Are religious people a danger to society and human civilization? Does it need to be confronted?

Question

I'm thinking about the ancient greeks. When the christians took over europe and burned the library at Alexandria, western civilization was set back 1000 years. In fact, it was the rediscovery of ancient greek texts that set off the enlightenment, which religion fought vicously all the way.

Are we in danger of another "dark ages" (which I think would be better called "the age of christianity")? These are people's core beliefs. If people can believe in fairy tales, can they be led to believe anything, no matter how delusional?

Should the government should actively fight delusional thinking by people? Should schools teach athieism, to counter-act the teachings recieved by churches?

Rachel_y,
The last scientist to work at the library at Alexandria was a woman named Hypatia. A mob of christians tore off her clothes, and tore the flesh from her body. Here's a link:
http://physics.weber.edu/carroll/honors-time/cosmos.htm

Answer 1

Sorry... the government isn't going to do anything about that. There is only ONE admitted atheist in congress. Most of the administration positions are filled with 'dominionists' (you might want to 'google' that). They don't care about the burgeoning national debt.... because they think that Jesus is going to destroy the world, and there won't be anybody around to collect. They don't care about the environment or global warming... because when Jesus comes back (real soon), he's going to provide a NEW earth for the 'faithful'... and the rest of us are gonna burn. We have a president that thinks he's on a mission from god to set up the conditions here on earth that are prophecied to precede the return of Jesus... and that is what drives our foreign policy.

85% of the American population BELIEVES in this crap, to one degree or another. 85% of ANYTHING defines what is 'normal'. So... in the USA, delusion (a form of insanity) is NORMAL... and the inmates are running the asylum.

In other words... it's too late.

P,S.: the library at Alexandria was heavily damaged (accidentally) by Julius Ceasar. He replaced a lot of the destroyed documents, and the library was partially destroyed. The christians destroyed it later... but their rampage of destruction went FAR beyond the library at Alexandria...
http://www.askwhy.co.uk/christianity/0780Bookburning.php
.

Answer 2

I Agree, Society Does Suck! In fact It Really Sucks - But All One Can Do Is Just Go With The Flow, Or Anyone Not Following Gets Swiftly Brushed Underneath The Carpet. There Is So Much Sh*t Going On In Society It's Almost Hard Not To Care! But You Know What - How About We Just Think Of All The Deep Faults In Society As The Past And Our Own Individual Future As Hope. We Know Better Than Society, And Will Not Let It Simply Sweep Us Into The Corner! There Is So Much To Life, And Humans Are Not The Only Things On Earth. Think Positively In The Sense That You Are Outside That Dark Current In The River, You Do Know Better And Clearly There Are Others Like You Too. Just Carry On As If Life's All A Joke, We're All Just Another Ant On The Floor Or Shell On The Beach, And Aren't Any More Or Less Important Than Anyone Or Anything Else On This Planet - In This Infinitely Big Universe! So Laugh At Those Stupid Politicians Who Think Their So Important In Their Posh Clothing And Rich Cars, Or The Dumb People Around Who Can Never Look At The Big Picture In Life, Cause Their The Ones Wasting Their Lives As A Whole. So Laugh At Them!!!

Answer 3

Not sure how to answer this from the previous answers, as some of them are partly right and partly wrong answers - seriously, viking raids causing the dark ages?

Probably the best answer is yes and no, religion in of itself meets some people's need to believe in something greater than themselves and can help them to strive to better things. On the other hand, religious people tend to wish to force their morality on others through social/secular law, and tends at least in America, faster an astounding level of ignorance in the name of belief. A good example of this are question here that indicate that evolution is a theory and therefore not yet proven. There are a few "fringe" religions that discourage medical treatment.

All in all, I'm not convinced either way, but I'd say religion needs to take a hard look at the effect that it has on society and realize that that effect is not nearly as beneficial as it could/should be.

Answer 4

It is being confronted now. It may shock you to learn, but science is fast becoming the new religion. The masses will soon do away with traditional religion and leave their fate in the hands of science.

Science will reach a point when it implodes on itself. It will have to face up to the truth and speed of consciousness. This will cause an incredible rapture in humanity.

Talk of a New Age, of spiritual transformation and higher consciousness on earth, is exiting, absorbing and entertaining; but it is not the truth.

The never was and cannot be a new age of spiritual transformation. Nor is there a New Age for you, the man or woman reading this. The New Age movement is a delusion and any involvement in it or belief that it will assist you in your spiritual development will actually keep you from the truth.

You may have a good time, meet knowledgeable and nice people, learn new things and even witness magical effects. You may feel you are making progress. But you will still remain as you are - discussing the truth, believing in it, but not realising it.

New ages are simply successive civilisations, different ways and means of living; making life easier, more interesting and entertaining. New ages come and go, as the men and women who inhabit them come and go.

