why is there so much evil in the world?

Question

i say the root of evil is religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Root_of_All_Evil%3F
http://www.workersliberty.org/node/5468

no one bull s me about me not knowing anything about religion... i was forced to go to church 3 times a week and read the bible until i was old enough to have a choice... it is sad that religion is forced on people it is EVIL

for example most of the wars are between religions... and terroist attack as you people call them thats there fuc king religion to do that!!
rid the world of religon to make the world a more peacefull place

Answer 1

People don't go to Allah and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world. If people had complete faith in religion following all the beliefs purely from the heart, Allah would surely be by each persons side helping them out.

Religion may be the root, as there are so many religions in todays world which has too many contradicting issues. This can cause problems. But my advise to you is why bother with your religion if it is being forced upon? There is no point to it. Religion is a spiritual experience that should be felt within the heart!

But overall... I think the root to evil is not about religion. It is about people themselves and how they go about in this world. It is about the personalities of each person.

Answer 2

Because for the moment satan rules this world and all who refuse Jesus do exactly as satan. They make themselves his children, even his slaves in sin, wickedness, greed and perversion. The hearts of men are bent towards wickedness and the only thing that can come close to changing that is believing on Jesus and doing His will, something most people will never do as they find this concept odious.

Be aware, evil is growing in strength right now, which is a sign that Jesus will return soon. Don't be caught on satans side when Jesus returns, the consequences are terrible and eternal!

Answer 3

The root of evil is Satan, and those who misbehave are doing what he wants, not what you should be doing. The root of evil is not religion, as not every ones religion is the same. Christianity and the Jewish religion are, on the whole, a peaceful religion, who, as time has gone by, have grown up and started to look at things differently.

Answer 4

Religious beliefs can certainly lead to extreme behavior. But the reason why the world tends to be so evil is because people are basically evil in their hearts.

From their callous hearts comes iniquity ; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. -Psalm 73:7

People are religious because that is how God made them. But if denying God was the answer to becoming a better person then atheists would have demonstrated superior morality. In fact we see many times in history when tyrant atheists have rose to power committed mass genocide and stripped away peoples lives.

Look, if people truly believe in God, they should know they are accountable for their actions. If they are accountable for their actions, they should become better people. So you see, religion encourages good behavior. You'll notice in the Bible that Jesus never advocates evil. In fact, he came to free you from it!

Answer 5

We have the gift of choice. Think about it - have you ever gotten so mad you wanted to do something terrible? But then you made the choice to not act on it and push it out of your mind. Yet others choose to act upon it. An then each choice has conseqences that bring on the next choice.

From a christian point of view (I am NOT religious, there is a difference). God gave us the ability to make decisions. Since we are all inherently sinful, somebody is going to make the bad choice. God allows these things to happen because he gave us choice. Our decisions either lead us to Him or away. But we are the reason there is so much evil in the world from the choices we make.

Answer 6

Without our interpretation of "evil" we could not recognize our interpretation of "good". Without the balance of chaos with a touch of evil, we risk becoming complacent and morally stagnant.

I disagree that religion is the root of evil. A great percentage of the population seems to have a genetic tendency to need to believe in religion/spirituality. As any religion strays from its purpose, i.e. "saving" people by influencing a shared broad moral system, to controlling people by defining an antagonistic absolutist moral system, "evil" creeps in.

Don't blame the pragmatics and the pious, blame the zealots and extremists for they are the ones screwing it up for everyone else.

Answer 7

Religion is not evil. Power and greed is the root. Many people will say this. Evil leaders do bad things to gain power and money. Hitler did not kill 6 million Jews because he thought he was doing God and thought he was being religious. What about Stalin, who was an athiest? He was also an evil man, though not quite as bad as Hitler. He ordered people to be killed so he could gain money and power. What about Kim Jong II? He is not religious to my knowledge and he is a bad person. Osama bin Laden claims he is religious, but he does not follow the Quran, according to many Muslims and a program on the History Channel. The History Channel says that the Quran is a peaceful book and that bin Laden improvises phrases he reads on tv or he does not read the peaceful part of the passage. Historians can prove this because some of them on tv said they have read the whole passages and they read it on tv. Greed is one of the Seven Sins in the Christian religion. It is the reason why so many people love and value life and are not depressed. God is the reason why the world is not in more madness than it is in. He is an inspiration to many. If you ask any priest they will agree with this excellent point of why there is evil. If you had a child, if you do not already, would you mollycoddle your child all the time? What happens if he wanted to skateboard? Skateboard could injure him, but you know he enjoys it, so you would probably let him do it. You would let him learn from his mistakes. You see, God wants us to learn from our mistakes, mistakes which we do not learn from. During the Cold War, the United States funded evil, ruthless rulers as a quick fix to get rid of communism. We funded the terrorist organization Contras in the 80's to try to free our hostages in Iran. This incident is called the Iran-Contra scandal. We have never learned from our mistakes, which is why terrorists are attacking us and some people from other countries hate us. If you tried to attack someone, would God throw you back? No. He would let you attack that person and learn the consequences of it and you would learn not to do it next time. Soem people, such as terrorists, do not learn from their mistakes either. Basically, not many people learn from all their mistakes. Also, God was not driving the plane that crashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11 or the person who dentonated the bomb in your country. Humans were responsible for those incidents, not God. I hope you see what I am saying and think about it.

Answer 8

There is so much evil in the world because people do not "love all, forgive all, show mercy, judge no-one." The only way to cure this is to get as many people as possible into The Kingdom of God where The Holy Spirit can change them.

Answer 9

People sometimes do good things. The same people sometimes do bad things. Almost everyone does a mixture of the two. Religion is just a concept people use to justify their own behaviour or to comdemn that of others.

Neither god or satan exist. Just part of a terrifying story.

Answer 10

Apparently you've never read many religious writings. The root of all evil is in the actions of man contrary to the teachings of God. You can believe otherwise, but you're only missing the obvous.