Atheists (both principled and practical): Do you believe the world would be "better"...?

Question

... if people didn't believe in "God"?

Let me start by saying that I don't believe that most conflicts in history that have been attributed to religion are truly about religion; religion is often a scapegoat for political and other idealogical conflicts including territorial expansion.

Mushy: An excellent point. I had my blinders on, thinking of only the leaders. The people often follow (including soldiers) because they believe they are doing right with their religious beliefs.

Answer 1

The world would be better if people who do believe wouldn't impose their will on non-believers, and people of other faiths.

Common courtesy, compassion, and a healthy dose of respect would go a long way, too.

Answer 2

The problems with God believing are several. One of the biggest is that when people think they have the absolute final Truth they get very worried whenever it is challenged and as a result start burning everybody who thinks differently than their group does as Heretics.
God beliefs are religions, whether you like it or not, and they not only start wars but they make wars worse if they can.
Just look at how religion has involved itself in the wars in the middle east. Even when Bush was trying to cool the religious overtones he was making references to it as a Crusade and to it being the will of God. You can add to that all of the fundamentalist Televangelists calling for a Holy War as well.
I am sorry to say that the history of religion has always been horribly bloody wars and outright terrorism.
If you have any doubts maybe you should be busy reading the old testament and the history of the christian church after Constantine made it the official religion of Rome.
You might like to look up what Dominionism is and what Theocracy is about.

Answer 3

I believe the world would be better if people didn't believe in man made religions. People could still believe in God, but we can't possibly know anything about such a creature, so religions are absolutely silly. The lack of religion would make the world a better place because people wouldn't have that excuse or the guilt. It's really the negative effect religion has on individuals that would be abated. Any positive effects of religion can be found through other means.

Answer 4

Some hypothetical you have there. I don't know the answer, to be honest. I will grant you, that those who wish to blame faith for a large part of the world suffering are misunderstanding the nature of human conflict.

I do think it is better for people to have an adaptable understanding of reality rather than a set of immutable beliefs.

Answer 5

I don't happen to believe that religion is only a scapegoat. Religion is always at the bottom of the conflicts. Fighting over territory is always about keeping "the others" out.

In answer to your first question...yes.

atheist

Answer 6

Unsure about this one. I do strongly think that the world would be better if religious beliefs and morality was not legislated. I also strongly belief that some of the conflicts would be adverted or at least fought over the true reasons.

Answer 7

Frankly, yes. Most conflicts in history were really about the wealthy and powerful maintaining or increasing wealth and power. However, they would not have been able to accomplish this without the useful tool of religion.

Answer 8

Most definitely.

The World Trade Center would still stand, and all those people inside it would still be alive.

Considering how few non-believers are in prison, our streets and homes would be much safer.

Our decisions and morality would be based on questions like, "Will this increase or decrease the amount of suffering in the world?," rather than, "Is this what a bunch of Bronze Age goatherders would tell us to do?"

Answer 9

I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say that I think that the world would be better off if people didn't believe in God. And the reason for this is simply that I view religion and belief in God as superstition. It's like...what would you think if you noticed large groups of people living their lives believing in good and evil fairies, and they spent time doing things that they thought would please those fairies, and they passed judgment on others based on what they think the fairies would think? I just don't think that living your life filled with superstition is a good thing, at all. It clouds the mind, and makes it virtually impossible to see things from a clear and objective point of view. It's not that I think that all people who believe in God are nasty, judgmental people, it's just that I think that they're not using their own natural ability to think and make decisions to their full potential, when they take the possible opinion of a mystical, magical, invisible, super-being into account, that they believe is going to damn them for all eternity if they stray ever-so-slightly from whatever ancient religious literature they think was dictated by that being. I also see that they tend not to give themselves enough credit when I see them ask things like "If you don't believe in God, where do you get your morals? Why don't you kill and steal?" It's like they think that they would be completely unable to figure out how to live decent lives by themselves. I think we need to trust in OURSELVES more, and not rely on believing that invisible, mystical beings are our only source of intelligence and morals. Superstition holds up progress. Superstition holds up your ability to think and reason clearly.

Answer 10

You are quite wrong. Many people truly believe they are doing god's work when murdering people of other religions. It's the religious leaders who benefit from the power/money/land gained.