What do you think of this quote ...?

Question

"There will always be good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil, that takes religion." Noble prize-winning physicist Stephen Weinberg

Answer 1

So religion can make a good person become bad? I don't think so. I think when people do evil things in the name of religion, it's because they were already so inclined to hate and feel animosity towards others. They just misused religion to justify their hate by saying that "god" wanted them to hate.

Having said that, there are some times when belief, blind belief can be a terrible thing. But I would call that cult behavior rather than religious behavior. To me that is the difference between a religion and a cult. Cults control their members and teach them to follow blindly.

Answer 2

To a degree, I agree. Too much rigidity is Evil at it's finest. True spirituality is living a life free of guilt, knowing you are doing your very best with what you have today, not looking back, but moving forward. If people cloud the vision that you have set for yourself, then you need to examine who those people are and if you really find them a necessary part of your life today.
Doing good means to live and let live, in peace and understanding that we are all very different. It is the over-zealous "religious fanatics" who have created some of the most heinous & evil acts. Those are the people who need to quit toting the bible and live life in the now.

Answer 3

the truly religous people really get a bad rap and don't do evil. It is the ones who try to intimidate others into fearing God, but they are no better or worse than the ones who criticise religion. The FACT of the matter is this. If thier were more truly religous people in the world thier would be way less murder, rape,poverty, war and so on.

Answer 4

I think it applies in some situations, like the Crusades, or the Sunni/Shiite killings. But people will always have weakness. It isn't always organized religion that drives them to the breaking point. A soldier who kills a civilian, a parent who kills a child, a person who does something evil under duress because his family is being threatened -- none of those people were driven to their deeds by religion.

Answer 5

It's because religion is bad since it gives so many rules such as don't dress like this to Church. Don't eat this, don't shave etc. Some people become so religious they say you will go to hell for things that are not even in the commandments. The only thing God asks from us is to believe his son died on the cross and follow him. I and many other christians say to people (my belief is) not (my religion is.)

Answer 6

That is a interesting quote. The bible states of something called Babylon the great. Through study you could say Babylon is called the harlot, which means it is religion and it mingles like a harlot with governments, and yes since they are under Satan's control, his quote would be true.

Answer 7

here is a quote for u "with out any evil there cant be good so it must be good to be bad sometimes" - south park
evil was invented by the church to emphasise bad.

Answer 8

I tend to agree, but it's quite the generalization, which is typical of someone who is a noted *physicist*, not *philosopher*.

Answer 9

The quote amplifies the truth that "religion is politicised spirituality," which is quite different from God worship.

Answer 10

No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness,
the good he seeks.
Shelley