laws and invoke fear to control the behavior of others, and then wonder why, even after all the studies, that deterrence does not work. Instead, we should be focusing more on finding the 'why' of situations and people gone bad and figuring out how we can help each other be better people, or help bring this world to the Utopia it can one day be.

Religion is separating us from ourselves. From Muslim or Jewish or Christian or Atheist or homosexuality prejudice, to people using the name of God to hurt and kill others, perhaps people are not responsible enough for religion. People should be using their resources to help those less fortunate, instead of turning their backs on those who share different beliefs, even though they cannot answer why they are on either side.

I believe our energies should be focused more on helping each other out, assisting those less fortunate, and preaching freedom and equality, without the fear of oppression or prejudice. So, with that said, I will leave you with some very, very disturbing and true facts:

Around the world, some 26,500 children die every day.

That is equivalent to:

* 1 child dying every 3 seconds
* 18 children dying every minute

1/5 of the world is starving to death

1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water

Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names

The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels

Worldwide, 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized

15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)

Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.

Please, visit these sites:

www.poodwaddle.com...

www.globalissues.org...






[edit on 5/18/2008 by bigbert81]

Imagine the future, and what we can become...

no wars...

no prejudice...

no famine...

no poverty...

A world where people pull together and have gotten past all this primitive thinking and ways of society.

It'll be wondrous, if only we could start dropping all this trivial bull crap, and start looking ahead at what is to come, so that we can begin adjusting now.

reply to post by bigbert81


I couldn't agree more. Just imagine everyone putting down their idols and dead gods and getting to know one another, sharing one another's stories and cultural histories, and eating one another's foods...the kids out playing with one another, and everyone happy.

O.K.,
who does most of the humanitarian work that you know of?
Atheist? Religious?
Hint;
------Red Cross, Salvation Army, Feed The Children, CBN Operation Rescue, HUD, (started as a Christian organization),
World Vision, Abandoned Babies clinic, V.O.M.,

HOW many others! Those are just off the top of my head!


How childish that people would think religion is entirely responsible for the world's ills!

Many people want to be drunken and fornicate, while they close their ears and de-cry religion. Not saying that YOU do that, mind you.)

But, with so much hate directed towards us Christians, you have to realise there are ulterior motives.
BTW, there are bad religions, JUST not ALL religions.
There can be bad apples in ALL types of people.


Edit to clarify

[edit on 20-5-2008 by Clearskies]

[edit on 20-5-2008 by Clearskies]

I'll agree that charity is a very good thing. I think you might want to check out this article though:


It seems that religion may be the main source of the humanitarian aid. I'm really not trying to start an argument, I know you want everyone to forget religion, but I think you might be overlooking some facts.

TheRedneck

Religion is slowing us down.I have no solution for it.No simple one thats for sure as its a complex problem.Its not easy telling someone that everything youve believed in is B.S.No one wants to admit to being had and this is part of the problem.EGO.This word causes more trouble than anything else.Personal ego gets in the way of rational thinking in addition to fear,hate,anger,jealousy...has no one seen Star Wars?Didnt those messages stick with you?They stuck with me.

As the HUMAN race, all these PETY differences must be put aside of our lives.We must pay attention to our fellow being as well as the planet.We only have one world right now so its best we look after her before she decides shes had enough of us.

Originally posted by Clearskies
O.K.,
who does most of the humanitarian work that you know of?
Atheist? Religious?
Hint;
------Red Cross, Salvation Army, Feed The Children, CBN Operation Rescue, HUD, (started as a Christian organization),
World Vision, Abandoned Babies clinic, V.O.M.,

HOW many others! Those are just off the top of my head!


How childish that people would think religion is entirely responsible for the world's ills!

People just want to be drunken and fornicate, while they close their ears and de-cry religion.
BTW, there are bad religions, JUST not ALL religions.
There can be bad apples in ALL types of people.

