What would the world be like if nobody believed in God?

Question

I have had my doubts at times. But when I think of where we get sense of right and wrong, and our ability to have selflless compassion for others, I think there must be a God. I would like your thoughts on where you think the human race would be if we never believed in a higher order to things.

Answer 1

If nobody believed in God, then psychopath Christians (and similar sects) would feel free to murder.

There is a question posed by some people on why people are moral. Some people are moral only because they fear retribution in life (the three-times rule) or in death (Heaven and Hell).

But, really, those people are not moral. They act moral only to avoid retribution. If that bit of coercion were removed, then they would act out on their urges.

I feel that would be a small percentage. Not all Christians (and similar sects) act the way they do out of fear. Many of them are inherently good people, and this goodness brought them to communities of other good people.

In general, someone so sociopathic to live within a society would be rooted out and removed. Religion can serve to keep those types of people in line, so we don't have to remove them.

Edit: As an excellent example of this, look at mortgagegirl101's answer, "[Rape, murder, and pedophilia] would be okay as there would be no conscience to guide us to police ourselves." Such an answer could only come from an amoral person, as her belief in a judgmental god is the only thing keeping her from committing atrocities. A truly moral person would not want to rape or murder regardless of a belief in God.

Edit: Jenn also believes that a belief in God is required in order to have "a sense of right or wrong or compassion." Despite the fact that godless people all over have a sense of right or wrong and also of compassion, this shows how Jenn views morality as a condition. It truly demonstrates the lack of morality of people when they say that morality exists only because of the stick.

Answer 2

That is where the rubber meets the road. What would happen, if mankind grew, without a superior creator? Well, we probably would of went into the industrial revolution quicker. I don't know, since it was religion that gave men chance to push for faster turnout. Science may of been a bit more studied. There was no fear of Church reprimand. Would we be a compassionate, understanding people. This is where I will turn away from the pack. If, in a world where there was a Godly influence, that world was hard and selfish, then if the governor was removed, the thing would go bad even faster, no? Religion does not cause disobedience. It shows it.

Answer 3

FIRST OF ALL: "
If nobody believed in God, then psychopath Christians would be free to murder. " that doesn't even make SENSE...cuz Christians wouldn't exist...

but the world would be a totally different place. we wouldn't have a sense of right or wrong...or compassion or any of that...some will argue that we'd have less war. i think that it's human nature to be violent, and without God, man would just find something else to kill each other over.

Answer 4

Our morals are already instilled in us. They're not from a god. Atheists aren't immoral people.

The world would be a whole heck lot better if people didn't believe in myths (including theism).

Albert Einstein: "If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."

Steven Weinberg: "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

Answer 5

Do you think that a belief in a god instills people with a sense of right and wrong that keeps them from killing, raping, waging war, beating one another senseless and burning witches at the stake?

Answer 6

There is a lot less crime and war in the world of Monkeys than there is in the world of human Christians...so I would thing it would be a better world.

If monkeys can figure out how to get along, then we should too.

Answer 7

Here's an interesting quote taken from "The God Delusion,"

"Imagine, with John Lennon, a world without religion. Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no witch-hunts, no Gunpowder Plot, no Indian partition, no Israeli/Palestinian wars, no Serb/Croat/Muslim massacres, no persecution of Jews as 'Christ-Killers', no Northern Ireland 'troubles', no 'honour killings', no shiny-suited bouffant-haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money ('God wants you to give till it hurts'). Imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public beheadings of blasphemers, no flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch of it."

Answer 8

What would it be like? Better.

The history of religion is rife with violence: the crusades, the inquisition, the Nazis, the KKK, Dennis Rader (the BTK serial killer), catholic pedophile priests, Israeli genocide of Palestinians, islamic terrorism, christian terrorism, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc....

And as for any and all scientific and social advances throughout history, they have ALL come by pushing back the influence of religion. For example, while it is true that most of the anti-slavery side were christians, ALL the jews, atheists, agnostics and others were anti-slavery; the pro-slavery side was 100% christian. The idea that any religion is a source of morality is laughable.

EVERY society that has made great social and legal strides was bereft of religion or extremist ideologies.


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Answer 9

There would be fewer wars, people would love eachother (and not just because God said to), and there would be fewer arguments on Yahoo Answers. It sounds wonderful but I don't think it'll ever happen.

Answer 10

Well, since only 4% of Sweden attends church, it would probably be like Sweden.

Which, by the way, is not currently experiencing a civil war.