RELIGION: Do the negative effects of religion outweigh the positive ones?

Question

Religion is man-made concept.
Do we need to believe in or follow a religion to have faith in God.

Do we really need a religion to define what is good or bad?
Or what we should or should not do? Who will go to 'heaven' or 'hell'. Who will enjoy the 'afterlife'?

How have religions bridged the gap between other faiths?
Through tolerance? Yet they maintain that their faith is the only true path?

Religions have created the greatest division among men the world has ever known. For something that should unite humanity, they seem far more effective at dividing us.

(?) SpiritualSeeker, say that again?
You lost me on that answer.

mypublicident
- Who/what determines the level of education required to no longer need religion? "Spiritual awakening"?

~ted~
- I'm not an Atheist. I'm against religion, not God.

whynotaskdon
- Who decides which religion "screwed it up"? Who's to say you're not wrong? For all we know, we could all be wrong.

Answer 1

You are so right. Faith in GOD is what is required not faith in the churches. NOT ONE prophet grom God said to join this or that. The Texts that are handed down to us also show that God loves us and wants us to return to our former glory.
Religion is the mark of the serpent.

Answer 2

The word religion is man made the belief in god is not. It depends on who you are and what religion you are following wether negative effects outweigh the positive. For example who really wants to run with a religion or have ties with ones who does not have a strong powerful influence to change one for good in their life. If your religious prefrence makes you less of a person a person who makes excuses for every sin you commit and tells you it is ok all you haft to do is pray and it is forgivin is feeding you alot of bull. It isnt that easy. It takes work. Now if some religion tells you there are standards to live by to be morally clean and you make the decision that is what you want to do and stick to it and you do and you bring your family up with clean moral standards and if you make a mistake you do well to plead for forgiveness and never repeat the same mistake again in your life and it changes you for the good then you have a good thing. It is more about allowing persons to murder others of other religions, tolerance to any sin, and not have reliable truth that the bible teaches, many of the churches today have adopted pagan teachings , man made holidays, or traditions or doctrines to keep the people either scared into coming to church for fear of death in a firey Hell, or becuse they have adopted all these greedy holidays just for the fun of it and to keep the children involved with false practices. That is why there is division , most religions are not getting to the bottom of things and sharing the Truth.

Answer 3

I agree with you. Religion is a killer! It kills people's self esteem, their spirit, takes their dignity and their seeking for the true Godly way. Only turning to Jesus Christ, and calling on Him personally will ever do the job. Religion in the middle ages made morters of a lot of God fearing individuals, and caused an age of Icon, and images, and relics and not many ever found out that they could go to the Father in Jesus's name for themselves and find the true living way. There is no man that should stand between a person and God, and their relationship with Him. Religion wants works, and money and legalistic rules and doctrines. But the real way is just God, and a person seeking Him, not a denomionation, or a building, or a set of traditions and doctrines, Just ask Jesus to come into your heart, and all religion fades away. Nothing is left but His peace, and joy in your heart. That is living!

Answer 4

Religion no longer serves any useful purpose. It is a crutch and an excuse that causes people to deal with problems on such a low level that the problems are not solved or are made worse (population explosion,war, etc.). The first sign a species is becoming sentient is when they have evolved
to the point where they can abstract enough to invent a god. The first sign a species is achieving sentient maturity is when they get rid of their gods

Answer 5

As humans we are accountable for our actions. Therefore, we humans feel the need to justify our actions, whether outwardly public or inside and private. Some of us say I do so and so because I wanted to and that's that. Some say I had a bad childhood and my enviroment is to blame. Then a vast majority will pick on something that everyone is familar with........religion. Why not. Religion has "mass appeal". Regardless of ones beliefs, you can go to any section of the book associated with you religion and find a sentence, verse, etc., that justifies something you want or don't want to do.
But because religion is universal and strong, no matter what belief it is, religion is easily used to promote ones own agenda. Why, because you can go to the "written word" and say here, here is written proof, I'm right. Once again, the need for justification.
Well, everyone can't be right. Therefore the division.

No, belief in God comes from within. Down deep inside your soul. Isn't that what God is supposed to work from, your soul. Isn't that the most important makeup of your person. God wants your soul, the devil, or satan if you will, wants your soul. Your body stays here when you die and your soul goes on. Isn't that what we're taught? Look inside yourself for your religion and belief's. If you are content with this and you are hurting no other human being, whose to say you are wrong. Even if they do say you are wrong, whose to say they are right. It comes from within.

Answer 6

It is the interpretations , which have lost relevance, that cause negative effects. The original theme has been overlooked while narrating the historic events, enjoined in religious texts. A little more perseverance would reveal the mind of the person, and the true purpose, which was relevant, at that time, to understand the real purpose, which would have been difficult to explain if put forth in simple terms !

Answer 7

The simple fact is...we are a social animal. We like to draw together in groups for security and comfort. When we think alike or find a thought we can live with, we are comfortable in the community of others. Spirituality (a belief in God) is innate in the human being. We seek this within ourselves with or without a group to follow. And many these days prefer seeker to adherent to religion.

Answer 8

All religious preachers just pump their one theory (God exists) down our throats.

When the science community makes a discovery or modifies a theory they publish a paper for all to view, speculate on, and debate. Invariably such discoveries open up our simplistic minds and expand our horizons. Examples would be the works of Einstein and Hawking, to name a very small sample.

So why do preachers have to continually pump their one theory (God exists) down our throats. Why do they stand on street corners and hand out leaflets, yell at passers by, gather huge crowds and push unsuspecting victims over in the belief they will be cured of whatever mental or physical ailment invades them, if they just believe in the theory of God.

Why can’t the believers of religious theory just behave in a decent manner, in much the same way as the scientific community does. The answer to all of these questions is simple. They know their theory of God is wrong, and saturation mental and verbal bombardment is the only way they can convince people, and they do it directly or indirectly for money.

Answer 9

Evil always wants to be bigger than it is. The Devil wanted to be
God! And it blows itself up out of proprtion, and makes us think there is only evil, and there is nothing we can do about it.
But evil is not that big.
They say 500 people were killed with hand guns in New York City
last year. And any loss of life is tragic. But there are 8,000,000
people in New York City. See what I'm saying?
We need to find the strength to realize that all human beings
suffer from common failings. When we do, we will be able to
talk more easily about them, and put them in there place.

Answer 10

faith has done some good, whether everybody will admit it or not. i agree with you about religion being a man-made concept. they are incredibly dogmatic, intolerant (most are, but not all--those ones tend to be eastern religions, like buddhism) and easy to manipulate. i think in a lot of cases, it has done more harm. and now if we were to heal all the damage, it would take until the end of time.