I am 45 years old and have travelled the world, so I feel qualified to say that religious people are generally

Question

much less moral than non-religious people. They tend to base their lives on ignorant, outdated beliefs that only cause problems when applied to the real world. I think if we could get rid of all religion, the world would be a much better and happier place. What do you think?

Answer 1

Well, since you ask what I think, I say that comunists tried to do that for 80 years, and masons before them. Masons said that with the guts of the last Pope they would hang the last king.
Nowadays, in the third millenium, XXI century, kings have almost disappeared ( no great loss ) , comunists have been overthrown almost everywhere, masons are not important anymore, but the Church is still there. By the way, it is my experience that nonreligious people are superstitious.
Leonid Breznev, ruler of the soviet union, read the horoscope. He had his own people for that.
Hitler had somebody to read the cards for him. Comunists "consult" fortune tellers, card readers, and other similar. fidel kastro has its own witch doctors. I could go on, but it would be a long list.
Personally, I consider superstitions a rather backwards belief, but I am sure that you don't

Answer 2

You asked what I think, so please don't be offended. I think your idea of ridding the world of religion is absolutely ridiculous. Ridding the world of religion is, essentially, ridding the world of God, which is not possible because God is everywhere...
You stereotype religious people, but can you stereotype religion? I think it's safe to say that most religions are built on morality... and while the people may stray, the religion will not because it is a belief and is unchanging.
There are plenty of other 45-year olds who have traveled the world and who feel qualified to say without a doubt that religious people are more moral than non-religious people.
Apparently, you are experienced and have evidence or experience to back up your assumption... but they do, too. So you're faced w/ the question, what made your conclusions different?
I hate to be one of those people who makes you mad, or makes you laugh, or whatever b/c I tell you I'll pray for you. But I have to tell you that b/c I will be praying for you... I want you to be able to experience the relationship I have with God. It's absolutely amazing.
Oh! one more thing - abt the world being a much better & happier place w/o religion. Since you've traveled the world I hope you've had the opportunity to see an African tribe singing praises to the Lord and dancing... they look like the happiest people on earth when they do that. I'm kind of awed by it. What effect did it have on you?
Good luck in the future

Answer 3

I totally agree with you that religious people are less moral and cause more problems.

I guess I have a tough time with the idea of taking away something that may comfort people. I mean, for all the crap that religions produce, there are at least *some* things that make life more livable. Take the idea of Heaven, for instance. Believing in heaven can make it easier to psychologically deal with one's own death. I wouldn't want to take that from someone.

No, I think that religions are managed by terrible, miserable people who are horribly irresponsible. Evangelical Christians are basically a pawn of the Republican party. It's disgusting.

I wish there was a way to keep the nice things and discard the ugly things about religion. Maybe promoting the idea that religion is a metaphor and not absolute truth will help. It may shatter faiths (something that doesn't make me lose any sleep, believe me) but it will at least allow people to have the same kind of belief that one does while watching a TV show. No, the actors are not literally their characters. No, the show isn't literally what the plot says. I think it's ok to visit fantasyland as long as it's only a visit and you know the difference between reality and fantasy.

Answer 4

I'm only 27, have travelled the world and have already come to the exact same conclusion.
Maintaining and perpetuating antiquated religious beliefs is not qualitatively different than teaching children in school the world is still flat. This ignorance and simplistic ideology is counter-productive at best and serves no purpose in the real world, I agree.

I am reminded of something I once read. I cannot recall who the author was but the statement was this:

"Religion is doing what you are told no matter what is right. Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told."

Answer 5

Most religions are totally wrong in their beliefs. That is what makes many people reject religion. I am very religious but I believe my religion is right. It seems logical to me and it seems to answer all the tough questions about life, such as: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? How was I made? What is reality? What will happen in the future? Are ghosts real? Is there other intelligent life in the universe? What happens when you die? What are spirits? Why to they exist? Where do they exist? Why do so many bad things happen? What makes true happiness? What is the meaning of life? How can I be happy? Will I ever be truly happy? What is true love? Where did all of the things that I see around me come from? Who are aliens? What could cause crop circles? What could UFO's be? What is the paranormal all about? What is the occult all about? Why are there so many religions in the world? How old is the earth? What is in the unseen world? Is this all there is? etc.

I feel very sorry for all the people around me every day who do NOT have these answers that I have. And they don't seem to want to know what I know. At least on Y/A I can answer some of these questions for people.

Answer 6

While I largely agree with you, I'm not certain that if we irradicate religion it will improve morality. There are those among the religious who see the threat of God's anger as a restraining element in their behavioral choices. Just because someone gives up religion does not logically mean they will automatically make more moral choices.

I'm more interested in the seeming fact that atheism is a philosophical stance that is held PRIMARILY by an intellectually elite component of the population. This may have an impact on the behavioral limits also shown by atheists.

Answer 7

There is always a negative and a positive side to everything. When you find a fake dollar note on the floor, it does not mean that you will need to eradicate all the monies in the world to make the place look right. Happiness is very much in your head and determined by self - the world has no control over it.

Answer 8

People misinterpret religious ideas. Most of it is about loving one another, feeding the hungry, helping the poor, etc. It's human nature that turns it into an excuse for killing homosexuals or bombing the world trade centers. As a follower of Christianity for the last 14 years, I admit that Christians have done some rotten things in the past, but that's not God's fault. It's the people.

Answer 9

For me, it is organized or revealed religion that is the problem. When a group of people get together and form a belief system, corruption, hypocrisy and lemming-like behavior tend to follow. They are willingly segregated by their beliefs and to me, segregation is never a good thing.

Remember the whole Jim Bakker debacle? My grandmother used to send them money on a regular basis. That whole thing broke her heart, but it broke her heart because she chose to blindly believe that a preacher would never do anything wrong on purpose. Bakker counted on thousands of people just like her to simply follow along on the ride, while he got rich, and he wasn't disappointed. I believe when people feel they've got God on their side, and thousands in their congregation to back them up, it is easy to fall into self-righteousness and rationalization.

Answer 10

I am 52 years old and have also traveled the world, my experience is that people are people, good bad and indifferent, and that religion doesn't really make a difference. I greedy or brutal person will be who he is regardless, if he's religious he might use that as an excuse, if he's not he'll pick something else, either way it's the person, not the excuse.