By Removing Religion, Politics And Greed From The Equation Would You Agree...?

Question

That most people we’ve met face to face are basically pretty decent people just trying to get by and pay their bills and raise their families like everyone else?

That life is hard enough without the stigma of religious or political pressures and we can use all the support we can get?

That most people will lend us a helping hand if we're willing to do the same for them?

That we find decency by looking for it, just as we fine corruption by looking for it?

(Most here means 'most'. Not all. You can be both an idealist and a realist.)

This is being posted with an apology to 'Lean On Me.' She'll understand why.

Some interesting and well thoughtout replies but I'm not asking if it's possible or not here. I'm asking what you would find out about your fellow man if ...

Most of you can't seem to get past the 'it will never happen' mindset long enough to actually read and understand and reply to the actual question. Try it this way: What is, or would be, your personal experiences with others on a one on one bases without RP&G as an obvious factor?

Answer 1

Good morning, Doc. They try to remove religion and politics from the work place, but employment is all about getting your share of the pie.

Let's dissect this and figure out what would be involved in removing each of the three, and what we would have left. Religion is, believe it or not, the easiest of the three to remove. Religion is the belief in things for which there is no proof. It started out as politics, being a contest for popularity between story tellers, but has developed into being a contest of being the most fevered advocate for a particular story. The problematic part of religion occurs when people use their religion as an excuse to harm others.

So, instead of "remove all religion from the world", let's instead reduce all religious beliefs to a reasonable level of educated agnosticism, where nobody is so egotistically firm in their belief to use it as a motivating factor. This would, in effect, remove religion from "the equasion".

The primary problem with religion is that it is ubiquitous and, as such, people tend to grandfather it against rules of sensible argument and civil behavior. Trying to impose such rules on religion tends to result in holy wars, and it's just not worth the effort. It's very, very rude to question someone's religion, but it's socially acceptable to use religion as a criterion for exclusion, or to use it as an indicator that some unspeakable acts must be going on in the background. I'd like to reference the FOX news segment where they were talking about a few atheists who were driven out of their community for their lack of beliefs. They invited a group of three commentators, most of whom insisted that we live in a Christian nation, and that they should just suck it up and live with it. This is national TV and they're making statements for which if they were talking about racial differences they would quickly be fired. Just calling someone an "atheist" is enough to bring up images in some peoples minds of dancing naked in the woods around a fire. It would be nice to see that kind of bias go away.

Politics is different. Politics is ubiquitous as a contest for social favor. We can't eliminate politics without eliminating our competitive nature, and eliminating our competitive nature would result in people who are largely ineffectual, and would get stomped by the next person who feels like taking advantage of them.

If you're talking "partisanism", then this is a little more reasonable. People associate with a single party, and then do their darndest to completely forget everything they know about what makes a qualified candidate in order to promote their party of choice. This is awesome for people who don't want to think, but still want to present a seemingly knowledgeable opinion. Getting rid of ALL politics, though, wouldn't be an improvement.

Getting rid of greed is similarly problematic. Greed could be operatively defined as "those parts of other people's self-interest that we feel impinges upon our self-interest." If we could teach everyone how to exactly measure their self interest and stop it before it impinges upon other people's self interest, that would be a great thing, but I don't actually know anyone who is capable of that.

So "greed" only really exists in its most horrible forms, where people break obvious rules for their own gain. Everything else is just a negotiation for a larger chunk of the resources, see:politics. You might as well say "get rid of cheating", but that has similar limitations due to subjectivity.

BUT, to avoid the "it'll never happen" thing, if you could find a way to make everybody cognizant of how much their self-interest is harming and impacting others and they all have a willingness to actually act to avoid harming others, then it would be a great and wonderful thing and we would enjoy a rain of skittles and joy and all would be a magnificent wonderful world.

Answer 2

I can understand taking out Religion and Politics, those two are institutions, but greed simply cannot be taken out. I apologize if I skew your question but let's distinguish some things here.

We do not find what we do not seek for, that much is true. Some people are willing to seek for what they don't want in order to get what they do want. The robber who pulled a gun on the clerk at the local gas station may be trying to feed his children, but the method in which he does it is not correct. I'm sure there's many a utilitarianist that would see this differently.

