Why does religion make people behave so badly?

Question

I thought you were supposted to be nonjudgemental, support fellowship and so on if you truly are following your religion. Why are so many people on here answering these questions in such negative ways. People will never agree on one relgion I don't think that was the way it was ment to be. Don't you think if God/Allah/etc... wanted there to be only one religion he would have made the world that way. I know you will say that it is because of Satan that there are so many differing views but really think about it before you answer. These discussions on here are showing how screwed up everyone really is. Don't judge one another, discuss, be open minded and try to understand eachother before you attack. You might learn something. Knowledge is the key. You can not trully make judgement if you don't have all the information and no one person could possibly know that much. Please do you homework learn about all the religions in this world before you attack someone.

Answer 1

The question is simple, the answer complicated. The Bible, (Koran, Torah) is written by man, inspired by God. We all want to do good things and do right by others and we all make mistakes trying to do these things. People on the whole let personal biases get in their way of taking the correct action and find a verse to prove they are correct and the other is wrong. It is a matter of interpretation. Centuries ago many things were black and white, you lived or died. Life was harsh and uncompromising and the wrong choice could cost you your life and the lives of the ones you loved. Strict rules were required for survival.

The world has changed, but our psyche has not. We still allow the dust mote in our eye, our avarice and our greed to get in the way and we try to legitimize our actions by using verses from the Holy books (generally taken out of context).

It is my opinion that the Holy books were written using past actions as examples of the harsh life these people led. It does not mean that we have to take those same measures today. Storms and earthquakes were seen as God's wrath and anger with His people, but today we know it is the earth's shifting tectonic plates and our atmosphere moving and changing. It doesn't mean we should go and make war on our enemies.

It must be remembered that those who wrote parts of the Holy Books were human and sometimes put down their own personal opinions along with the inspired words.

It is my belief that some of 'God's Law" was the writer's opinion. I believe we have the right to protect ourselves and not have to die so someone else may have salvation.

People do show "how screwed up" their interpretations are of the Bible. You are correct in that "Knowledge is the key".

At this point in time there is no resolution to be seen and we all need to be tolerant. God is all things to all people and we see only a fraction of the whole picture. I think you gave good advice in the explanation of your question.

Answer 2

People who purport to be Christian should act Christ-like - but often we don't - we fall short of that ideal. That is not an excuse for bad behavior, just an explanation.

As far as whether God would have made the world with one religion, it's called free will. God gave us a great gift - we are able to make choices in this life. It is amazing, when you think on it. But there is a major difference between Christianity and all other religions. Christianity is God reaching down to mankind with a free gift - salvation through Jesus. Every other religion is man trying to reach God or godhood through good deed, works, being a good person, doing prescribed things (like praying 5 times a day or knocking on someone's door to convert them).

Judging should be left up to God. However, if asked, I will answer, to the best of my ability, the truth. The truth is that there is only one way to God - through Jesus.

As far as attacking - not a good thing. It is just mean and belittles others. We should reach out in love. However, that does not mean being a door-mat!

Answer 3

A person's behavior is not based on his religion. We are all sinners - Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, etc. A Catholic sinner is not different from a Muslim sinner. We all behave the way we do because of family,friends, society in general and the education we attained.
As for judging others, well, even in Jesus' time they are there...always. Judgmental people abound...only in a perfect world will they be a thing of the past.

Answer 4

Physical pain exists for a reason. It is a biological function that lets us know not to stick our hand in the fire as well as lingering so that injuries can heal without being overworked.

Without the sensation of pain, we would not learn what is dangerous to our lives and quickly die. The rare few that are born without pain receptors continue to smash their fingers, not attend to deep cuts, and ignore broken bones because they never learn what is dangerous.

Take that same idea and apply it to life. If there was something that took away all your "sins" so that no matter what you did, you never really learned what was inappropriate, you would continue to do bad things. Organized religion gives everyone an excuse to justify ANY action, no matter how vile.

"My children have been posessed and God told me to kill them!"

"The infidels must be destroyed! It is the will of Allah!"

"Now that you all have your new sneakers, enjoy the Kool-Aid!"

Would any of these statements come from sane people with normal moral decency? Of course not, but in each case you can see how the speaker is passing off their atrocities on their deity instead of personally accepting the consequences of their actions.

I'm not saying every religious person is bad, mind you. It's just in my experience the non-religious are more willing to take responsibility for themselves rather than simply repenting.

Answer 5

People who claim to be christian act that way because Satan has taken control of the church and they dont even know. They believe what the preacher says and dont take the time to look for themselves and they what they are learning is not right. People have got to realize that Satan controls the mind. I mean take a look at christians these days....they all profess to be loving, kind, and understanding, but we are a world of lying, violence, and confusion. Satan is the author of confusion and the father of lies. I just wish people could come together to realize what is really going on before its too late. If you agree let's talk. [e-mail]

Answer 6

Basically it all comes down to free will, which is a gift from God. That's why Adam and Eve were banished because they exercised their free will. So you see it is not religion that makes people behave badly, its people. People utilizing their free will, making uninformed decisions with out thinking of the consequences. You have the right to use your free will, but what everyone forgets is that you should use it intelligently!

Answer 7

It's not religion that makes people act badly. Its the people themselves. (I think all those judging and condemning others would probably do the same without a religion to fall back on)

Answer 8

undesirable behaviour is relative. what's perfect one position would no longer be another position. As for morality, that does no longer inevitably have something to do with faith. i will admit some do skew their faith to justify their habit. i in my opinion do not believe that any of the religions began out as violent as some were or are growing.

Answer 9

I do, I did. I don't like guys who do 9 year old girls, maybe YOU do, but I don't. If not, then let's let ALL guys do 9 year old girls and up, right!

I don't believe in wife beating, but some religions HAVE IT IN THEIR "good books" that you CAN BEAT YOUR WIFE. Maybe you like that idea. Let's make it a world wide law. WIFE BEATING IS OK TO DO.

Maybe YOU need to take the blinders off and read these books.

Or maybe we need to liberalize the world. Let all men marry 9 year olds without restrictions, stop call it GROSS.

Mick Jagger, age 55, marries super model age 25 and everyone calls it GROSS some religious guy marries 9 year old and people call it RELIGION BASHING when you talk against it.

Talk about being two faced in this world!

What's GOOD for ONE is GOOD FOR ALL. You can't say ONE OLD GUY is allowed to marry a 9 year old BUT NO ONE ELSE CAN.

That's upsetting to people. That extends undue privillages and rights.

You put people in jail for having sex with 9, 10, 11 year olds but you PRAISE one old guy because he's a religious leader for doing the same thing!

Boy, talk about value systems in the world!

We're supposed to be TOLERANT about this. Well, then, let's be TOLERANT about everyone who has sex with young children!

You're either FOR or AGAINST sex with children. Make up your mind, World! You can't say ONE GUY can do it freely, but NO ONE ELSE can!

I will not praise such a man nor do I find it cool that 1.5 billion others DO praise him! That bothers my sensibilities as a HUMAN.

Answer 10

The Christian is not "judging others" but simply telling the world of God’s judgment —that God (not the Christian) has judged all the world as being guilty before Him (Romans 3:19,23). Jesus was able to offer that woman forgiveness for her sin, be-cause He was on His way to die on the cross for her. She acknowledged Him as "Lord," but He still told her, "Go, and sin no more." If she didn’t repent, she would perish.