_

Religion is absolutely fine, and you, me, and everybody else should be able to believe whatever we want, so long as it doesn't hurt other people.

It should be that simple. Obviously there are conflicting religions, but why solve them through violence? It's childish and retarded how sensitive some groups of people are. The world would be a better place if it was just "believe and let believe."

I second Del's

My number two commandment.

Three.

Mind your own ****ing business. That would solve everything.

Hard to say, really, since we've never seen a world without religion.

Pre-civilization nomadic cavemen.

Well, they believed in FIRE and the WHEEL.

(Thats horrible generalization. At this point, you should be taking it as a joke. But you probably aren't, are you? You sure are anal.)

Better without. Look at how much trouble religion causes worldwide. So many wars, territory disputes, terrorist acts, etc are caused because of religion.

The cattle quietly grazing
at the grass down by the river
where the swelling mountain water
moves onward to the sea

I would say that the world functions better with religion than it would without it. The problem is that the answer is not that simple. People need something to believe in. Very few people can live with the idea that they're gonna put in their 80ish years and then they'll die, and literally won't exist. There isn't a single human being alive that can conprehend what it would be like to not exist, but it's safe to say that if you didn't exist, you'd have no feelings on the state of the world once you weren't experiencing it. In fact, you'd have no feelings at all and you wouldn't know that you had no feelings. The logical conclusion to that is that the period of time that you're alive means literally nothing to you. Once your gone, you're not going to remember whether or not you lived a good life or a bad one. You're not going to care what state you left the world in, so why bother with anything? You have no motivation to succeed, no motivation to live a good life.

On the other hand, if you believe that your actions in this life will have consequences in your next, then you suddenly have a reason to live in the way that you think best. Whatever you believe is right is what you'll do, because you'll be thinking of the eternal consequences. This is where religion comes into play.

Religion is what sets us apart from animals. We do what we beleive is right, becuase we believe that in doing so, some kind of difference will be made that will be significant to us. If we didn't have that belief, we'd have no compass to guide our actions. Either we'd not think about it, and do whatever was necessary to survive, with no moral consideration, or we'd realize that our life won't make a difference 100 years in the future and we'd let ourselves die.

And what's you number one? :p

kill the god botherers!

Or that short time of life means everything to you because it's all you'll ever have.



This is quite an absurd arguement. Without religion would you not want to look after loved ones if they got sick? Wouldn't you want the best for your kids?




And this is how religion is used to control people. It has been since its invention.



No. I disagree entirely. We are animals. The only way we differ is that we are more intelligent.



No, because humans are, by nature, empathetic. We understand how our actions will affect those around us. You seem to be confusing this with religion. Besides, "right" and "wrong" are human concepts. You believe something is wrong because your culture tells you it's wrong. People somewhere else in the world might not.

As much as I dislike the fact that some believe in some floaty power somewhere, some people may need it. They need a why to the universe, a quick and easy answer. Life is unfair, and things happen, and people need religion to cope. Why did a baby die of cancer? Why did that man lose everything due to a freak accident? How come someone was born so poor, and others rich? "god works in mysterious ways" "It's god's plan" "If you have faith you too will be rewarded for eternity to... um.. float around and stuff."

For the bitter pill that life can be, some people need a little bit more to make it through sane. That, and societies can use it as a crutch at various times. Religion developed for a reason: it fills a need. That's why I, while I am a staunch non believer, think the world is better with religion. Until we are able to evolve out of it by being more intelligent, that is :p

An agnostic or atheistic outlook is not necessarily a hedonistic one ;).

Religion makes the world better up to a certain point in the advancement of civilization--it gives people a reason to work together and build cities and such. But once you reach a certain point it's kinda detrimental because you have crazy dudes who are all like RAAA RELIGION

HAIL XENU!

I picked the 3rd option since it really depends on the person/place, etc.

Option 3: Prozium

Get the psychologisters out of my teeth!

....marxism.

Religion is just another thing for people to argue about. Notice how every single thread dealing with religion turns into a flame war?

Dr. Pepper

Is Confucianism considered a religion? It seems more of a social and moral philosophy that helped create developing societies. It didn't need one god or an omnipotent being to prevent the population from falling apart.

Confucianism emphasizes the Chinese traditions of an abstract diety and afterlife at worst--it hardly denies or negates the existence of them. Suggesting the Chinese who believed in Confucianism lacked either of these is kind of silly.

Heh

Be excellent to eachother.

I say the world functions better without religion.

I see a world where everyone is a secular humanist and I see a much better world in every conceivable way. That's all there is to it.

The day all religion is permanently moved to "Fiction" section (like in bookstores and stuff) I will ejaculate all day.

Me too fastgamerr... Me too...

Better without, it's highly unlikely to be true, especially since half the religions clash with themselves.

ie. God forgives all, but kills people with plagues to teach them a "lesson". Okay then...

I agree with Thrawnnumbarz.

And Uberslug.

[Quote=Mr. Einstein]Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind.[/quote]

People still don't understand that a balance must be achieved here!

There must be fools, to let the other fools know they arn't fools. That's why we have religion.

Hallowed are the Ori

No, actually.

Ever heard the saying "You gotta be cruel to be kind"?

No, actually.

That's because it's a weak justification bible-thumpers in america use to explain their contradictory religions

my take is that those things are caused not by religion but by people...


People are not so nice as we like to think... people can use religion to justify it or convice others of the rightness or wrongness of it. But those things are caused by people who want, power/money/land/to hurt others/because they can.

I think religion does more good bad, but like all things it can be used to hurt others.

[QUOTE=Numenor King]my take is that those things are caused not by religion but by people...


People are not so nice as we like to think... people can use religion to justify it or convice others of the rightness or wrongness of it. But those things are caused by people who want, power/money/land/to hurt others/because they can.

I think religion does more good bad, but like all things it can be used to hurt others.[/QUOTE]


I think Richard Dawkins put it best: "Without it [religion], you'd have good people doing good things and bad people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion."

Are we still fighting over religion still?

Religion is good, as long as it's seperated from the government(s) and general education. Everybody should be free to choose their religion (or not to choose any), and have neither advantadges nor disadvantages from it. It's just a shame that'll never happen.

I was going to post something long and rambling, but Richard Dawkins summarised what I had to say in one perfect sentance.
Richard Dawkins is my new god.