How harmful is religion?

It has long occurred to me that some of the most hypocritical, judgemental, and maniacal behavior that humans are capable of is often done in the name of some god. Here we are in the year 2003, and our world is embroiled war, racism, and hatred, again (still). As it has been since the Crusades, The Inquisition, and the witch trials, religion is in the middle of today's atrocities. Is the human race ever going to grow up?

I understand that death is hard to accept. It would be great to meet some supernatural entity who could promise eternal life and thwart death itself (OK, not for me, really, but I can understand why other people would want that). But at what cost, this life lived for an afterlife? It seems that religion itself promotes racism. After all, if I'm praying to my god, and you're praying to a different god, there is an implication that someone has it wrong. Great! The war is built right in!

Why do we continue to tolerate people who want to tell us that we are all bad people, inherently evil, and doomed to burn for eternity? Talk about your depressing companions!

Wouldn't the world be a much better place if religion just went away? Imagine! People would have to do the right thing for the right reason! People would have to be moral because they understood why, not just because an invisible mean guy will light them on fire.

Am I the only person who sees how destructive and pedestrian religion really is for our planet? Am I the only person choking to death on the fumes of religious laws, religious money, religious politics, and religious fervor? Is there anything anyone is doing to remedy humanity's worst ailment?

 

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A philosopher is not allowed a religion.

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Religion provides society with some basic values and ethics.
Not all religions say that man is inherently evil.
However, I understand what you are saying and I agree with you to a certain extent.

 

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Somewhere between stabbing yourself in the hand with a shiv, and initiating a nuclear holocaust, lays religion.

 

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Yes. People like the writers Laurence Gardner, Michael Baigent, Ian Wilson and David Campbell. The Website on Rennes-le-Chateau.com offers many forums that try to dispel the myths of Jesus, and generally, all the myths of Xianity. Its an interesting website that focuses on the genealogy of Jesus' descendants and the lies told for centuries by the Roman Catholic Church to cover up the truth. I believe that the truth will come out in our lifetime. It is making great progress now as more lies are becoming uncovered. There's just too many educated people out there who are questioning Xianity and the Church. Also, historians and biographers are chronicaling the ancient history of Egypt on the Discovery and History Channels. The original Hebrews were Egyptians living in Egypt called the Tribe of Hibiru. So many of the names in the Bible like Mary, Martha, Joseph, Josephus, Jesus, Lazarus, etc. were all Egyptian titles, not Hebrew names! So, yes, there are lots of knowledgeable people out there trying to remedy humanity's worst ailment. I also believe those of us on this website who comment or refer to what other such groups are doing play a great part in this endeavor. More power to us all! The truth WILL set us FREE!

 

Religion is interesting in the least. Is in beneficial? I'm not sure. You are right with the points you made, but I have met a lot of religious people whom I envy. I wish I could just rock in a chair on the porch and be totally sure of what is to come. I wish I could feel at peace with my eyes closed all alone talking to "God" (I love putting God in quotation marks). I wish I could do that, but I'm glad I can't in a way.

I can see how religion came to be. It has always filled the gaps in our understanding. With each passing year I feel like we understand more and more as a race, but that does not mean that the average person even understands what an atom is. Religions still fills the gap that will never go away. That gap is called ignorance. Many people don't want to learn about the world around them or understand the universe. They are happy with mystical books from thousands of years ago, or with their own made up version of what they want religion to be.

It all comes back to my theory that "Heaven" (hee hee) is packed with people in that 80 and below IQ range. There are some exceptions, but that is who is there no matter which religion is correct.

I think it is plain to see that atheism is on the rise. It seems like younger people either don't care to think about religion or don't believe. Then again, maybe that is just what we young people do is question...

 

young

Why wouldn't a young person question everything???

It's clear that the old people have done a really great job! The world is in wonderful shape. The country is a shining beacon of hope. History reads like an inspirational novel. Obviously, the way things have been done for the last 2000 years is working wonderfully. We are all born into a beautiful world, where we can look to the status quo and our leaders for shining examples of all conduct.

If I were young, I'd be totally hopeful, optomistic, and inspired by this world.

Aren't you?

 

Re: young

*Sniff* *Sniff* I smell sarcasm. If not then you should bottle and sell that optomism. I don't think everyone shares your opinion. There have been some large wars in our past that never seem to have a break between them. We are destroying the environment and multiplying like bunnies in a world that is too crowded in all the good places to live already.

History books may read like an inspiration novel in parts, but history does not.

 

ummm...yeah

OK

I don't mean to be rude, ectro, but how high are you right now?

Yes, that was sarcastic. Our leaders are not leaders at all. Their example is deplorable. I try to avoid hitting people over the head with rhetoric, but since you asked:

Naked aggression and brute force are the most respected ideas of the 21st century.

Humankind is so far from realizing its potential that we may actually be guilty of atavism. Time, after all, is a measurable factor, and we seem to be immune to it (thanks to religion, I think)

We are sexually repressed and immature, emotionally retarded and abusive, inherently dependent and fearful, and spiritually......ignorant.

If I remove my clothes and hug the Earth in gratitude, I will go to the asylum.

If I remove my humanity and begin using my intellect to manipulate and exploit my fellow man at every turn afforded, I will go to "the top".

We are so fucked, it isn't funny.

 

Re: ummm...yeah

It's hard to tell. Some people actually like the world they live in. I for one agree with society about the naked field hugging though.

We as a race are still young and change is happening faster than ever. There is no getting past the fact that we are animals though. There will always be a form of violence and someone will always be exploited no matter how far we advance. After all, if there was no one stepping on the little guy movies would suck. How would Lifetime get any viewers?

