Why does Religion in almost all it's forms breed hatred?

As per the Title, It seems to me that the majority of believers in Abrahamic religions fail miserably to practice what they preach. Throughout the course of documented human history more people have been killed in the name of God then any other cause to date. Is religion being used as a tool to indoctrinate and teach hatred towards "non-believers"? I think for the logical of us the answer is quite obviously yes.

Is it a flaw within humanity ourselves to be so contradicting and so hateful, or is religion in itself a major cause? I've seen more "Atheists" and even to an extent Creationists able to forgive and forget than I have followers of the Abrahamic religions (many of whom are by definition meant to be accepting and forgiving). It is my personal opinion that humanity will never move forward until we are able to either agree on one religion or to abolish them completely.
Despite what it may seem I am not having a go at all believers and if you do believe in a God, Can you seriously sit there and not agree that Religion has caused pain and suffering beyond belief? And if you do agree do you have a solution?

Sorry for the rambling post it was alot clearer in my head.

religions typically highlight differences between people/cultures. they all talk about a certain group being better than the others.

the basis of all religions is separation if you truly think about it. no wonder it breeds hatred...

If that's what you feel/know, then you've read wrong. You've searched for the truth in the wrong place.

I think its due largely to the fact that its manmade and humans by nature are an antagonistic bitter hate- and fear-filled species. No matter how far we think we have "evolved" or "matured" as a civilization, all we really want to do is smash one another over the head with a big stick. Especially if someone disagrees with us. God would be sooo proud!

Great post. We are transformed through the act of loving people. IMHO Jesus was the least "religious" person to walk the face of the earth, His teachings spoke only of love, keep in mind He hated self righteousness. Abandon fear in any of its forms and we will put a big smile on God's face. Be yourself, encourage others to do the same. Turn the music up, put your drinks up and maybe just maybe we will dance our way into the kingdom of God.

Unfortunatly most people in said religions don't actually read about who they're supposed to follow... or misunderstand what they read about him.

This is why i don't call myself christian... i won't be grouped in with the judgemental "holier then tho" attitude that comes from Christianity.

This is the kind of garbage that comes from listening to people preach, as opposed to reading for yourself...

Judge not lest ye be judged...

It seems christians don't understand such simplicity.

reply to post by Urantia1111


I agree with you thinking about my post I believe that we feel intolerance at a level deeper than I can explain and religion is just merely exacerbating it or at the very least giving an outlet for said intolerance. That being said It is my belief that 90% of those that believe in a hell would end up there in the afterlife.

reply to post by Esotericizm


It's not religion. It's radicalization of ideology.

White Supremacy is a hateful ideology and yet it is not a religion. So why is it hateful ? There is this sense , false I may add, but a sense that if you are white you are superior and fully evolved and therefore greater than all others. The mere existence of anyone that challenges that belief causes the deranged white supremacist to act out in anger and hatred. It is pride in ones ideology, radicalized.

"How dare you live here. How dare you come to MY country. This is MINE. You are not worthy of it. You are not white. I am. It's mine . It's all mine. Only I am worthy for I am white and I will kill you if you try to take it even though you had it before me. The whole world is mine so I can take what I will and you better not try to take it"

So no. It's not religion that breeds hatred. It's people. People who radicalize religion and racial pride and other forms of ideology develop delusional self righteousness and as a result see anyone in contrary to their ideology as an enemy to be destroyed.

reply to post by Akragon

This is why i don't call myself christian... i won't be grouped in with the judgemental "holier then tho" attitude that comes from Christianity.

Um, you're already being judgemental right here .

To refrain from being a hypocrite, just don't speak. The more you talk the closer you come to sinning.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
reply to post by Akragon

 

This is why i don't call myself christian... i won't be grouped in with the judgemental "holier then tho" attitude that comes from Christianity.

Um, you're already being judgemental right here

.

To refrain from being a hypocrite, just don't speak. The more you talk the closer you come to sinning.

Im just stating the obvious... sorry if the truth hurts.

And I might add....that atheism radicalized , is also hateful and destructive.

reply to post by Esotericizm


Here here. Just take a look at the Old Testament God. Full of wrath and vengeance, the trademark quintessential human personality traits. Who among us wouldn't cast our enemies into a lake of fire to burn and scream for all eternity? We pretend we're too good to wish that on anyone, but check your inner self for signs that you would if you could.

reply to post by Esotericizm


It's not about teaching hatred, it is about being seperate from those who continue to keep wallowing in wicked things. You call it hatred because it is contrary to your lifestyle so it's your perception of reality but it doesn't make it anymore true or right then what religious people believe or do. Peoples of certain religions like the "Abrahamic" religions have specific guidelines to follow and they more often than not are rigid. As in the case of Christians we are supposed to be following if the foosteps of the Messiah Jesus and what his apostles taught, ofcourse there are sects who "edit" the bible as they see fit and only do what they want as opposed to what they are commanded which makes them antichristian and not christian. Case in point a person who calls themself christian, but goes out and murders, rapes, steals, lies, commits homosexuality or fornicates or any of a number of things we are not supposed to do, they make liars of themselves and are hypocrites.

