Today I've seen questions with these links:
http://www.battlecry.com
http://www.holycrusade.net
It seems that some religious believers equate mere disagreement with armed conflict. Someone disagrees with us! Time to fight!
What happened to plain old discussion and logical persuasion? What happened to letting someone be when you can't come to a common conclusion?
I look at the violence in the world, see web sites like this and I conclude that the world would be much better off without religion.
2007-12-20 04:52:00 · 10 answers · asked by DogmaBites 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Samar,
I'm not sure if you are being funny or trying to make a serious point.
I don't feel the need to physically fight you if you disagree. I would fight for my freedom of belief, but not for any specific conclusion. Fighting wouldn't change the conclusion - the most it can do is force people to hide it.
osborne_pkg,
I'm sorry, I wasn't clear. I don't think religion is the cause of all war - of course limited resources would still be a problem. I just think it is a part of war, it often defines the us vs. the them. I think it helps encourage war by saying those other people are horribly wrong and evil.
Ye Olde Canadian,
I'm not saying things would be perfect or that there are no other causes for war. Religion should be able to stand on its own. When a set of idea so easily divides people, is it helping or hurting? If you have a problem with democracy dividing people and ecouraging war, that is another question which you are free to ask.
2007-12-20 05:13:07 · update #1
chersa,
I'm not talking about forcing anyone to not believe. I'm simply questioning the value of religion.
Agellius CM,
I'm not talking about not having any military, just pointing out that religion seems to, in some cases, push for war.
2007-12-20 05:13:26 · update #2
Are you willing to fight for your conclusion?
2007-12-20 04:56:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
Battle Cry is obviously using the word "battle" as an analogy; they're not talking about physical combat, they're talking about spiritual warfare, i.e. fighting evil influences. The Crusade one sounds a little nutty, but every religion contains nuts. That doesn't make the religion bad.
In any case, the world is a violent place. As much as you or I might like to rely on discussion and persuasion, our enemies might not always agree with that. If you take a totally pacifistic outlook on life, you're liable to get your butt kicked and your country taken over.
2007-12-20 13:07:29 · answer #2 · answered by Agellius CM 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
religion causes many wars because it blinds it's people. people justify starting wars w/ religion as their justification. i still think so many things would have happened regardless of relgion though.
ex, 9/11 attacks would have happened but the hijackers could not ahve justified their actions to themselves by claiming jihad. i know jihad can be interpreted in more than one way, but we have to understand that the hijackers did believe the interpretation that they would go to heaven for doing their actions.
they still would have done it w/o religion because it's a power struggle. the country is poorer and that is why they would still have a hatred toward the US for being prosperous (prosperous bullies, i might add)
religion is like the lighthouse effect. it does make a lot of problems but it is deterring a lot more than people can imagine. the risk of abolishing it is too great.
2007-12-20 17:44:47 · answer #3 · answered by lol 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because religious people are a bunch of bloodthirsty semi-barbaric animals.
Their quest for violence has existed throughout human history.
With the fall of the Roman Empire, the librarian of Alexandria was pulled off her carriage and skinned alive. Literacy dropped. Even the Pope had to have the Bible read to him. In the first crusade, Christians killed tens of thousands of people they called "infidels". The Children's Crusade (1212) caused the deaths of nearly 50,000 children. Preachers sentenced to death and executed thousands during the Inquisition (1233-1834) for heresy and witchcraft. There were the Salem witch trials (1692) in America. The 17th Century Thirty Years War (Catholics v. protestants) wiped out tens of millions in Europe. In the Taiping Rebellion in China in the 1850's a Christian cult started a war that resulted in the slaughter of twenty million people. In the Holocaust six million Jews were murdered. Muslims and Christians in Bosnia reached a death toll of over 250,000.
See what I mean?
2007-12-20 12:58:47 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Go to another country.
Be Happy that in America we have freedom of religion.
Don't want to ide the world of religion. Rid the world of not letting people believe what they want to believe,
When their right to believe in whatever religion is taken, they become obcessive...
Rid the world of taking people's rights away
2007-12-20 13:03:17 · answer #5 · answered by chersa 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Spiritual battle against rampant immorality in the world, media, Internet etc.?
You know, some people's hypocrisy astounds me. How many people have died "in the name of democracy"?
By your logic, we should also rid the world of all political ideologies.
2007-12-20 13:01:08 · answer #6 · answered by CanadianFundamentalist 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because religions were created by men and are implemented by men. And the end justifies the means.
2007-12-20 13:10:06 · answer #7 · answered by irmanrosario 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
So you actually believe that if there was no religion, there would have never been a war? That mankind wouldn't just find any excuse to kill each other (as we do now)?
Wow. I wish I could be that ...innocent.
2007-12-20 12:59:12 · answer #8 · answered by osborne_pkg 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Some people mistake their personal opinion with "divine truth."
Therefore people who disagree aren't simply stating another opinion, they are minions of satan.
2007-12-20 12:58:44 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It isn't the religion; it is the people in the religion.
2007-12-20 12:58:35 · answer #10 · answered by Fallen 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