Would there be more or less violence/death without religion? Does it keeps people in check, they fear hell? Or is it responsible for mass death. holy wars, termination camps, hell just turn on the tv, etc...
in my life, my faith has meant peace. i'ts meant putting other people ahead of myself. man distorts everything for his own selfish aims.
here i risk exposing my ignorance (even more than usual ). But didn't China and the Soviet Union ban religion at some point. And didn't the violence and conflict continue?
Good question. But I think communism was treated as some holly religion, without openly acknowledging it. In other words, it wasn't religion-free either. Anyways, a few people are always smart and ambitious enough to manage to direct mass interest towards their own goals, with or without religion, in any given period of human history.
If you need the threat of some magical firey hell to make you a good person, then you're probably not a good person to begin with. I don't believe in god and I've never even stolen anything in my life. Never cheated on a girlfriend. It's just a decency thing. I'm a civilized intelligent man and hold myself up to high moral standards even though I don't expect any kind of reward for it after I die. I'm in the line of thinking that without religion, people wouldn't have an excuse to do half the horrible things that plague our modern society. Organized religion is the worst.
Neither, it doesn't add to or subtract from world conflicts, IMO. Les we forget, the deadliest conflicts in modern history were both in the 20th century, and both had more to do with nationalism/colonialism than religious fanatacism. I think that just as some religious folks are quick to blame the secularists for everything bad and 'evil' that's going on, there are also some non-religious/secularist folks who unfairly blame religion for most evils.
In a way, yes. For example, much more so than Christianity or Islam or Judaism of Buddhism, materialism could be claimed as the 'unofficial' religion of the U.S.
Most religions around the world had the beginning messages of peace and understanding. This was usually in response to chaotic societies and despotic regimes. When we look back at history, our present biases always clouds the public mindset of the past. Since most religions heavily use traditions, it's also easy to see it as remnants of the past.
Violence is human nature. Probably happens on a grander scale in shorter time-spans with the organizing effect of religion and/or politics, but those two institutions also have vested interests in preserving order (anarchism notwithstanding), and create laws and dogma which minimize day-to-day murder, robbery and lynching/persecution on individual bases. Also, I bet "fear of hell" is the best tool a parent has for reinforcing moral standards in their child.
Yes, and the way to reduce our hurting/killing of one another is to stop living with/near one another The Earth is getting too crowded, and if you think things are bad now, the chafing is only going to get worse in the future. Outward expansion of humanity through space exploration is the ONLY way forward for mankind. I wish more people would realise that, and put their petty, mundane differences aside But why don't they? Because our prevailing mindsets - be they nationalistic, religious, whatever - are myopic and self-centred in nature (note: I didn't say selfish). Live my life the right way. Protect my loved ones, my land, my honour. Value my relationship with God above all else Eschatology intrigues me, because to me there's no scientific and logical doubt that what we know as the world certainly WILL end some day - I just want to do my part in ensuring humanity doesn't end together with it
hell will make no one a good person. I have yet to meet a good person. pride, the worst sin of all is proof.
Interesting question. As others have noted religion has led to violence and death but so has materialism. Even though I argue with our more religious posters every now and then regarding the role of religion in society for the most part I think its a good and necessary things for humans. At the sametime though fanatical single minded belief in religion has proven to be a major cause of much misery. Any belief needs to be carefully tempered with rationality rather than a blind acceptance of dogma.
It is decidedly learned human behavior, not intrinsic human nature. As to the question, I think there'd be less death and violence if the world agreed on one religion. It's the differences in religions that cause wars and not religion itself.
What, so would you rather have unorganized religion? You're entitled to your opinion, but I totally disagree. Saying organized religion is the problem is too simplistic. There's this thing called freewill that all people have. They can do anything they want and use any religion as an excuse to do it all they want, but that doesn't implicate the religion itself in what they do.
nail on the head dogma, rules, creeds, codes, commandments all of these things cannot create a good person Humans rarely make unselfish choices with pure disinterested motives and that is rationality by definition. for instance in the Christian religion truth is a person - Jesus Christ - it is the revelation of His character that defines a person. Any Christian that doesnot (edit) desire to represent Christ's character is self deceived about Christian faith. religious dogma is like a spiritual mirror- we can believe in the commands, the creeds, the rules etc. but the mirrors only show us our character. At the root of all human behavior is human pride and self interest. This is the nature all humans are born with- we are betrayed by our motives. a truly good person would have a disinterested benelovent motive in every choice made to the highest good of the entire universe. Jesus said only God was good. I believe Him and the history of man's relationships certainly have proven this out.
Violence is used as a erroneous way to control our world and end suffering. (1) Life is suffering. Now, there are those who bring a dour attitude to Buddhism and then ascribe that attitude to Buddhism, and this first truth is an ample opportunity if one is not careful. Obviously, not EVERYthing in life is suffering. Then again, the suffering inherent in everything is not so obvious! We can understand the concept that illness, poverty, dying, love affairs gone bad and most modern country and western music represents some fairly strong levels of suffering. When one thinks of something that appears to be devoid of suffering -- say, a new romantic interest -- life seems delightful. But lurking beneath this in our minds are the very beginnings of suffering. To use the above example -- when we do find ourselves in a new relationship, all the love songs seem to be speaking to us, yes? But with that love comes attachment and soon one might worry, "What if she (or he) leaves?" If it's a new car we have purchased, we worry suddenly about car thieves or parking in a parking lot so somebody in a decidedly older car can open their door with a bit too much enthusiasm. The real truth is that beneath the moments of happiness and joy we still find a certain fear, and this suffering on all levels was one of the insights of the Buddha who, rather than decide life was terrible and throw up his hands looked upon all beings with the heart of compassion. (2) Suffering is caused by desire. We suffer because we want. This is not exactly the same desire thing as wanting world peace or wanting to be enlightened (although those can also lead to suffering), but rather a different level and kind of desire. This desire is the desire to close the gap between the way the world is and the way we see it or wish it would be. It is our desire to live in a world where our ego demands things go its way or we will be terribly, terribly miserable, disappointed or simply invalid as a human being. In reality, it is not what happens to us that makes us suffer, but rather our belief about what happens to us. If, for example, we believe that we should get a certain job and it doesn't happen that way, our reaction is to assume the world has treated us unfairly again, that we've gotten the short end of the stick. This is monkey mind at its worst. Where, one might ask, is it written that we MUST have a certain job or a certain achievement. If it was true that we "must" then we would have, the world would have either been wired that way or twisted itself like a contortionist to give us what we demand. While "desire" is a traditional translation and view of this truth, the key is more often found in the "demanding" aspect. We live as if such-and-such MUST happen and if it doesn't we'll be (a) crushed (b) cheated or (c) a pitiful creature who just didn't have the talent, brains or luck to make something happen. Another way of looking at this is to realize that we are suffering because of desire and desire is a form of attachment. Attachment, then, is a wish to control. When things are out of control, we're closer to Buddha-mind or the heart of the Buddha because that's when control takes place, by letting go. http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/budhism.html
