How can we fix this?

That's why I prefer not to have a religion.

I keep hearing people say that more people kill and be killed in the name of religion rather than food. It might be true, or not, but still killing in the name of religion doesn't make sense. I thought every religion teaches to love one another so why all this killing? A bigger question for me is who started all this? One said they were attacked so they attacked back. The other said the other way around. Now I'm not favoring any religion, I think we have given enough.

I just can't understand why different religions can't co-exist in some parts of the world. You have Shiites and the Sunnis killing each other in Iraq. You have the religious strife going on between Muslims and the Indians on their boarder. You have Christians and Muslims killing each other throughout Africa. I really can't understand this. Why does religious disputes have to end in violence? I do know that different religions can co-exist. Here in the United States, we have every religion under the sun, and I've never seen the violence that I'm witnessing in many other countries. Can someone explain this madness in layman's terms? Lloyd

They are afraid that they will lost someday. So they are conveying their weeknesses.

minding own business when it comes to religion. no one can force what or where he/she want to praise God. when it comes to religion, its up to people what they think is fit for them,the religion.

Hi gardengirl---love this topic!I don't know whether the overgrowth of the earth's population is part of the problem...could very well be. One thing I do agree with is your view of the 'big religions' that are, in my opinion cults that brainwash otherwise intelligent people. Kids are indoctrinated with the dogma before their reasoning abilities are fully developed. If they do 'wake up and smell the coffee' and begin to question the leaders of the cult they are beaten into submission again with the threat of banishment or condemnation to hell for being sinners. I think we are already on the way to fixing it just by the wonderful discussions posted on mylot. Before becoming a member just a week ago I wondered if we were doomed to a fate of being dictated and controlled by theocratic governments. However, after reading what many other mylotters are thinking and discussing I am feeling more optomistic. Now I believe that are enough of us out there to over-through the controlling forces of the narrow-minded thinkers. As it has been said so often before...all it takes is one candle to light a dark room. Mylot thinkers are the candles in the denseness of all the nutball jihadists you mentioned. At least lets hope we are! As long as there are those who fight for the rights of others and keep presenting different different perspectives free thought will flourish!

Religion, dictatorships and ideologies like communism are excellent in their purist forms for people who need guidance. All religions have rules to live by in a crowded society. A good dictator can be stable and efficient for a country. Everyone is equal in communism. All have prooved a failure. Until common sense rules, the wars over the last 5,000 years will continue for the next thousand. The clever people in this world today are the Swiss, the Swedes, the Danes and the like, who get on with sorting their own problems and leave the rest of the world to sort out theirs but offer medical teams to help in the mess.

Well I'm not sure I agree with the "too many people on the planet" argument, because people have been fighting over religion for centuries - as you say The Crusades, and the Inquisition etc. To me - the main problem, is that a lot of religious people (not ALL of course), are so bigoted about the whole thing, that they seem intent on pushing their own beliefs onto other people, instead of respecting the others' choices and minding ther own ****** business!! The best way to live in my opinon, is for people to respect others and their choices and not try to intrude - especally on something as basic as an Internet Message Board! Yet some people are so bigoted in their views (whatever religion they come from), that they take every opportunity to try and push their beliefs onto others, and get ridiculously upset/angry/offended if people tell them politely to go away! For example I am an Atheist, but I don't try to push my beliefs onto others - I live my life, let others do the same, and would never dream of telling anyone they were "wrong" for believing the way they do - nor of stating my Atheism in every single thread I write here - it is my business - who cares? But sadly, many extremely religious people can't accept this "live and let live" attitude, and thus problems occur. Even here on MyLot, a simple comment can get the twitching fingers of the "bible belt" fraternity hitting their negative rating buttons - not because the post is badly written/off-topic/full of bad language or whatever, - but just because they do not accept an alternative point of view. So - in the bigger, wider scheme of things - it's no wonder wars start over religion! Maybe everyone should be taught the rudiments of all religions from an early age at School as we are here in the UK - then people would be more open to other ideas, more able to think for themselves and not just learn from childhood indoctrination, and hopefully more tolerant. Just an idea. Cheers.

I have to say that I disagree with your thoughts that there are simply "too many people on the planet" and that is what is causing all the problems with religion today. It only takes 2 people to fight. So whether there are 200 or 2 million, people who take anything to the extreme will cause massive problems. If you are, in fact a Christian, for example, then you believe the story of Cain and Able. There were only 4 people in the world, and apparently that was too many as one brother killed another. I think this world is just not the ideal place...just somewhere we are temporarily on our way to something bigger. But I definitely do agree that all this religious fighting is a problem, and I do hope we can find a way to fix it!

I don't think there is any easy way to solve the religious issues. First as you mentioned is the population problem. Second, the urge of each religion to preach that only they are the true religion. Worse still is the politicizing of the religions in many countries. All this makes the situation worse than it is. Now, that terror has also been launched with religion, this is becoming a big epidemic and drastic measures are required to resolve these issues. Cheers! Ram

yeah i agree with you. people has then become very insatiable. they ask for things that is actually beyond or more than what they actually deserves. i think that people in the long run gets unsatifisfied and they look for something different, something hot duh?

I think everyone needs to just mind their own business when it comes to religion. Just last week I went to a non denominational church. The main story the preacher told was about him trying to convert his Jewish mom and dad to christianity. His story was really pissing me off. I know that some people have this whole thing where they feel everyone needs to be "saved" and try to convert them. But the way I see it is if someone is happy and content in their religion leave them the Hell alone.

I think we can fix this by having the biggest religion of all. And as the founder of $cientology stated, "if you want to become rich, start your own religion." I agree with a previous poster and with one of my myLot friends. We need to have a church called the Church of MYOB. This church will be dedicated to tending to your own knitting, tilling your own fields and letting sleeping dogs lie. No Book, no codes, no rules other than the obvious one -- It's NOT YOUR biz! :-)

ship them to the space station there building

If ,you please go through the killings happened more recent or very past, they were political in nature. religions had nothing to do with them. Chengez Khan had no religion,he was barbarian,Mongols were not killing people for the sake of religion, in Moses period ,there was no great killing, in Jesus period no blood shed, in Mahmad pbuh period no great killing but Hitler ,s period millions got killed, British period killing people around globe in order to colonize them,U S involved in destruction of USSR,IRAQ,AFGHANISTAN,VIETNAM,JAPAN ,all these events have nothing to do with religion.It is only allegations. People of PALESTINE do not want to make jews muslim but they demand their home land, it is not religious war, Afghanistan does not want to make USA islamic country, but they wish the foreign occupation must end. But think tank of aggressive countries blame it to religion in order to pacify their people .