"Yours not to reason why?"
@owlwings (43897)
Cambridge, England
March 23, 2016 7:16am CST
"Imagine there's no heaven - It's easy if you try"
So sang John Lennon. Is it so easy, though? No Heaven, no Hell, no religion? I think that some people (but not everyone) find that difficult but, never mind - I'm asking you to try it now.
Let us pretend that there never has been any belief or awareness or imaginings of anything beyond the natural or physical and that the only 'commandment' were to "Love thy neighbour as thyself" (which, no doubt, as many people would break then as they do now). Would the world be as good a place or better or would it be worse?
What I'm saying is that if, for the moment, we suspend all those questions about how we came to be here and why (which, I am arguing, are the primary reasons for any belief in the supernatural), would our lives be simpler and less complicated? Would the world be any more peaceful?
11 people like this
11 responses
@celticeagle (189819)
• Boise, Idaho
23 Mar 16
No. people have to have something to believe in. That seems to include creation.
3 people like this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
23 Mar 16
"People have to have something to believe in." .... Why?
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
23 Mar 16
@owlwings There is no answer for that other than human nature maybe. It gives hope.
2 people like this
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
23 Mar 16
Awesome thought and awesome idea for discussion.
You ask about lives being simpler and less complicated. So I confine my response to it.
In my opinion - What complicates our life is not the Heaven, hell or even religion. What complicates is the lust and hunger for Power, Success, Money and maybe many such things. If we look at the wars fought earlier - most of them in the 19th and 20th Centuries - were for Power and Land. Since late 20th century and into the 21st, we have wars in the name of religion - these wars are done not for anything else, but again for the sake of power. One set of people mislead and motivate others to do participate in such wars and hence the other set needs to defend itself.
The common man, always needs peace. He is more occupied with trying to meet his daily ends.
Today's tough competition, less vacancies, more of inflation and factors like these are also responsible in creating poverty, fear of losing livelihood and such people are more vulnerable to fall into the make belief web spun by the so called caretakers of religion.
3 people like this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
24 Mar 16
I think you are right that wars are mostly about power and the control of territory. I could be wrong but I believe that the earliest wars which were about religion (or ostensibly so) were the Crusades. Even those were about land, originally, because they began when the Muslims captured Jerusalem. Before that, Muslims and Christians had co-existed in relative peace.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
24 Mar 16
@owlwings I admit I am not as well versed with history so I may be wrong. But as I see the Crusades, they were mostly done to preserve their religion - and get more followers. As such, I can still relate it to making the religion stronger - some one out there felt that if they do the wars that would make their religion have more followers and these people would be in the history books for spreading their religion.
as you mention, religion co-existed in relative peace back then (before these wars), It was quite similar here too in India during the early 20th century. Hindus, Muslims, and people from many other religions lived together (and even live together today too) unless some moron comes forward and spoils the relationships.
I have not studied in depth all religions, but from what I have been told by the people who are available at the places of worship, have always told me that their religion is all about peace, harmony and brotherhood. Now, if I believe them (which I do), and then try to find out an answer to why of wars of faith and religions - it all boils down to a handful bunch who have started to believe that their acts of war will only make them superheroes and if they have it their way, they would have immense power - monetary, political and military. Personally, I feel that these poor souls are misled and mostly have misinterpreted the things.
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
23 Mar 16
beliefs and religion I see as two seperate things. I dont like religion, I have no issue, normally, with beliefs. There does need to be some form of morality rule though, and for example, the ten commandments, have many good points.
3 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21845)
• Canada
23 Mar 16
Good question. I believe it would be more peaceful and we would be kinder to each other and have nothing to preach about, nothing to make anyone feel better than anyone else. Religion sometimes doesn't allow people to think for themselves.
2 people like this
@AbbyGreenhill (45490)
• United States
23 Mar 16
@owlwings That's why I don't fall into the pitfall of preaching on here and I am a fan of those who do.
1 person likes this
@Bluedoll (16770)
• Canada
23 Mar 16
@owlwings people do feel the need yes. Some scriptures can sound threatening but really they aren't.
Making real threats only tells me the people making them are truly not any kind of a worthy religion or have gone so far off track they have become something else.
1 person likes this
@suzzy3 (8341)
•
26 Mar 16
I think peoples different beliefs make life more interesting. People need something to believe in. Even if they went to their place of worship just to meet friends and have a coffee. Even if you are not religious the ten commandments are a code to live by. Most of the law is seated in our religion . Life would unravel to such a degree , nothing would make sense. , Just my point of view.
1 person likes this
@Bluedoll (16770)
• Canada
23 Mar 16
He said give peace a chance and later in interview to the press said that he thought people had it within their power to create a world of peace. Everyone can give their version of an artistic work. Art is what a song is. For me I don't see the song as removing God, heaven or any spiritual belief but removing conflicts that organized religions have caused.
There is a large movement in the works in our present day. People are looking at religion with a skeptical eye. Some would like to go as far as to have it abolished and all religious books burned. Some just don't want it in politics.
However do religions = belief. I think not.
Even in this small forum, a small reflection of a society a person could write "God is evil in the bible". or doesn't even exist.
Well I don't believe this. I believe in God the same as I know without any doubt God is love. Yet, if I comment (not force) what my belief is a poster could become angry with me. It seems to me that we might be able to make our life less complicated by removing religion but suffer a far worse fate to try the removal of God. We would end up with another type of religion that dictates what we can or can not do. It is only masked as a (non-religion).
I like this song and the message. For me it means just as the author recorded it. Live in peace. Excellent.
1 person likes this
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
23 Mar 16
I agree that 'religion' and 'belief' aren't the same thing. Religion requires a belief in many things (not least the efficacy and need for the religion itself).
I like the song, too. Some have interpreted it as a hymn to atheism but I don't see it as that - after all, it is only asking us to imagine, not to assert.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
25 Mar 16
the World isn't troubled by questions of where we came from or possible afterlifes, but it is troubled by those dogmatically convinced their answers to such questions are so right that any other belief needs to be anihilated.
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
24 Mar 16
i reckon folks'd find the need to place the 'blame' elsewhere if'n it t'weren't fer the diff'rent religions :( that's all i'm gonna say coz i could take'p volumes'n this subject sadly.
@Mike197602 (15504)
• United Kingdom
23 Mar 16
If religion were to go away we'd still have wars but they may be more sensible ones like over land or natural resources
Without religion I do think there'd be less hatred going about.
Without religion I do think there'd be less hatred going about.2 people like this