[edit on 20-5-2008 by Clearskies]

Religion absolves people from responsibility.Christians have the priest to confess to if they murder someone but they knew BEFORE they murdered that it was wrong.Islam and Judaism have one day of atonement.The point is this-religion states that no matter what you do god will forgive you.thats the flaw.Its not the forgivness thats wrong its the fact that "god"will accept your actions no matter what.This takes responsibility out of the individuals hands and places it with the church,synagogue,or mosque.

God may forgive you after your dead,but humankind can try and convict you if commit a crime.Take responsibility for your actions including those lies at work that get others into trouble because of your actions.Or govts owning up to mistakes they have made instead of covering up.Or...well you get the idea.

saying that "religion is slowing us down" is tantamount to saying that you have no respect for other people's belief systems, and that they should drop their errant beliefs and adopt yours.

Frankly, that's the sort of bigotry that faithers are always being accused of here at ATS.

Isn't it odd, how it's always "the other guy" that's the problem . . .

Clearskies, Redneck, you make good arguments. Redneck, at least you can do it without the insults, of which someone else I've mentioned apparently cannot.

However, this is where I would have to say that I believe that, without religion, I still think that we would have great charitable organizations doing great, quality work, and it seems that you both are thinking that religion is what's making people help others out.

I do not think religion is as legitimate as you are making it out to be in this case.

reply to post by bigbert81


I went back and re-read my post and it was a broad brush, so I edited it.
I don't know you or your lifestyle..................
It's just that EVERYDAY I see new threads despising me and mine and it gets OLD!
All the while, some people will tell me Christians shouldn't open their mouths about their beliefs!
It's ignorant, IMO.

reply to post by Clearskies


Ok, thanks, but IMO, religion promotes segregation.

There is a difference between organized religion and spiritualism. Spiritualism is cool. It's personal and it's finding your own way. THIS is what motivates people to help others, when we're talking about religious humanitarian assistance.

Organized religion however, promotes segregation between people. My OP covers more on this and how I feel that religion is not helping us to evolve further as a society.

Humainitarianism is good but it is still a religion without rituals.

reply to post by bigbert81
Thank you for the kind reply bigbert. Believe it or not, I credit my religion for the fact that I can respond without resorting to the need for insults.

As for your premise, perhaps charity would still abound among the religious even if religion were removed. There are three possibilities: religion begets charity (my view); charity begets religion; or the two simply exist together because of some other factor (I believe, your view). But my question is why tamper with something that already works? If your view is the correct one, would it not be more prudent to encourage non-religious people to donate to charity until a failed experiment without religion would not disrupt the aid that is presently going to all those worthy causes you espouse?

I understand that you have no doubt had some pretty bad experiences with either religion or the 'religious', but remember this: those experiences are not necessarily indicative of the entire group. Just like some black folks actually like watermelon (as I do, lol), it does not follow that the stereotype of all black people liking watermelon is true. Just as because some gay men like to cross-dress and parade down main street for the shock value, it does not necessarily follow that all gay men do this.

These are stereotypes, just as your impression of religion is a stereotype. All stereotypes have a basis in fact, but few (if any) are true overall.

TheRedneck

less thinking, more love.

Watching animals, they do, they do not think of doing.

Originally posted by skyshow
reply to post by bigbert81

 

getting to know one another, sharing one another's stories and cultural histories, and eating one another's foods...the kids out playing with one another, and everyone happy.

London?


I think it's not religion we need to sort out, it's politics.

We need a new world order, not the one some people fear, but a one we would want! made by actual real GOOD people!!!!! people who really really care!! dammit!

Make the world free, people can live wherever they want, no walls or rules to seperate us, make the whole world multicultural, like london. Of course that is hard to do.



[edit on 20-5-2008 by _Phoenix_]

reply to post by TheRedneck


Well, in your opinion, it works, in mine, it does, but not nearly as good as it could. I think we would grow by leaps and bounds if we could drop religious views and focus on humanitarian ones.

