I'm not saying that there is or isn't a God. I'm saying religion is bad. For thousands of years it has effected humanity in a negative way. Seems like by now people would have realized that and we would have moved away from the idea of religion. Its the next logical step. We don't need religion we just need to be civil to each other. Its so simple why complicate it. I'm sure there will still be some bad people who need to be locked up but life on earth would be so much smoother without religion.
No, that's foolish and a really unthought-through statement. Religion is a broad term, your statement is akin to saying "ideologies needs to go. they have affected humanity in a negative way" some kinds of religion have been bad, others are truly good. I don't like the kind that call for crusades and intolerance, but I like those that preach humility and respect. You want all to go, and that's foolish and dangerous. It's that kind of thinking that have led to persecution, like the forced state atheism in the USSR. think again
I think the point of the OP was that we can preach humility and respect without resorting to the supernaturalism and ignorance of religious teachings.
I disagree. Religion is good for most people. If it's not for you, that's your business. Most of the negative parts of religion are found in other parts of human existence as well. Religion isn't causing the problems--humans are. Get rid of religion, and there will be new things that make things run less smoothly.
We can but won't. Religion can make people do things that they wouldn't otherwise do. As it can make them fly into building to kill infidels, it can make them use all their time and work to help others. It's not as common to find non-believers doing those kinds of things. Religion has huge power which can be used for good. I'd rather not have it thrown away.
If it is uncontrollable and does lead to bad things, and people can do good things without it, why would you want to keep superstition?
Anyone who needs religion to be caring, giving, or to be kind to others, not steal, murder etc. etc. Well then they must be bad people to start with. also person doesn't need religion to know right from wrong. Without religion people would not stop doing good things. There are many religious people in prison. I'd guess at least half.
It's not uncontrollable, and the things that do control it is society overall. Thus, is society is calm and civilised so is religion. People can do things without religion, but less people would without religion. The net result if we're to remove religion is simply that less people do good. That's sounds like a stupid move. For the reasons above I'd keep it. And also because it's impossible to get rid of in the first place. - - - Updated - - - perhaps, but if religion prevent them from doing bad, and makes them do good, would wou want to remove religion? Net result would be less good, more bad. Wheter they be bad people or not, and I think not, it's a terribly bad move in my opinion.
You may be right. Which religion's teach humility and respect. I would like to learn more about them.
Sounds like you have an awesomely pathetic view of humanity. - - - Updated - - - Yes, but at least they would be doing bad things rationally instead of relying on bronze aged superstitions, which I think would make less people do bad things.
*religions. English plural doesn't have an apostrophe. Sorry, I'm a grammar nazi. buddhism does I'm sure. As do christianity, islam, and probably others but I'm not 100% sure. most religions follow the golden rule.
I'm being pragmatic, and I'd very much prefer that rather than to go the idealistic, naïve, and 'irrational' way you are. How ironic that you're being irrational here. How can you justify removing religion, if not because you're believing, falsely, that religion is only bad? Religion isn't the only source of irrationality. Hitler being a infamous example. Perhaps you'd prefer that people kill for the same reasons hitler did rather than to do it for superstition, but I find that to be quite a bad preference.
Religion cant' can't even stop a young man from masturbating or teens from having sex. At best it makes them feel guilty for something they know they are going to do again. That said I don't see how its going to stop a killer from killing.
Sorry about my grammar mistake but that changes nothing. I disagree most religions preach the golden rule, I personally know of none that follow it.
Why would we want to keep science which has led to weapons of mass destruction? - - - Updated - - - Neither will all the secular laws that are currently in place.
Religions often go bad when wedded with political power. Examples throughout history have shown this, when a sin of one faith becomes a crime you are treading on some thin ice. Religions tend to do a lot for individuals and those individuals get together and do good for society. Religions were responsible for great academies, hospitals, public heath and support services etc. Religion motivated some of the earliest scientific breakthroughs and certainly helped make civilization as we know it work. However religion creates zealots who find anyone outside of their faith evil. Evil must always be irradiated. Politicians who believe they speak with the words of God will do anything to stop others from finding a way to have a different opinion. Crusades, pogroms, murders and many more crimes big and small can be linked to religion. Jim Jones, Charles Manson, and Osama bin Laden all have visions of God in what motivated them. But a religion that accepts a place in the life of the people, is willing to entertain the possibility they don't have all the answers, and one that looks at their own rituals, beliefs and practices as being theirs, and should not be imposed on others can be a force for good in a culture. In the city I live in and in a country half way around the world, more than 10,000 kids have food every day because of religiously motivated people raising money for that cause. I think that is a powerful story.
Because religion requires belief without evidence or logic, which is what I really want to get rid of. "I believe today that I am acting in the sense of the Almighty Creator. By warding off the Jews I am fighting for the Lord's work." ""My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was his fight against the Jewish poison. " -Adolf Hitler - - - Updated - - - Science isn't an ideology, its a method of understanding nature that is unparalled by any other method in its results.