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I think exploitation is blown out of purportion. If I can sell my designer waffles for a 5000% markup I am not exploiting anything but consumer idiocy. Sure there are better examples, but most of the time these things are harmless.

Could you elaborate on Spiritually ignorant? I would like to know if I fall in to that category.

 

not in the dictionary, ectropic

I don't want to assess any individual spirituality, indirectly or otherwise.

Your waffles aren't being sold to starving people, are they? In court, the concept of intent goes far. Any idiot can stick feathers on a mouse and sell it as a peacock. Exploitation involves the abuse of intuition, priveledged information, or faith. Exploitation involves being ahead of coincidence, taking advantage of an opportunity to do good by doing the opposite. Chasing an ambulance.

If there are any universal truths to be found amongst human pardigms, then spiritual ignorance would be an assault on those truths. Using a time machine to go back and kill Lao Tzu, or burning every copy of the Iliad in existence. Those would be acts of spiritual ignorance. I feel we do these things daily as a culture and a race. Killing every member of an undiscovered species, etc.

Yeah, things are great here.

 

Violence is not in any of the law. Jesus said "love your neighbor as you love yourself". You are inaccuratly portraying a religion based on a few misguided actions.

 

HA! I think it's the other way around, buddy. You're inaccurately portraying religion based on one misguided prophet! Wars are ALL OVER THE PLACE in the Bible, and the things your church(s) have done in the name of your god and Jesus and Muhammed are reprehensible and unforgivable. And they still go on today: The way homosexuals are treated, the way science is abused and raped by Intelligent Design advocates, Terrorism, the middle east crisis. And the thing in the middle east has been going on FOREVER. The bible takes place there, why don't you read it sometime?

And now, Christianity and Islam are in a Jihad. And as a result, Islam will be destroyed, mark my words, and it will costs millions of innocent lives on both sides. Thanks, religion.

JD

 

While the crusades were a horrible thing, they were based on revenge. Islamic warlords had taken over spain and parts of Eurpope including the Byzantine empire. And there was a mosque built on top of the grave of John the Apostle. The wars in the old testament are only to illustrate how we should fight Satan forces. Also as was promised in Micah
"He will settle disputes among the nations, among the great powers near and far. They will hammer their swords into ploughs and their spears into pruning-knives. Nations will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again. Everyone will live in peace among his own vineyards and fig trees, and no one will make him afraid. The Lord Almighty has promised this." Micah 4:3-4

There is no sin without God.

Homosexuals are not treated in any way by the Catholic Church. Yes the homosexual act is a mortal sin, but the church does not treat homosexuals any different than they would tread adultry or porno dealers.

Christians did not declare Jihad and only a small part of islam reconizes the call to Jihad. Also the only christian nation I can think of is the vatican.

 

I think religion is trying to do this!! I think religion is more than a fear of death. If there is more, then how can you close your eyes to it? I would say those who are not religious, become afraid of death, because there is nothing more!! Clinging to a beleif in one life only, is what causes havoc in the world, because these people then only want to grab as much of it as possible!!! Knowing there is much much more is what gives the world the grace and humility it deserves. I find nietzsche's future prediction strikingly accurate:

Without God to guide us, humanity has become more and more lost, and directionless, as everyday life, now, seems to show!

 

You are right. When rulers instilling the fear of God in to their peasents and squashed science for hundreds of years in the dark ages everything was just great.

I think that meeting a person with morals that doesn't believe he will be punished by God if he does or doesn't do something says a lot about that person. A child needs a parent to keep them in line; an adult should not.

Maybe we are directionless, but then again maybe it just seems that way because we aren't going in the wrong direction anymore.

I truly envy people with a true belief in god because it is so simple. When it comes down to it though traditional religion is something that still lingers from our race's childhood.

 

Jesus said "Eat Me!"

 

Some religions make you do that.

 

Religion=Evil


God does not write anything down because if he did, a religion would form. God knows this to be evil, so he does not write.

Only lowly scribes pretending to 'hear' him do this. If you believe in a religion you are misguided.

If you support your religion by professing it's virtues(?), then you are guilty of it's fraud.

P.S. People who post here at their employers expense, without permission, are thieves.

 

I don't see how everything you said couldn't be traced back to state-sanctioned holy wars. Building a mosque atop an apostle's grave justifies sending a nation to war? No person in their right mind would support this notion, unless they had been forced into believing in this religion.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. There is nothing sinful about a homosexual act, pal. Homosexuals are born with that disposition, much in the same way some people have tendancies to prefer children sexually. It's not something someone just decides one day; same-sex attraction is as natural to a homosexual as opposite-sex attraction is to a heterosexual. You're born that way. I must admit, I like the way you tried to save yourself there, saying the homosexual "Act" is a mortal sin, as opposed to just being homosexual in itself. But you're backwards in your thinking there as well: Heterosexuals who take a vow of abstanence for life--or until marriage--do so out of free will and usually a strong bond with the god of their choosing. They don't ask that everyone else does it, nor do they condemn others for not following suit. This is usually why life-long abstanence is reserved for men of the cloth. To say a homosexual act is sinful, then you would be asking people of that persuasion to act like priests, and give up their right to choose for themselves. To expect every homosexual to supress that natural desire is oppresive and logically retarded.

Well, the good ol' USofA happens to have an extremely Christian President whom calls upon the power of god during every public address he gives, so I'd say my homeland is pretty much a Christian nation. Sugarcoat it all you want, but when your president calls the impending war against a muslim nation "The Crusades," then you know the separation of church and state has just gone out the window.

And who made that distinction? Just another case of the bible being literal or figurative depending on which is more convienient at the time.

JD