Would The World Be Safer Without Religion?

reply to post by NewAgeMan


i did start it in a different section but they then moved it to this one, although i would agree with the mods that it is a philisophical question.

reply to post by lewman


Superstitious thinking can be dangerous but it isn't always harmful. It depends on the quality of the idea. For instance it can be very psychologically comforting to believe that there's a deity out there who loves you no matter who you are and no matter what you do. That sort of surrogate parental deity can be a comforting one to believe in. On the other hand if you're taught that all human beings are born sinners destined to be broiled in a Lake of Fire forever and if you teach young adults that natural sexual urges are sinful and that something as simple as bad language could get you sent to Hell than you have a very harmful belief.

So it depends on the quality of the ideas being presented by the religion. Here's another example: Most people are familiar with the Golden Rule. Its pretty good moral advice to treat people the way you want to be treated. Of course one doesn't need religion at all to be wise or moral so it would be entirely possible to keep the ideas alive while draining the religion of all the superstitious nonsense that could be misinterpreted and end up with someone flying a plane into a building or killing an abortion doctor.

So the world would be much safer without certain brands of religion, particularly fundamentalist and extremist branches. Any church or religion that gains too much power also should be abolished - I'm looking at you Catholic Church. Power breeds corruption and, at least with Christianity, humility is meant to be strived for. Have you seen the Vatican. Humility and the Catholic Church are far removed.

Overall though I do think the world would be safer without religion and superstition.

there have been some valid points from many differet views, i will still say i am kind of on the middle as some of the nicest people i know are deeply religious but yet there are all these terrorist actions in the name of god(IRA,KKK,Al Quida etc...). i think it really starts to be a problem when people look too deeply into religious texts that have been manipulated over the years. there may be truth in the bible and quaran and many other religious books but i find it very hard to believe that they are entirely true word for word as these are some pretty old stories and people rule,conquer and change history as they go along to make them seem like the good guys or whatever they choose.

The theory of religion dates back during B.C. era's. I recently found that the story of religion, the virgin birth, the gospel, the 12 apostles, the crucifixion, resurrection, etc, was actually a belief system founded by the Egyptians. The same story, ( the list above I listed ), has been passed down from generation to generation. It was based on the the Sun " God ", referenced to the zodiac, it had something to do with alignment of the stars and so forth. The Egyptian Myrna was, I believe, the first to have the same attributes of life and death as the known Jesus Christ.
Whats interesting, is that there have been several of these " Gods" with the exact same attributes passed on.
Many whom dont know, that " Christ " isn't actually the last name of the known Jesus. Christ actually is another term for " anointed one " . Which further suggest that the name is make believe.
The documentary known as Zeitgeist is very interesting film showing the facts of history, and where the story of religion originated.
So once the fact that religion perceived is actually make believe, one can conclude that religion is and always has been an extortion scheme. Think about, if there is truly a god, the king of kings, the all wise and all powerful, then wise is it, every time you go to church, they claim the " lord " needs your money? What?...did God fail budgeting class or something?
The removal of religion from our daily lives would be the best thing that could happen...period.