Religion is evil!?

Question

Peoples beliefs in God are sadistic and contradictory.
God is perceived from mans mind and a history which started when science hadn't proved the things we know now.
If certain people are doomed to hell regardless, then why was Jesus quoted as saying He loves us all, all our sins will be forgiven.
Also the ten commandments are contradictory too. If vanity is a sin then why did God say "Thou shall not have false gods"?
Honour thy mother and father. My father was a bastard. Why should I honour him?
If God was all loving then why did He have this evil streak?

Religion is a farse that was created to scare pre intelligent societies into behaving them selves with laws that were set to by man as a policing agent!

People should have belief, I do, but telling someone they are going to hell because God said so when they have never heard it from the man himself is a bit off. Surely God is love?

No religion = no wars, poverty etc.

Answer 1

Hello friend,
Bashing religions are very common these days and while I think the question you posted is not actually a question and more like a comment on religion, I would like to talk about it.

We usually forget to make difference between the religion and the follower of that religion, for example if my sister can't drive and I hand her my brand new car and she crashes it, am I supposed to blame the car company for not making a crash proof car and call it a "no good" car?

If you want to know about religions then pickup the scriptures and read them and then decide what is wrong and what is not.

2nd common thing I have noticed in religion bashers is that they say "religion brought all the violence to the human kind". I say, if the religions are really this bad then name few civilizations that existed in the past which were not violent and were successful.
I on the other hand can provide you a great list of civilizations from the past that were religious AND were successful.

As a matter of fact, the most violent time for human on this earth started right after the Darwinism which pointed directly and indirectly about human races differences are actually part of evolution where whites with blond hair and blue eyes are most superior kind of human evolution.
No wonder Hitler had ranches where he was "breeding" the superior humans for his army.

Another common practice I have noticed from religion bashers is they either posses no (complete) knowledge and know about only one religion and based on that, they claim all religions are evil.
Just because one or 2 religions are nonsense doesn't grants one authority of labeling all religions. Pickup the scriptures and spend some time with them. Ask questions, find answers, counter-question those answers.
If one can spend 28 years to become a doctor and must follow the text in order to become a good doctor then what is wrong with picking up a book for that may help you become a better human being?

I personally am a Muslim and the reason behind it that I asked questions and found answers. I have studied Bible, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Islamic scripture and then picked what I believed to be helpful for me to become a better human being for myself, the people around me and the people in this world.

I hope you will open up your heart and try to understand where I am coming from.

Answer 2

That is probably the most selfish, non-thought out thing I have ever heard.

You first said that peoples beliefs in God are sadistic and contradictory... Although I completely agree with you, completely missed the complete picture. Yes, people are sadistic and contrictory about MANY things, not just religion. There is so much in what you didn't say - GOD is not sadistic and contradictory. People are.

Second, regarding that God is an entitiy that scence has not proven. Agan, you have missed the boat. God isn't about proof. There will never be a scientific experiement or theory that proves or disproves God. That is not God's nature. Additionally, if you want to take it from a scientific point of view, any rational scientist would tell you that lack of proof of an idea or theory does not constitute disproof. Therefore, it is impossible for you to attempt (scientifically) to disprove God by showing a lack of evidence.

Third, nowhere does it ever say in the Bible that certain people are doomed to hell regardless. God does love us all and all of our sins will be forgiven. However, God is about RELATIONSHIP and LOVE at the core level. Also, if you look at the Greek translations of heaven and hell, you would see that heaven is defined as spending eternity with God - hell is defined as eternal separation from God. So, if you spend your entire life knowingly separated from God, you really shouldn't mind spending eternity without Him (or hell). But - it's your choice.

As for the ten commandments - you again - must realize that the ten commandments were not written for you and me. The were written for the israelites of the time. As for the specific commandment "thou shall not have false Gods", there ARE NO other Gods. Therefore if people did worship another god (which they created named Baal) it would take away from their RELATIONSHIP (note the big "r" word here again) with Him.

As for honoring your mother and father, you think your father is a bastard. I'm sorry of what he did to you reagardless of what it is. However, what has happened no is that you carry around this bitterness and rage inside you. Let it go. God didn't do this (whatever it is) to you, your father did. God wants you to release that pain and not carry it through to your kids. Turn it over to Him and let it go. No, your relationship with your father may always be strained because of his attitude, but that is his problem, not yours.

As for no religion = no wars, poverty... that is rediculous. Wars, poverty, and other ills of the world have no bearing on God. People are people and will always want something that they don't have. That leads to war. Others will always have less than someone else - that's poverty.

I wish you luck and if you wish to discuss more don't hesitate to pm or e-mail me.

