A question for non-believers?

Question

Do you really think that religion is evil and must be fought at all costs or is it just not for you and to each thier own? I can not believe in any type of God myself, but if it brings peace to someone else, good for them.Yes there will always be some people who take things too far, but the same could be said of some fanatical athiest.
Basically I am just trying to say that peace should be our number one goal no matter what we believe. If someone feels their religion brings peace to them is there a valid argument for disturbing that peace?

Answer 1

Ding Ding Ding! You've won the Worldly Grand Prize!
(No Offense meant!)

In all honesty, This is the goal of all of mankind! This is where & how the wise and mature live their lives! Glad to see you have an understanding as well!

Star for you!

(P.S. Funny how some of the answers given will still try and convince others that "their" belief is the best belief; or that any other belief, but their own, is a dumb belief. Guess that just enhances your question and your wisdom by your true understanding. Kudos!)

Answer 2

I don't think that religion must be fought at all costs.

However, I do think that believers are not very good at judging when they have taken things too far. For example, do you remember when the Pope said something negative about Islam, and was lambasted for it? Did you know that at the same time, and regularly since then, he has made comments to the effect that the world's problems can be attributed to "secularism", yet there has been no public outcry at all? When he says that, he is engaging in bigoted hate speech, yet I suspect that believers don't even notice that fact.

Furthermore, whatever "fanatical atheism" problem we may have is absolutely insignificant, while the "fanatical believer" problem is among the most serious faced by society.

I do think that your last sentence is insightful, and I agree - but again, within limits. As Mark Twain said (I think - mighta been Will Rogers), "Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins".

Answer 3

Religion isn't evil per se, but it is counterproductive to human progress and that precious "free will" that many believers proclaim.

EVERY religion's writings were created by people and are intended to control people. That's a dangerous situation because so many of us really, really intelligent reasoning beings seem to accept them without question; even defend them without logic.

So ... religion need not be fought, especially at all costs. But ... any religious fanatics bending religion to their own supremacistic purposes must be.

And you're right. There can be fanatical atheists, but they are really something more complicated than just an atheist.They will have other issues.

A true atheist just doesn't believe in god. No more, no less.

.

Answer 4

Religious beliefs were the cause of and/or the justification for:

* The Spanish Inquisition
* The Crusades
* The Divine Rights of Kings
* Witch Trials in Europe and America
* The perpetuation of Slavery
* The Dehumanization of other religion's believers (and non-believers)
* The Subjugation of Women
* The Refusal of some parents to give medical treatment to their children, relying instead on payers and faith-healers
* The decades of violence between Jews and Moslems in the Middle East
* The decades of violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland
* Capital Crimes against Women's Health Centers
* The 9-11 tragedy (a true faith-based act) and the subsequent War on Terror
* The Suppression of Science, and indeed the suppression of reason itself. *

If that's not evil... I don't know what is. Religion ought to be abolished or else our species will most certainly die out.

And disturbing their peace? Yes... it is a COMFORTING DELUSION but a delusion nonetheless. Delusions are dangerous and harmful no matter which way you slice it.

Answer 5

Given the fact that a child will act in ways that are reflective of the way the parent behaves and most Christians act like children when it comes to God I see the religion as dangerous.
If a person can find a way to justify torture to someone else do you seriously think we can have peace with that around?

Yes religion must be fought! Common sense must win out over religious insanity!

Answer 6

That is the problem though. Religion does not bring peace. Religion causes strife, it promotes ignorance, it promotes bigotry and sexism. Not just Xians or Muslims but all religious people are encouraged to live in a fantasy world. We need to promote reason, rational thinking, logic. Those are the things that will bring peace, not imaginary friends.

Answer 7

i am not a believer or a non believer. i am somewhere in the middle. i dont have a problem with religion and dont argue that there is or is not a God. I even care enough to capitalize the word God. lol. I went to religion school for 9 years cause my mom made me when i was younger to get my communion and confirmation and all that. Basically after 9 years of it, i still just dont really care that much. i hope there is a God and i hope there is a heaven but i cannot stand when people try to force religion on me and tell me that God is in charge of everything and blah blah blah. I am in charge of me, God or no God. end of story. It's not about believing in a God, but having faith that there is something out there. Out of all the religions on Earth, most of them are wrong if any are right. Chances are yours is not the right one, or mine, or his, etc. I dont know if this really answered your question or not but it is what i was thinking at this particular moment.

Answer 8

I do think religion is detrimental in that it promotes faith, which is of course never a good thing. I don't think people should be left alone to their faith just because it makes people peaceful. There are many ways to be peaceful and adjusted WITHOUT resorting to faith, and we shouldn't let people wallow in irrationality for the mere reason that they haven't found a better way to live.

Faith is totally without redeeming value. It is dangerous. It is not a valid epistemological procedure and should not be regarded as a trustworthy method of ascertaining the truth value in any claim or concept. Faith allows for dogmatic certainty in the absence of and sometimes in spite of justification and reason, and I think we can all agree that we don't need MORE rampant, stubborn irrationality in the world.

Answer 9

I wouldn't go so far as to call religion evil. However, I believe that organized religion is frequently used by evil people to do bad things. Most people are good people and I don't have a problem with them or what they believe in. It is only when people use religion to try to impose their beliefs on the rest of us that I have a problem. To be honest I miss the days when people's religion was a private matter between them and their God and not a basis for extremist to use as a call to political action.

Answer 10

If you're talking about ORGANIZED religion, that's quite different from somebody's personal beliefs. Personal beliefs might indeed bring somebody peace (false peace based on lies and myths, but whatever...). That's fine.
But organized religion is indeed a scourge. Organized religion takes the "peace and love" message of much religious philosophy and turns it into "us vs. them" mentality. Organized religion has been the cause of more death, war, destruction, hatred, and violence in the world's history than any other single thing.
Organized religion wants to legislate its doctrine into law, replace science teaching in schools with fairy-tale teaching; it promotes hatred of all those who do not believe as it does; it collects vast sums of money under false pretenses from its "believers" to finance political agendas, extravagant lifestyles for its leaders, and financing of the spreading of its message of hatred around the world.
All in the name of its "god."

I know many *individuals* that are christians, buddhists, muslims, etc. -- who are fine, tolerant, generous people, are truly my friends, and with whom I will happily share this world.
I can't say the same about one single organized religion. They take individual faith and turn it into crusades. The world would be a much better place if none of them existed.

Peace.