Do you think the world could be a much more peaceful place without religion?

Question

And let me tell you I am an athiest and have very established morals and love for all life. It takes a very brilliant mind to entertain a though without fully accepting it.

Not just war people...Think on a smaller scale...Like people from all backgrounds getting along.

Answer 1

It would be a more peaceful world if we, as a planet weren't a bunch of Egotists. "The world would be better if everyone believed what I believe." Sure, more peaceful, but we'd all be drones. Variety is the spice of life, and that's what bigots, and religious zealots just don't get. (I include atheism in this. I've met some darned pushy atheists who degrade everyone who's "Stupid enough to fall for that religion crap" Nobody knows for sure what happens after we die, and as afterlife can neither be proved nor disproved, they all end up looking like angry little people)


One more thing. I seriously fear the people who use the moral compass defense. If you NEED religion to tell you the difference between right and wrong, you may need more help than Yahoo Answers can give. People know the difference between right and wrong. It’s simple- if you wouldn’t want it done to you, don’t do it. I should think people would be MORE afraid to kill others, because it’s not like you’re sending them to the afterlife. It’d be like taking this one chance in all eternity to live and feel, and crushing it. Then wasting your OWN one chance rotting in a prison cell or being executed yourself.

Answer 2

Not at all. None of the major wars of the 20th century were caused by religion yet it was the bloodiest ever including Stalin (an atheist) wiping out people in the millions.

Well that really is the problem with atheism isnt it? Not that some atheists choose to be moral, but inherantly it provides no objective foundation for morality whatsoever. Any atheist Ive ever talked to on this subject at length eventually admits that he or she believes that morality is subjective because the bottom line is they are forced to say that morality comes from humans and not a transcendent being. If morality comes from humans, then there is nothing objective about it!

If I tell you that an apple is red, grows on trees, is a type of fruit, and grown in Washington, Ive told you a set of objective statements about an apple. These have nothing to do with how anybody personally feels about apples nor did I have a hand in determining these facts. Now if I tell you I dont like eating apples but my brother does, I didnt really tell you anything about apples, only about me and my brother.

So invariably any answer you get from atheists is going to be just that, SUBJECTIVE. They will say "well I believe doing this is good for this reason" and "well I dont believe in that so much." A subjective moral viewpoint tells you so much about the person but it doesnt tell you squat about morality itself nor clearly objectively defines what is RIGHT or WRONG. Therefore what Hitler did wasnt WRONG, you just happen to disagree with it!

Answer 3

No. Religion is just an excuse. If it was not existent, people would fight over other things. Besides, real religious wars are rather rare . . . usually there is something else at stake (usually oil these days) and religions is just used to rally the people to the cause and make it seem just. Kind of like saying you are fighting a war for freedom or democracy. Its just propaganda to get people behind an immoral cause. Communists, Nazis and others managed to do plenty of damage without traditional religion.

Answer 4

possibly...yet without religon the international must be lost and there must be no genuine goverment. and finally some guy ought to come alongside and performance an fairly sturdy existence tale and all and numerous will start up worshiping him. then no you'll be lost and they could have a fairly sturdy theory the position they're going. yet definite maximum wars are all started via religion, even if if i did not have religon then i must be totaly lost in existence and that i imagine that different wars ought to start up by lack of religon.

Answer 5

Yes I do in alot of ways. I am 23 years old and I come from a Christian family. I think alot of Christians and other people out there get toatally confused and argue with each other about religious matters. If America doesnt change for the good America will crumble. Do unto others as they would have do unto you. quoted by Jesus

Answer 6

Yes it will be, when Christ comes back to reign and rule the earth, during what's called the thousand year reign, or Millennial Reign of Christ! There will only be ONE faith or 'religion' if you will then, and that will be a form of 'Messianic Judaism'!!! With Jesus Christ Himself as the head of the faith!!!PTL
No more Judaism, Christianity with it's many divisions, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other manmade faith! Our Judeo/Christian faith will come directly and 'inerrantly' from our Lord and Savior Jesus during those thousand years, which start soon after the time of Jacob's trouble spoken about in the book of Jeremiah 30:6-9!

Answer 7

It's us. We made religion. If it were swept away, we'd do it again. It's part of an instinct we have pertaining to family and tribe. Part of our survival as a species is due to our habit of banding together into groups, so that the young, old and weak can be cared for. It has obvious advantages, but it is the author of the us vs. them mentality.

Answer 8

yes...look at nature, it has survived eons without religion. Man is the only animal on the planet not to give back anything to nature and actually believes that WE didn't come from nature. So techiqually the world would be a much more peaceful place without MAN. (but we can't help the evolutionary cycle)

Answer 9

I think the world would be a much better place if people actually practiced their religion and didn't use it for justifications to power except to the power of god.

Answer 10

Anyone that says religion is the cause of most wars is out of touch with real history.

ISM - is the result of wars and death.

Look at communism - the largest scale slaughter of innocent.
Nazism - mass slaughter of innocent
Look at the Iran/Iraq war - not over religion as you have two Islamic nations.

manISM is responsible for war. Now, go read a history book. Any one will do.