Answer 3

U should expect a whole lotta messages from the christians on here. They dont seem to get the concept of 'free thinking'. And really have a go at us non-believers.

I completely agree with what you have written. I think religion is like a prison without bars. And has been used to commit some absolute atrocities. In fact its likely 80% of wars past and present use some element of religion to justify their actions.

I think people who buy in2 this bible con should at least do the history. I dont understand how some people can just believe what they are told without investigating for themselves. That's why we have a complex brain. We aren't robots (although i see so many have been programmed by religion/media/society)
We aren't Sheep - So why would you have blind faith, following these priests without knowing where they are taking you.

I must finish by saying i dont think christian followers are evil - Not at All. Many people probably just want to live a good life and follow the teachings of Jesus. But hear this, the story of Jesus as we know it now, was modelled on far older 'pagan' religions. So by following him you are also following Horus, Mithra and many others.

Anyway why cant people just think for themselves. Even a child knows its wrong to purposefully hurt, steal or lie........

Answer 4

Yes god is love but he's not ONLY love, he is also righteous and holy. Don't think of him as some sort of jolly father christmas person who says do what you like, of course I'll forgive you! He made us, so he knows what is best for us, I am aware how horribly hard that is to take on board, we humans do tend to rebel against anyone who claims a supreriority over us, but a person seeking christianity will at some point have to say to himself, if God is true, then it's important that I know him, and if god is truth, then it's important that i decide to follow that truth. Everyone has their own truth but only path can actually BE true.
As for the commandments, these were law for the Israelites, but we cannot possibly, on our own, obey these laws, it's impossible. As you have found out, honouring your parents isn't always easy or even desirable, and god certainly doesn't expect you to honour someone who treats you bad. (We could then go on to forgiveness but maybe that's hard too.) So if this law is too hard, what happens is we give our struggle to Jesus. He takes our struggles and makes them his own. 'My burden is light,' he said. By His grace we will go to heaven anyway, if we have cast our burdens on him for real, because He died for that.
Religion is man-made by the way, all the rules we have. I'm in a church that has stripped Christianity back to what it should be, worship of god and Jesus, and freedom. As God intended.
IN the end, nobody can convince anyone, by reasoned argument, that God exists. They couldn't convince me, either. I'm an intelligent woman, went to uni, well read etc and it took a
PERSONAL REVELATION from God himself before I fully believed. I hope you don't rule out the possibility of God existing until you have at least asked Him to show Himself to you.

Answer 5

Wow ... this is a can of worms! You make such valuable points and I suggest that the best people to answer would be those with no specific religious bent. I prefer to call myself a 'humanist' or 'simply spiritual' as I lead my life based on what comes from my heart and therefore my own human values ... that may equate to simply 'being Christian' but I don't have to go to church or read the bible to keep myself a 'good person' as such. I too make mistakes in life, sometimes I can be unreasonable and nasty, but my human heart recognises that and keeps me in check. It is what being human is all about ... if we give ourselves time and space to think properly.
Personally I don't need religion to survive .... as you quite rightly say .... it is chronologically unnecessary now. Sometimes I think that religion is a great saviour for those that need that mental splint .... so to condemn it may well be wrong. But human spirit always comes from the heart ... perhaps we need to teach that more ... make people more humanly aware of what they can and can't do ... make them cope better in their hearts .... we can still teach to offer love and support to others ... that is uniquely human .... hey a dog will always give unconditional love .... no need for religion there ... it's simply in a dog's heart, in it's soul, to do so. Perhaps we can learn from that.
And in conclusion, is religion evil? Not in itself ... but it does divide people .... create barriers ..... cause conflicts ... and these things lead to evil. Just look at what's going on in the world right now ...

Answer 6

very well put. but rid religion they'd still exist poverty.

and as for war, religion does not cause wars , its simply an excuse for man to excerise his greed.

to also say religion is evil you must give more examples then christianity alone as christianity is not the only religion to exist.

but as for the bible and faith of christians being nothing but contradictory i agree completely.
partly because i actually spent most my life proving just how contradictory it can be, and partly because most denominations of christians dont celebrate faith, the mourn it

Answer 7

religion itself is not intrinsically evil - but human interpretation of religious mores has led to nearly all of the most despicable acts of human cruelty

you are right in your postulation that religion is a way to control people and insofar as that control limits peoples development and freedoms, it may be right to suggest that this is a more insidious, 'background' form of evil.

Answer 8

you are so right, religion is the root of all trouble created only to scare and keep people in line. Why cant people see this.

Answer 9

religon might not be evil but what people do when they become fanatics is (9/11 for example)

Answer 10

NO RELIGION=NO WARS, POVERTY, ETC.???!!!
ARE YOU MAD???

no religion = no justice and law, which means increased crimes without anyone to stop them.