Humans are distracted. The buzz of life is a distraction in it of itself, and while I'd like to agree with you that most humans would lend a helping hand, I cannot because I have not seen it. I cannot picture what it would be like if everyone at least had an inkling of selflessness that would stir the majority to do a good work pro bono.

So in short, I do not agree, but I think this is a great question nevertheless.

Answer 3

And I do it every day... because I 'choose' to be happy. I live in an area where nothing is "normal" and everything's "different." Kindness and fairness are very disarming.. not to mention, contagious.. and most will respond the same way. If you honor and celebrate people for their heartbeats and smiles... and not take up issue with what 'flow' they embrace.. it becomes much more fun. Why opt for divisive? If we applied the broadest principles of the 'Veil of Ignorance' .. the world would be a better place. Most people are good.. with the given that we're all on some sliding scale of 'insecure,' people are people... and are just seeking ways to 'hang on' and 'belong' in this madness called 'civilization.'

Answer 4

I think the equation is Religion, Politics, Greed and selfishness. You don't have one with out other most of the time. Those wonderful people sometime help for pure selfishness that beget greed and so on.

We know that the "equation" will not go away and it is true that if we don't want to be around these types we don't have too. The only problem I see is the effect of the equation on us that is harder to get away from when the Politics get to going we get caught in the middle.

What fine place it would be. It still can be. I just hope it is not to be in other words this place can't get better.

Live long and free

Answer 5

I don't think you can remove those things, as they are part of the human experience.

Even though politics often seem deceitful and manipulative, they are just a means of making decisions in human society. If we were a small group of apes, there would be some sort of hierarchy involved so that decisions could be made. Families have politics, so do offices -- the most important thing is to make responsible choices.

Greed is a matter of perspective. Philosophers often debate over whether all actions that provide a positive benefit for the actor are selfish. I don't think it is necessarily greedy to derive benefit from your actions. It is greedy to take so much that there is not any left for others.

Religion is something that can motivate negative and positive actions. It is part of all cultures, and seems to form on its own as an comfort and explanation for life events. I, for one, think that if we removed everything that fits into the category of religion, which is difficult to define, we would end up with people doing negative and positive things anyway.

You can't remove politics or religion from human life, these are things that we create to structure our lives. It would be just as difficult to remove the concept of the family or love. So, to answer the question, I think it would not help to remove these things from the equation.

Answer 6

Well Doc, if I am going for the ideal, would it not be better to just have these institutions working in the ideal? Although religion may have twisted the message that was intended, if working with the correct message in the ideal format it would be a wonderful tool for teaching basic ethics to our children, as well as giving hope & some insight to this place we call the world. If politics worked in the ideal we would actually have a goverment run by the people, for the people, & actually helpful to the people. Maybe we could achieve the ideal by just removing greed. Just a thought.
(((HUG)))

Answer 7

On the surface this seems OK. But you can't remove the three things you want to. Greed runs this country! People are good at hiding their real agenda. I have lived in all but 5 states & found some places much more welcoming, however,
one of your three always seems to come up, usually sooner then later. So how can you really answer this as it never occurs.

Answer 8

Removing the Symptoms (Religion.Politics,and Greed) from the equation would not help. You have to remove the Disease (Satan), because he has made people what they are.

EDIT.....Wow!!! "4 thumbs down" God and the devil had a conversation.The devil said people believe in God only when life is good for them.When things turn bad,they cease to believe in God.God therefore ,allowed the devil one century to exercise an extended power over the world,and the devil chose the twentieth century.Today,as we can see all around us, everyone is dissatisfied,they cannot abide each other.Examples are the number of divorces and abortions.Open your eyes and look at the world around you.Satan's 100 year rein has expired but he still has many followers.People have turned their backs on God.Time is running out and if people do not leave Satan and return to God it will be too late.

Answer 9

One of the smartest people I have ever known had only two years of formal schooling due to a war that was both sectarian and geopolitical. She said, "The trouble with religions is that they have a name."

Answer 10

No government in the world is willing to commit suicide.

The democracies will continue to promote institutionalized religion and the state, and the non-democracies the state alone.

Only thing that can be done is to remain unaffected by wearing the impermeable coat of free-thinking and non-attachment.