A few questions for Atheist, and religious people.?

Question

For my fellow atheist/non believers out there why do you insist that the world would be a better place without religion?

We all know the reasons for war and conflicts are from human nature itself not influenced by religion. Power, greed, ignorance and differences make people hate each other.

Why do religious people insist that the world would be horrible without THEIR religion?

Modern religion has only been around for a roughly 2000 years and mighty civilization (Romans, Greeks, Persian, Egyptians, Aztecs, Mayans and many, many more) have always been around and faced the same problems that we do. Even with the appearance of Jesus Christ, Mohammad and other religious figureheads there is still crime, famine, and wars still being fought.

How would the world be different, with or without religion?

I personally believe it would be exactly the same, as long as humans are alive the world will have conflicts because everyone is different.

Thinking shouldn't be a crime. If people don't think they would be more like animals.

Answer 1

You make an excellent point. Those of us that believe know that one day we will see a better more perfect place without the hatred and violence. It's called having faith and hope.

Answer 2

But there is a base cause for most of the conflicts in the past and today, beliefs. A better word for it is religion. Humans have killed each other for thousands of years because one group of people tried to force their beliefs on the other group. A conflict always arose.

Even in the Greek days and Roman days, wars were fought for their Gods. Believing that what they were doing was the will of God. Which sounds alot like today and what Muslim Facism is doing in the world. Just look back at 14th century christians. Lots of people were put to death in the "name" of God.

The world would be a better place if we embraced our diversity. And what is diversity but basicly a celebration of differences. Religion gets in the way of that. Religion inhibits believers from understanding and accepting of the truth. A truth that has been slowly revealed by Science.

Answer 3

One chinese philosopher Meng Zi once said ' Man in inherently evil, it is through laws and regulations do they live in peace'

The world was chaotic when the founders of the religions started out. Because without fear of retribution, people grew violent and wars were rampant due to the greed of man.

Through religion,the fear of the afterlife and divine punishment struck the hearts of people. The most petty crime would be re-considered and even the most dastardly criminal have to think about their future.

Although it is also true that many people used religion as an excuse to start conflicts for petty gains, there are more people who used religion for good as well. Its just that conflicts have more impact than good deeds

It is only now, when people are more civilised that the need of religion becomes more redundant. However, for religion to be removed, the greed and selfishness of man would again once rise, as it had in the past. As an atheist, although i don't buy into the God thing, i still see religion as a necessary thing for society to function well

Answer 4

You are partly right,we will always have differences and therefore conflict. But why keep around another clear source of conflict. One of the societies you mention was in fact essentially wiped out by another of the societies you mentioned partly on religious grounds,powerful people like the Queen of Spain wanting to spread her empire(yes greed) and using the spread of Catholicism to do it,thus bringing a greater force to fight with her in essence. Religion may often not be the direct cause,although it has been at times,but it is most definitely another way to rally forces that might not otherwise come together. In short why keep around one of the most divisive societal structures when they give no benefit to offset the damage they do.

Answer 5

Perhaps they would put emphasis on what they observe rather than what they think. Of course people do that with and without religion. Religion is a part of humanity and the negative affects of religion come out of a human tendency that transcends religion: The tendency to become comfortable in a trend or a tradition, any perticular style of thinking. When a human being takes this on they become exclusive, sometimes to the point of being militant which is where we find many of the negative aspects of religion.

If man gets rid of religion he'll just make it again.

Almost all religions work toward a relative goal and that goal is to transcend the ego so that the ego does not cut reality out of the picture. On the way however the ego may take over the religious practice and through the religion do the exact opposite of what religion was designed to do: become a part of the ego. When something becomes part of our ego there's a tendency to always see whatever it is our ego has taken over in a way that is subjective and subject to our inclinations and thus our perceptions of reality become merely subjections of our egos. So from this state we can only relate to people who have our same subjective perspectives. When you see things from the basis of reality, you can usually relate to anyone, so you could guess that when people are screaming for your blood there's not a lot of empathy for you there and thus they're not inclined to your views or the validity of your experiences which in most cases causes conflict.

It's quite perculiar how something designed to allow the ego to perceive beyond itself can be taken over by the ego and produce such negative results but I still think there's a place for it because it gives the individual the opportunity to liberate themselves from their own perceptions of reality and may well give them the freedom to move freely throughout it. That said, the best way to protect ourselves from individuals and groups that become corrupt on their ways is to maintain a seperation between governements and the religions practiced within that nation.

Answer 6

I am agnostic, and although I do not believe in God, necessarily, I think we do need to realize that a lot of people need something to believe in, no matter how unlikely that belief may be. Whatever a war may be about, religion is always somehow brought into it, so as much as we may say that religion has nothing to do with war, religion always does have something to do with it. Every human needs something to believe in, because without faith, many would be lost.

Answer 7

When Adam and Eve sinned, the perfect world
in which humans live in turned imperfect, that
is why this human world will always have in-
perfections. Religion is a path in which the
humans of this world when dead will become a
Spirit and be amongst other spirits in another
world which is called heaven. So in order to
be in heaven you have to believe in God and
to do that as a human here on this earth one
has to do his works and believe..

Answer 8

Religion is just another way of seperating, and using power to control the masses. Most people want to belong to something, want to believe in something. So they chose a faith, or are raised on a faith, in hopes of an afterlife, or something better than their lousy life on earth.
Religion is just another way of controling the masses. Power struggles. Yeah, I do believe the struggles would exist anyway. But religion is one of the biggest ëxcuses"for it. Of course I don't have to list any particulars...like the Middle East.

Answer 9

u think too much