What would the world be like without religion?

Question

What would the world be like if we didn't segregate ourselves by religious belief.

I said religion not implying the non-existence of God.

Answer 1

Wow...i'm glad you asked this question and I got to see all the answers of a lot of the people who reponded first. I'm a Christian, and having read these answers I realize now how truly idealistic and, I dare say, naive the anti-religious folks are and I feel like I understand them a little better for it. They honestly seem to believe that, without religion, people would be full of love, tolerance and altruism. How I wish they were right ! Unfortunately, I don't think they are. And while I am in total agreement that the misinterpretation of religion or, more often, the ABUSE of religion to justify cruelty to other human beings is an absolute fact, I see many more instances of people doing compassionate and charitable things in the name of religion than I see the abuses mentioned before. (You just don't hear about them, because they don't make good news stories!) People will always find reasons to hate others, and people will always find reasons to love others. To be truly enlightened, we MUST stop broad brush categorization of "what kinds of people" do bad things, whether we base it on religion, race, culture, or whatever.

Oh, but to answer the question (d-uh....sorry) I think the world would be somewhat worse off without faith. I think to some degree, "healthy" religious faith (as opposed to fanaticism) makes the already compassionate people even MORE powerful, by putting them in fellowship with other good people to do good works. But as said before, religion can be used by the "bad" people to "justify" the bad things they do. Hopefully, however, in at least some cases, hard hearts are softened by God's love. So I think the "net" effect of religion in the world is positive.

Answer 2

Not sure if it would exist. Remember.."In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". Everything was created by God. So without religion, the world would not exist.

Answer 3

Alot less Bible thumpers on street corners. Alot less wasting time for a non-existant afterlife. Few to no wars or disagreements. Alot more bandwidth on the internet once you get rid of all the evangelical websites. Baseball players no longer pointing to the sky after hitting a home run. No more people telling other people they'll be tortured forever by their god for not following a certain set of beliefs. No more radicals blowing themselves and others up. I could go on and on and on, but I'm sure you get the point.

Answer 4

How do you define religion?

Religion is the way we conduct ourselves. There will always be a conduct of some type, therefore always a religion.

For instance, a society founded on genocide, slavery, theft, or lying; while claiming the divne right of manifest destiny, demonstrates its religion.

Answer 5

I believe that without religion the world would be devode of hope and purpose. Although having religious factions that fight over doctrines and ideals brings much sorrow to the world (which is not something that makes God happy), it does give mankind something to strive for.

If you say that you can have a whole world with a belief in God, but without any organized religion, I would have to disagree. The tendency of humans is to search out others that believe like them and form groups. This is why religion is inevitable and it helps people to find identity within their beliefs.

I think that our goal should be not to eliminate religion, but to find the true religion and base our lives not on that particular religion, but the truth that is included in that religion.

Religion can save no one in and of itself, but it can lead us and support us throughout this life in living according to principles that God has set forth and defined as righteousness.

Answer 6

"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religions in it." - John Adams

Until we put humanity as our #1 priority, instead of invisible friends, we will never have a chance at world peace.

Answer 7

It would be better. Most of this war started by religious beliefs.

Answer 8

Then "Don Quijote de la Mancha" wouldn't be the second most read book in the world.

Answer 9

There would be less wars for sure or perhaps they will just be fought for other reasons. And I think people would be a lot happier because religionists wouldn't have anything to prove and atheists wouldn't have anything to disprove.

Answer 10

The world would be wonderful without phony religious freaks....