Muslims and jews have their own guidelines and yes there is friction between the 3 sometimes. Every "religion" believes their way is the right way, not matter if it is "abrahamic" or not. Religion is not the belief you have, it is the rituals and rites and all the cosmetic baloney that is just more for show and is physical as opposed to the spirit.

reply to post by Akragon

Im just stating the obvious... sorry if the truth hurts.

Doesn't hurt me a bit, but if you don't want to be a hypocrite stay silent, and fingerpoint less and instrospect your own soul as opposed to everyone else's, k?

Take the plank out of your own eye before trying to pull the splinter out of anyone elses.

As others have mentioned, it's not religion that breeds hatred, it's people.

Most killings have not taken place in history due to religion. It's due to greed, jealousy and pride. Sometimes it may be disguised as religion, but that's not the true cause.

There will never be peace on earth because it's made up of imperfect humans.

Even in the Bible, Cain killed his brother, Abel, at a time when there was only a handful of people on the earth. Now, add billions of people and what do you have? More reason for greed, jealousy and pride.

I sincerely believe that anything that creates division on a mass scale will bread hatred no matter what the context is. The well grounded and intelligent person will see past the differences but as you well know what people don't understand they tend to fear. And what they fear they hate....I should of quoted Yoda on that one...

Now, divison is a pretty powerful tool for those in power. Divide and conquer. A people devide is a people easily controled. Why do you think there is so much emphases on political parties, different religions, race and life styles/fashion in the MSM. Everyone bashing the other. That is one of the major reasons I'm agnostic. I'd love to vote but I've never felt like there was a worthy candidate in the last 18 years no matter what party they were for so I didn't vote. To me, race never was and never will be an issue. I won't dislike someone because they're a different race, I'll dislike him/her because they're A-holes, it's as simple as that. As for lifestyle/fashion, live and let live. What does it change in someone's life if some dude has 15 pearsings in his face? Ok, it's odd but I'rather hang out with that guy than a T. Boone Pickens.

i agree with you but not just the religions of the people of 'the book'.
you should check out the writtings of the indians (not native americans)
the 'gods' destroyed whole cities with bombs(nuclear?) with their flying machines!!!!

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
reply to post by Akragon

 

Im just stating the obvious... sorry if the truth hurts.

Doesn't hurt me a bit, but if you don't want to be a hypocrite stay silent, and fingerpoint less and instrospect your own soul as opposed to everyone else's, k?

Take the plank out of your own eye before trying to pull the splinter out of anyone elses.

edit on 21-3-2012 by lonewolf19792000 because: (no reason given)

Nope... this isn't about me is it...

Im sticking to the topic at hand... that being the "hatred" and intolerance that breeds within religious establishments.

My opinion of these individuals stems from my experience with them... Obviously this doesn't include everyone that is religious... Only those that fall into the topic's catagory... Their hatred and intolerance of others does the judging for them...

Im not judging anyone... im mearly stating the obvious as i previously said

Unfortunately it's the same as hearing a punk talk to an RnB dude.

If you incorporate something into your core personal belief system, anything that ISN"T part of that, is a potential threat/challenge.
And when you become ingrained with fundamental beliefs within that system, you become defensive, pious, and sometimes aggressive, and in my experience, arrogant and proud.

BUT- I've seen this behavior in not only religious nuts, but also various atheists attacking agnostics just because they settle on "I'm not sure, I need more data to make a decision" etc. And also Folk musicians versus Jazz.

So "Hatred" seems to occur when when the dedication overcomes being open minded. Hence Christians pulling a gun on someone who disagrees on a verse in Genesis, as an example.

*Edit: In short, hatred to other beliefs mainly rests with the realm on "threat whilst ignorance is at play", or "anger due to ignorance of the mitigating influence". I'm talking from personal point of view.

I was reading a blog by an ex-Christian who wrote something to the effect that when the religious pray they are actually communicating with a mental construct they have created – so they are having an internal dialogue with themselves but that they perceive this mental construct as separate to themselves (and they call this god)

So when some petty bigoted idiot is letting people know how his god hates gay people then he is telling the truth - in the sense that the mental construct of a petty bigoted idiot (or what the p.b.i perceives as god) probably does hate gays

But the other thing about this is if someone rejects or rubbishes the ‘god’ of a religious person then the religious person might sense this as a rejection of themselves – because the religious person subconsciously knows that their ‘god’ is actually a part of themselves

If the above is true then:
A religion, Christianity for example is only there to provides the initial basic outline for this mental construct and allows the followers to gather together to reinforce and support this construct and allow for the formation of a group-think

and this might lead to the situation that if group A rejects group B’s religion then group B feels (subconsciously) that they have personally been rejected and so group B starts to hate group A (in reality because of this personal rejection)