What comes and goes is not the truth. The truth is now. Now and always.

If there ever was an Atlantis, in which everyone communicated intuitively and travelled by instantaneous solar transport, it passed away into legend. If the New Age dream is ever realised and the people of the earth are united into one consciousness, that new civilisation will again produce just another way of living that will also pass away.

What has any Age, past or future, got to do with the good of you, the truth of you, this moment, now?

If there ever is a New Age, or ever was a Golden Age and if there is any truth in the New-ager or Atlantean, that truth is in man and woman now. The truth is that I who am reading this, here and now, am always what I am, irrespective of the time and the place. I go to sleep and I wake in the morning - the same 'I' ...I am here. I am staying. I am going. I am always something or other. I am always confirming what I am.

The circumstances I live in come and go, but I am always present. The comfort and convenience of living changes, but I who long for truth and love am always here, just the same. If I do not know this, here and now, something is amiss.

What is it? How could the truth, the reality of myself, be forgotten?

'I forget it because I am always remembering. I am always looking back, or looking forward. I am always dreaming, imagining, speculating, wishing...I have forgotten how to be what and where I am now.'

'I cannot just be here, now. It's boring. I'm restless. I get too unhappy without something to do. Please let me be distracted from my unhappiness. There must be something better, a better tomorrow. I will work towards it. I'll look forward to it.'
And that is the grand delusion of all times.

Answer 5

America's a pretty hopeless case. You can't effectively fight the majority when they are trained from birth not to question the very thing you are fighting against. I figure it's better to just jump ship to a non-retarded nation. The only thing I'll miss is the land. I couldn't give less of a damn about the people. Well, I'd miss some, but they'd all be leaving too.

And to answer the question directly: Yes, religion needs to be destroyed, but that isn't something that will happen for a very long time, if it ever does. We're a long way from the Overman.
http://www.stanford.edu/~pj97/Nietzsche.htm

Answer 6

I think you would appreciate a book that I have just started reading called "Are we Rome?"

It draws similarities between the US and ancient Rome and even covers the fall of the Roman empire and what would happen if the US were to have the same fate.

I personally believe that even Christian anti-intellectualism is not strong enough dismantle all of our great works in the field of science. Besides, everything is now documented far more heavily than they were in those times and burning one library is not going to destroy any form of knowledge for any longer than a few hours, and even then, it's only locally.

Answer 7

Here's a quote from Reverand Pat Robertson. You might remember he ran for President a few years back.

Pray to Yahweh, infallible white man who sits on a toilet-like White Throne of Judgment on a carpet of stars, defecating the unsaved into a swirling, fecal-stained porcelain portal to Hell, that the remaining liberal Supreme Court Justices – are of whom are old, feeble, and riddled with secret VD even Chinese whores don't get – all fall victim to sudden, career-ending, cranium-imploding brain aneurysms!

He also wants to nuke the State Department.

Can you truly believe the Republicans let him on the podium? And now our government gives Pat Robertson OUR tax money under the "faith-based initiatives".
This man and his religious organization is truly dangerous and using OUR tax money to further his agenda.

Answer 8

The library of Alexandria was destroyed in Caesar's conquest of 48 BC,78 years before Jesus began His ministry.The library could not have been destroyed by Christians,as Christianity was not in existence.
In the Dark Ages,it was actually the church that kept learning alive.They ran universities.
The government should have no part in actively fighting,any religion or secular philosophy.Private schools are free to teach what they want,so atheists are quite free to open a private school actively campaigning against Christianity.But public schools should not be teaching atheism to counter the churches,just as public school should not be teaching Christianity to counter atheist groups.
Public schools should be about reading,writing,science and mathematics,not pushing an agenda onto kids.

Answer 9

Yes, I do believe we are in danger to religions and I wish that there was no such thing as religions. People get absolutely crazy in the name of religion and in their mind the madness is 100% justified. The thing is though we can’t do exactly the thing we fear them doing, forcing them to stop through force, because that would create pretty much the same kind of chaos wouldn’t it? It would make us hypocrites. It would make us like them. So I think you have to let people believe whatever ridiculous garbage they want to believe but at the same time …

People should be allowed to be free as long as those freedoms don’t interfere with other peoples freedoms. I think religions should be kept completely out of politics because you and I both know that having religion in politics means that we are making hugely important decisions based on some pretend God.

Honestly though, what are you going to do? I understand why you would want religions gone but how do you go about doing that?

Answer 10

The library at Alexandria was burnt down accidentally by Julius Caesar, he was trying to burn the port of Egypt and the fire spread to the library. He said himself he regretted it.

The dark ages refer to the rise of the Vikings, they were killing everybody from Russia to Egypt including Christians.