All right, I just wanted to start this thread off with an investigative purpose at first and a light mood. But now its time to make it D&D worthy. By the way T_J and Basso you might as well stop reading since this thread doesn't involve Obama. Does anyone else here feel that religion is utterly and undeniably evil? It divides so many people, has caused so many deaths, and has seen the blood of many spilled over a belief(that could very well be completely false!). Most of histories wars have been over religion. You have the Holy wars, the Crusades, the Muslim conquests of the Middle East, the Barbarossa era, Genghis Khan, etc. In recent times we even have 9/11, the World Wars. Now these could also be interpreted to be man's aspirations for power, which has been the case for many of the violences in the past. But they invaded on the belief that they were better than their adversaries and that they were entitled to take their foes land. The belief that their way of living and their religion is the best. In todays times you see extremist Muslims being radicals and killing people to get their message across. You see snooty Christians who believe that their way of living is the best and take offense to other people's religious beliefs. And of course I know that this is just a small portion of the general population and that not all people are like this. But it's becoming harder and harder these days to find good people with common sense. This next part might offend some people, but please understand my post is completely intended with educational purposes and i do not mean to insult people. No need to throw out insults or call people stupid. And how do people honestly overindulge themselves into something that is skeptical??? Think about it. There is no hard evidence that any of the prophetic tales of the Bible, Torrah, or Quran are even remotely true. I'm not saying that Jesus or Mohammad never existed, its fairly obvious that they did. But I'm skeptical of their message. I don't know much about the Quran, hell even the Bible. But in the Bible besides the moral aspects, it seems like a bunch of tall tales put together. Noah's arc? Jesus walking on water? Moses parting rivers? What if Jesus and Mohammad fabricated their message? Think about how easy it would be then to pass along these phenomenons as truth in that era. People believed in ghosts, witches, curses, and a whole assortment of other things. Mythology. That used to be Greece's and Rome's religious beliefs in the B.C. centuries. Look how silly all that seems now. What if all this religion business is just a farce? A hoax. Heaven and Hell? Old priests would use hell to scare people into doing good, to put discipline and order into their towns. We are brainwashed(maybe not brainwashed, but it is pounded into our head) from the moment that we are born that God exists. God is everywhere. God created everything. Personally I think people use religion to comfort themselves and use it to explain things that are unknown. What is my religious affiliation? I voted Religion is evil obviously. But my personal spiritual view is that a God definitely exists and that I try to live my life to the best I can to make sure I don't anger him in anyway. I'm so confused at this point. I don't know what to believe or what is true. Boy did I ramble... This looks kind of like a Macbeth post.
Doubtful. Most likely it was the excuse for war while the actual reason was money and power. The answer you seek is probably that humans have the ability to turn anything into a vehicle of an evil agenda.
Exactly. The top aristocracy wants power. But they invigorate their people to fight by using propaganda through religion. This I am sure of. After all, that's all they in the end. Their faith.
Man you're really trying to get to 40,000 posts quick with these type of posts. Just because you added a smiley face and your signature doesn't mean it's not a one liner lol.
Butterfingers, you come off as snooty. Have you ever read the Bible, Torrah, or Quran to be skeptical of their message? The World Wars did not start from religion. Communists triumphed the absence of religion, only to have their authoritarian dictators install pseudo-religions in the form of cults of personality. Eliminating religion wouldn't reduce half the evil that goes on around this world. But the effort in good it offers through charity and foundations would more likely be hampered without it. Religion is nothing more than a tool. You don't blame science for the atomic bomb or the corrupting power it holds over those who have it or aspire to have it. The early Soviet Union thought science could end all human problems through a carefully planned central bureaucracy. Their effort was supposed to triumph science. Check out this BBC documentary for more detail. It starts at the 2:40 . <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bf0ORy4BzMY&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Bf0ORy4BzMY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I think every religion teaches something good. It's just a few people that "associate" themselves with a particular religion while doing evil that makes a religion look bad. As far as divisions go.. even if there are no religions in this world, people would still find something else to divide themselves. Just go to any high school that has different races and check out the groups at lunch time. You have the black, white, azn groups, then the emo, self loathing, and hippie types bunched up in different areas around the school.
Calling religion evil is like trying to find a scapegoat for human nature. If religion weren't used to rally the masses around the war banner, you can be sure patriotism and culturism would take its place. leaders use whatever means at their disposal to manipulate their subjects; religion is only one avenue. if anything, it only means that all organized religion is fallible in some way or another. the only "inherently evil religion" imo is Scientology.
Religion is not evil. If we had 6.7 billion different religions, one for every soul, this world would be a much nicer place to hang out for awhile.
Yes everyone who goes to church, temple, mosque, etc is evil. No need to start this thread, because you knew it already. I'm out to get you all. I'm constantly hurting people because of what they taught me at church.
Although it's none of my own doing - I would like to apologize to you Max for the recent wealth of threads (poorly*) lamblasting religion. I could do better, and with less spite
My question is then, why do people overindulge themselves into the teachings of their religion without having any hard proof? Is there any hard proof? Or is it just all a leap of faith? I just cant rely on faith alone.
There is proof about some of the religious icons being real people, but there is no proof of their deeds or that they were talking to or representing God. It is like the UFO crash at Roswell, only at Roswell you have actual witnesses......whereas in religion it is all based upon text written down and in some cases edited by committee centuries later. DD
Proof and evidence are different. Faith is a response to evidence and doesn't rely on proof. Jesus died on the cross is a piece of evidence. He said he gave His life for mankind's sins, that statement is another piece of evidence. But I believed based upon the evidence revealed to me. If Jesus didn't die and He wasn't resurrected then I am a fool wasting my time, that is something the Apostle Paul said in the bible also. I have no hard proof other than things in my heart, which cannot be used for you to have proof. As someone said, if you want proof, look into the evidence and ask God to prove it to you.
I believe similar ideas to the OP in regards to the validity of God and how a handful of idiots that "believe" in God act. I think that the tone of the post and even the fact that it was posted is incredibly hypocritical. It's just as bad as what he disagrees with. Tolerance is a good thing no matter what side of the fence you are on.
if by religion, you mean politics, then yes, it is utterly and undeniably evil? the better question is whether or not it is a necessary one.
it would be so much easier if someone would have taken video of Jesus on their iphone... text written down is what we have to prove most of recorded history.
I thought this was an interesting argument. However, all of your evidence is from the Bible, which is pure hearsay. In courts, hearsay evidence is traditionally not admitted because it cannot be relied on to prove the truth of the matter it asserts. Why should real life be any different?
