Would the world be a better place without religion?
By tumalty1980
@tumalty1980 (256)
July 26, 2007 5:02pm CST
Looking back through history wars and battles have been happened, people have died and continue to die in the name of religion.
Would the world and humanity be better off if religion did not exist, and relied upon our parents to teach the differance between right and wrong.
My personal thoughts are Religion was originally formed as a way to control the masses, and to bring order to sociaty, so some guy come accross and said I have spoken to god and he said if you dont stop steeling, killing and hurting people you will go to hell when you die., then over the past 2000 years this story has been distorted and changed into the religions we know today.
If religion did not exist we would not have terrorists killing people in the name of thier religion, the middle east would be calm, the trouble in irland wouldnt of happended and people would be able to love and respect one another for who they are not what they beleive.
We have undisputable evidance which tells us the big bang creation did not happen it was evolution so should we all wake up and realise preachers of all faith are trying to control us (whether they are well meaning or not) in accordance with way thier god suppose to have said.
And whats more what happens when we get up to heaven on judgment day when we have spend a life of church going every week praying and so on and we find out our religion was the wrong one and the one round the corner was the right one. If there was a god (im not saying there is) do you think he would really be bothered which church we went to or what word or language we said our prayers in.
10 people like this
19 responses
@Beertjie (976)
• South Africa
26 Jul 07
Good discussion. I have bad news, religion or no religion, people will always be at war and there will never be world peace. Why do I say this?
Not all wars are about religion. Not all disputes are about religion. People differ from one another because we see things differently. look at a family. The brothers and sisters, who love one another, believe in the same religion or what ever, they still fight over certain things. Countries are the same. We want different things and some things are worth fighting for.
As for religion, I agree, we do not need religion. The God that I love and serve never intended for us to have religion, only a relationship with Him.
@tumalty1980 (256)
•
26 Jul 07
Agree with you your main point but look at the middle east, All the fighting and conflict stemed from religious arguments, Ireland in the 70's 80's and 90' route cause religion, todays terrorist route cause miss guided religion
2 people like this
@dimaks (786)
• Japan
27 Jul 07
what is your basis that the wars in middle is made by religion? as Beertji said, with religion or without it, wars could exist. Because you must accept that man has this nature of becoming superior to each other, they been wanting to conquer (in the name or religion or not), they want to amass more wealth than what they have now, they never get contented with the things they got, judge and give misleading ideas to other people endlessly, and this goes to all people from all walks of life.
This is the problem of viewing religion as only a set of to-do list and that is all.
2 people like this
@EvanHunter (4026)
• United States
27 Jul 07
How soon people forget to point out communist states that are anti-religion and started by atheist and all the horrible crimes they have committed against their fellow countrymen and humanity.
1 person likes this
@EvanHunter (4026)
• United States
27 Jul 07
You make some valid points but you dont need to go very far back into history to seek your answer. Has it been so long since the Berlin wall fell and that what happened in tiananmen square has been cleaned from our memories? Every time I hear someone spouting off about how we need to do away with religion, I have to wonder if they have ever even heard of communism and the atrocities that these "atheist" societies has produced.
Communism in theory is always a great thing but the fact is when you get power hungry mad men in charge there is no sharing anything just certain people who carry the burden. I am proud to say I am christian it wasnt a path I chose lightly and I went into it after a lifelong decision. I am not controlled at all. There have been alot of times in my life when I was controlled and it was my ignorance of the reality of things that lead me to be there. I am now free in a way I have never been.
1 person likes this
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
•
27 Jul 07
I think religion by itself is niether good nor bad, but is made so by the interpritation of human beings. Some humans are evil and will interprit religion in ways that support their ways
blessed be
@friendship (2084)
• Canada
27 Jul 07
With or without religion, humans will still do the bad things (i.e., wars, lust, jealousy, etc). Since Adam and Eve, humans are always rebellious to God's words. If all of us can't follow God's words or teachings, the situation will never change.
@tumalty1980 (256)
•
27 Jul 07
We have un disputable eveidance that Adam & Eve did not happen its evloution so if we can disporve this part of the bible do it not cast a shaddow on the validity of the rest of the bible
@ayseteyze (214)
• Turkey
15 Aug 07
whether it is religion or nationality or ethnicity or let's say just football(!), it doesn't matter, the world could be a better place without the conservatives.. (i said "could" because no need to say that it's a little(!) late lol). i agree that there will always be wars in this world and the peace isn't something we can have by engaging into more and more struggles each day. but even if there would still be wars, the world could be a place that is easy to stand. i think the true statement should be "our way is a different way", but the thing with the conservatives is that they always go "our way is the best way". this is same for the religion as well. when you start to think that your choice is better than others, then finding yourself in trouble is just a matter of time.
@kampupot (18)
• Philippines
27 Jul 07
I think religion makes the world a better place, because we have guidance in our everyday living. As a Roman Catholic, when I experience a big problem, I just pray and ask the Lord for guidance and it makes me feel good after praying and asking for solution to my problem. It really helps to have your own religion because I am guided and disciplined by the commandments set forth by my religion.