And actually, no, I have never had bad experiences with religion, despite your usually correct assumption. My experiences have actually been quite good. I made this thread out of observations and personal reflections and ideas I've come upon and decided.

[edit on 5/20/2008 by bigbert81]

Another PRIME example in what I'm referring to is Stem cells and nanotechnology.

How far back have we been held in the research of Stem cells because of religious protesters, like George Bush himself?

How many more people have to suffer because of how much we had to hold back? Stem cells and nanotechnology have the possibility to end so much suffering, but religious people are forcing their morals and beliefs upon others.

Another example would be Blue laws. I have to sacrifice my freedoms so that people can force their moralities upon me.

It's not right.



[edit on 5/21/2008 by bigbert81]

reply to post by bigbert81
My apologies for that incorrect assumption; it just seemed to me that you had something against religion. I think (hope) I can see your thinking clearer now after your post. And I'm afraid we'll just have to agree to disagree on this point.

I want to address the issues you bring up in the next post, even though I realize they were not aimed at me. As for stem cell research, the latest discovery is that adult stem cells are much more reliable and effective than fetal stem cells, and I support this avenue of research 100%. My personal objections to fetal stem cell research was the concern that fetuses would be 'farmed' by unscrupulous people in order to sell the stem cells. In a world where so-called parents are regularly in the news for abandoning or severely abusing infants, would you not agree that this was a serious concern?

As to nano-technology, forgive my ignorance, but I have not heard any religious opposition to it. I would appreciate some information as to where you got the information that there is such.

On the subject of blue laws, there we can agree completely. Utterly useless and quite probably unconstitutional (no establishment of a national religion) if the truth be known.

On all three issues, there are no religious assertions in my positions. They are based in a belief that human life is precious, and a belief that all people should be free to do as they please, as long as it does not harm others or infringe on others' rights.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck


It's good to hear that you do support the research, and are anti-blue laws. Of course, now that we can (as of recently) get stem cells without fetuses, we can avoid most of the protesting.

I do agree that that is a valid concern, but so comes the territory with just about anything new and profitable, and denying research out of fear of abuse would cause just about all research in the world to stop.

As far as nanotechnology goes, I've come across a couple of things which lump stem cells and nanotechnology together. Here...let me see...

Here's an article I remembered reading: earlychurchfathers.org...

The catch for Americans with strong religious convictions, Scheufele believes, is that nanotechnology, biotechnology and stem cell research are lumped together as means to enhance human qualities. In short, researchers are viewed as "playing God" when they create materials that do not occur in nature, especially where nanotechnology and biotechnology intertwine, says Scheufele.

Wow. "Nanotechnology, biotechnology and stem cell research are lumped together."

Many Americans are uneasy about nanotechnology for "religious" reasons

And here's another article I've read in the past: ieet.org...

Now this story is really weird. Apparently, most Americans reject the morality of nanotechnology on religious grounds.

In a sample of 1,015 adult Americans, only 29.5 percent of respondents agreed that nanotechnology was morally acceptable!

Just coming across things like this where 'morals' and religious grounds hold us back are just some examples. I'm sure with more time, I can remember some other examples other than stem cells and nanotech.

EDIT: Let me also add that by reading some of your posts here on ATS, you definitely have much more sense than the people I'm referring to.

[edit on 5/21/2008 by bigbert81]

How can you play God when it was given our right to try anything you want whether it be scientific or evil at it's worse? If nobody hasn't noticed we do have free will to kill, lie, cheat, slaughter, condemn, enslave, molest, rape, steal, hate. love etc... Without this knowledge we would never know the difference between good and bad. We are just babies in a nursery of the knowing.

Religion to myself is man made and needs to be abolished for it's cult age and evil ways of dealing with humanity. Believe what you want but leave others out of your desires. I'm tired of seeing individuality lost to a cult society who believes they are right and you are wrong.