Does religion hinder further social development?

Question

From telling people that it is wrong to be gay or have sex outside of marriage, is religion hindering peoples ability to become more tolerant in today's society?

Having a child outside of marriage doesn'tmake you a bad person, neither does being attracted to the opposite sex.

The social stigma attached to both stems from religious teachings and where I believe that some of these teachings give us good moral guidance others are just simply out dated.

We live in a societly where we shouldn't be afraid to live how we want and express our own ideas etc and not worry about being shunned by the God fearing community.

If people want to believe in what their religion teaches then that's upto them, why do they insist on telling the rest of us that we'll be damned to hell for the things they don't agree with?

Answer 1

All religions teach a set of values and I agree with you that many of those values are necessary for any civilised society. Tolerance of others' beliefs and values ought to be the at the top of any list of such values - sadly it is not.

Answer 2

Religion was developed to actually control the masses over all and to regulate person addiction for the good of society on a whole. No Religion as a whole does not effect the development of social development as most religions of the free world are tolerating the social change. The personal religions opposition you are seeing in the free world is the fear of contaminating the believers young from the main core of the flock. This is fear of things to come on the behalf of the religion believers. The only religion in the world today that is a threat to social development is Islamic religion expanding into the free worlds, country and forcing their religion on others by intimidation and threats of dead. Convert or die. Then that is the main Threat of this religion on the social development.

Answer 3

" Belief kills and belief cures" Some church people have issues. Some church people are genuine in their preachings about God. The issue about having a child out of marriage is a touchy subject. The bible says that the act is the sin not the child, so attaching a stigma to a person who has a child out of wedlock is ludicrous!! This is the time that the church should rally around them and give them support. Jesus did not ostracise Mary( the prostitute) but instead he sent her on her way to sin no more. Persons in this day and age should come up with a more sutler approach if they want to convert someone into their congregation.

Answer 4

Actually most religions are about tolerance and about allowing others to express themselves as they wish, e.g. Buddhism is a very tolerant religion. However all the 'rules' of religion really reflect the age in which they were created. Much of christianity reflects a time when men were powerful and women were inferior, hence you cannot have women priests, etc. Because the social make-up of society has changed, should religious rules change to reflect that? Well, if the religion wishes to continue to attract and retain followers then, clearly, it needs to reflect modern society and encompass modern behaviour.

Answer 5

I'm not a religious person myself, but I ahve seen cases on TV where people (children especially) are cut off from the rest of society, so this may have an impact on their social skills, and they may not be as tolerant as others in society. Personally speaking, I think we would all be a lot better off without religion, but, of course, you believe what you want to believe.

Answer 6

The answer has to be yes... nothing good comes from marginalising and excluding minorities. Peace in our future has to come through better understanding and social integration rather than the outdated and questionable models of the world promoted by most organised religions. What we all need is more love and less intolerance! xxx

Answer 7

If people don't listen to you when you feel (know) your right, how frustrating is that?

For many their organised religion brings feelings of certainty in a very uncertain world. People who do not adhere to that believers view or exist regardless, knock the foundations away from them and their back to being scared.

When people are scared they tend to attack. Everything you've said I agree with; problem is I think we're in a minority.

Answer 8

I have to agree that religious fanaticism does hinder social development-Barring state lotteries to fund education; Keeping 'Dry' counties which in turn forces people to buy from surrounding counties and thus taking away money and taxes from the very community in which they reside; Violating the Constitution by forcing children to recite the work 'God' in public schools while singing the Pledge of Allegiance;
Extreme Liberals also hinder our country and social development-The Democrats love for terrorists and defense of their 'rights'; Hillary Clinton's defense of torturers and murderers during her college years,( http://www.top10weasels.com/hitlery02.htm ); The allowing of children to be adopted by Homosexuals because 'they too want to raise children' and traumatizing the innocent kids; Hindering our countries' efforts to rid itself of it's enemies; Creating a politically 'correct' environment which only stalls progress and reverses discrimination.

All extremes are bad for our country.

Answer 9

i think i disagree with you... yes, sometimes it does happen, but on many occasions if you are the one to initiate a friendship with someone that is religious or has another religion than yourself, the friendship is not always ment to be doomed.... i have many friends that are muslim, christian, buddhist where i myself am an atheist and i tell them that from the beginning... and really none of us care about having different beliefs, maybe that's even what makes our friendships stronger... yes, sometimes we do quarrel about things like god, jesus, abortions, but all we do is state our points, not once have we said that either one of us are wrong.... so no, people are a lot more open minded than we think they are, no matter what or who they believe in....

Answer 10

Not nearly as much as political correctness does.

Seriously though if we learn from past mistakes in history we need to remember ancient Rome. If we compare and contrast our current lack or morality to Rome's decline, were are certainly doomed.


History is the great educator...we should not for get the past.