@mikeyaxe (722)
• India
27 Jul 07
hmmmmm if u ask me i think religion was first came into existence so that religion can provide peace spiritually. but it is true that these generation has seen many crimes in the name of god, moreover even half of myself still wist there was no religion mostly because im deeply in love with a girl of different religion and because of the difference in religion there is huge difference in both of our families.well that was just one example but unlike all other thing i guess religion is needed but only when it intends peace.
@melissacus (441)
• United States
27 Jul 07
I don't think it's particularly fair to blame religion for the violence that goes on. Religion doesn't take a person by the neck and threaten them. It all depends on how crazed the person is about it. Everybody has control over their decisions. Religion has been the cause for a lot of evil, but it's also been the cause for a lot of good. It gives people faith that there is more than just this life. Religion is what one person believes. It doesn't matter how many times you go to church, and it doesn't matter if you pray every night. I haven't been to church in a very long time. I don't believe you should have to in order to be a worthy person. God believes everyone is worthy and he forgives, that's what I choose to believe. True, if we didn't have religion we wouldn't have terrorists killing in the name of it, but we would have terrorists killing in the name of something else. The fact is, people are always going to solve by violence. War sucks, but things can't always be solved with a few kind hearted words, even if they could, people wouldn't want to take the time to say them. Killing is going to continue until we're all gone.
@sukumar794 (5040)
• Thiruvananthapuram, India
27 Jul 07
I believe that religion is the root cause of all evil on this earth. Without religious sects this wold would have been a better place to live in. As Lenin put it somewhere : Religion is the opium that intoxicates people.
@Amstardam (1348)
• United States
30 Jul 07
I don't think so. It's not religion that divides people...people have arguments over everything!
We fight about even the smallest things. A lot of things come down to religion and how we were raised but a lot of things are just cultural.
I think people just need to be more accepting of each other. We need to stop fighting about who is right and who is wrong. Everybody has differences.
@decent07 (232)
• India
27 Jul 07
no without relegion word becomes worst. there are three main reason for war money , land(earth),and women. now the main reason is oil ,oil ,oil oil--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------and oil.
@Pose123 (21635)
• Canada
27 Jul 07
This is a very good post. Many thinking people feel this way, and for much the same reasons. I like your thought on why would a God be bothered with which church we went to? There are so many things in religions which make no sense at all. You might enjoy the "Conversations with God" books by Neale Donald Walsch.
@flowzip (5)
• India
27 Jul 07
without religion world can not be a better place..that's sure.
from past decades,religion has been considered as the "interest" of worshippers and church-goers. i dont think such religion can make this world a beautiful place to live.
each and every person living on the earth must become aware of what the real religion is..because,true religion does not bind within limits.
@safetymom (27)
• Philippines
8 Aug 07
I think that's a pretty tough call to make.
If religion didn't exist, I think it would be a much chaotic and confusing world.
It's just that if you think about it, religion is one of the main roots of structured society, it may have caused a lot of disputes, and shed a lot of blood along the time, but if it didn't exist, we might still be stuck on barbaric means and claws.
http://www.jerusalemexport.com is a great resource for hand crafted religious products and decorative religious items.
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
27 Jul 07
Yes, I believe that it would be. People misuse and abuse religion.
@ReyM21 (281)
• Philippines
27 Jul 07
If John Lennon still alive today, he will answer you 'YES'! ('Imagine' fame). The existence of religions is to build a moral people, but despite it's teachings, man still has the last say whether he would agree or not-- it's still his free will that matters. God is a God of varieties-- imagine the diff. species of animals, plants, flowers, the uniqueness of humans, the composition of water, rocks, air, etc. Still He allowed that a variety of religion to exist in order for man to explore/ apply its teachings and search for the real truth. World peace cannot be attained by man alone because of many reasons-- but God give us His peace in our hearts so that despite the cruel, chaotic, unfortunate circumstances in the world, we still had that peace to continually live.
@Rozie37 (15499)
• Turkmenistan
27 Jul 07
No, absolutely not. This world is chaotic as it is. Without religion it would be so much worse. Just because a people claim to be religious does not mean that they are, nor does it mean that they worship and serve the one and only living God.
Our laws originated from the Holy Bible. Without it, we would have no way to properly govern oursleves. America and this world as a whole is slowly trying to omit God and the Bible from being a part of our everyday life. But the word of God will stand, no matter what anyone tries to do.
The Bible says that Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words will never pass away. The Bible is still the best selling book of all time, They have tried to discount it, but were never able to and will never be able to. Things will get worse, but God will have the final say in everything.
@WVFitzgerald (12)
• United States
27 Jul 07
No,religion has a positive impact on many peaple who otherwise may be the ones doing the killing(adding to the thousands who already are). It is true, many wars have been fought in the name of God and country but if not for religion they would have been fought name of king and country.In other words, man will always find a reason to go to war. I think the world would be a better place if the world religions sat down together and look for there similarities they may find they are a lot alike.
