Would the world be peaceful without religion?

Question

Or would people just be more honest about what they fight over? ie. Land, oil, food, domination etc?

Answer 1

No there wouldn't be world peace.... but a lot less fighitng.

Answer 2

The easy answer would be "yes", though that's not necessarily the truest, most complete answer. While many wars have been fought over religion, and many smaller battles, there is almost always some deeper reason (or at least a parallel reason): sometimes land, sometimes resources, sometimes power, sometimes money. Without religion as a scapegoat, people would just be a bit more open about what they're fighting about.

But the abolition of religion certainly wouldn't hurt ;0)

Answer 3

God taught this world is not his domain but rather the domain of Satan. Most wars are governments fighting against each other. It is rare to see religious leaders in war. My war is not a battle of flesh and blood but of powers and principalities.Is the current administration of the United States in a holy war? No Bush may claim Christianity but his war is not a Christian war. He calls it a War on terror which would mean he intends to stop terrorist attacks which has nothing to do with religion. Just because warring countries do not share the same religion does not make them at war because of religion. Many countries that share the same religious beliefs can have disagreements that lead to war. Consider the civil war both sides worshiped the same God.

Answer 4

I am surprised at the stupidity of the answers so far. The answer is NO. Religion provides a good excuse for war, but it is very rarely the reason. Scarcity of economic resources is by far the most common - even dumb animals will fight each other over such a thing, so why not humans? They are just better adept at making good excuses to do so in a "civilized" fashion.

Answer 5

I believe the problem lies in attempts to mix fundamentalist forms of any religion with politics and social policy. However, I also believe that the abandonment of our traditional Judaeo-Christian roots has created a corrupt, intolerant, materialistic society where women are treated badly and cannot be mothers and men cannot take on their traditional roles as providers, caretakers and protectors. I do not tolerate any kind of intolerance. I do not look down at anyone of any race, religion, gender, sexuality, class or anything. We simply do not have a value system anymore. Who is paying for it? The kids. They have nothing to rely on. No foundation. Look at what the society and media has taught them and it is reinforced by neglectful parents and a lousy education system that doesn't build character or even teach the basics. They also don't get a lot in terms of art, a knowledge of history, literary skills, math skills and opportunities for music, drama and recreation.

Answer 6

Religion somehow helps God in reaching millions of people to spread His teachings whether they are good or bad witnesses.
Some kind of delegations of duties. Religion helps discipline, structure society to best attitude and worship to God than no values to maintain at all. That geared towards peace of self, family, city, country, continent and will affect the world. If without ideals, belief, common knowledge and grounds...do we have peaceful world like now?...except to small groups of terrorrist or group of religion that stir, shakes, destroys peace of the world. At least they can be controlled now... What if the whole world has no God to control everyones anger, no religion to control anger & hatred of the majority of the world...do you think you can still relax, shop, eat well, do shopping and travels the whole world?

When a religion go over God`s teaching due to their pride/ego/ideals/principles/ambitions/desires/destructions/ and all winning (no matter what happens)...actually they don`t function as religion (for God)... but very much influenced by evil.

Don`t wish for Godless, lawless and soul-less world...or it is useless to be born in this world.
Be grateful to God...and Be blessed!!!

Answer 7

religion is used as a pretext for war.

The actual reason are power and money as well as the reasons you mentioned.

Do you think the Roman empire said gee lets show people the light of our pathion. Of course not. They simply wanted power and glory.

Answer 8

Can we enumerate wars that are cause by religion? Hardly.
Jihad? Maybe, it is a holy war for the sake of the Islam faith.
Christianity? No it isn't the cause of war, but the people behind Christianity make decisions to wage war.
People choose to justify their actions by twisting the Bible.
Christianity gave us these commandments:
"Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you..."¹
" But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head"²
"Love your neighbors as yourself"³

then came up with canons and guns toward the enemies?

I say if these commandments are being followed by everyone, instant world peace is at hand.
However, most historical wars are not cause by religion. World wars 1 & 2 are great example. Hitler killed millions not because of his religion, but because of his convictions.

Answer 9

Ask Pol Pot. Religion is a scape goat for you progressive thinkers who can't understand the real cause of strife.

There were no school massacres before the ban on prayer.

Answer 10

The world would be a lot less peaceful without religion.

.

Answer 11

No, the problem is egoism. Religion - at least the dogmatic, intolerant, parochial kind - is just one manifestation of that. By egoism, I mean the sense of separate identity that leads to selfishness. As long as there are separate selves competing for love, resources, and security, there will be war.