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Is religion evil?
bosoxfan:
Hey Tex,
Have you been reading "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins? I listened to most of the audiobook, he makes some very good points about this topic.
Religion is a great source of literature and history and all of that, but I tend to wonder what the world would be like without it as well. I think the world trade center would still be standing.
The problem with saying that some people who misinterpret religion are the evil ones, is that it's very difficult to tell how to interpret the bible. If you want to take it literally, then genocide and slavery and rape and human sacrifice as well as the death penalty are all fine. If not you may as well just do whatever you want if you're going to pick and choose which stories in the bible to follow anyway.
I suspect that if we ever run into an extraterrestrial civilization far more advanced than our own, they will have abolished religion and nationalism and having separate countries and other things that serve to divide people a while ago.
Another thing that I struggle with about religion is the fact that there is no more evidence for Yahweh than any of the other gods throughout history (Zeus, the Egyptian gods etc.), and yet people are still willing to cause disruptions in the world in the name of God.
kujo:
--- Quote from: Synbios on January 02, 2007, 04:21:00 pm ---[Most] Religions themselves are not inherently evil. It's the people who follow them that misinterpret them or the people who lead them are abuse their power.
There will ALWAYS be humans somewhere on this planet that hate/kill someone else simply because they are different.
If religion didn't exist, then people will kill for other reasons, there are plenty examples of this. Nationality, ethnicicity, and physical features are just a couple. Sex is a big one too.
--- End quote ---
Exactly! Don't know about sex lol but yes I completely agree with this point, it more the fault of the followers than the religion itself, most religions tend to preach acceptance and tolerance as the main theme but a few passages in a text here and there will be exploited by others who have much to gain. I personally think its human nature, if there was no religion there would still be the exact same problems hidden behind different reasons.
--- Quote from: Synbios on January 02, 2007, 04:21:00 pm ---Until all the races and religions combine into one gigantic mass of tanned people who are all some sort of neutral religion, there will always be hate in the world. This is obviously not going to happen.
--- End quote ---
This I don't agree with, even though it would seem that all should be right, when we look at this in contrast to the world we live in now, other problems would present themselves to create division and existing ones would probably intensify. These could represent themselves as (for example) a greater division between social classes, divide between rich and the poor, differences of ideals with regards to government/ruling strategy (nationalism/communism/capitalism/anarchy). The laws of the land can be perverted just as much as religion can... living in a police state wouldn't be very different from living under a "religious law", we'd have to watch what we said, what we did, who knows even ate and our basic freedoms would be taken away.
In short we are not perfect, so we can never expect a perfect society, the main thing is that we try to be the best we can be..... and rather ironically this is something religions aim to teach
texasboy:
--- Quote from: kujo on January 05, 2007, 10:40:35 pm ---In short we are not perfect, so we can never expect a perfect society, the main thing is that we try to be the best we can be..... and rather ironically this is something religions aim to teach
--- End quote ---
Agreed on most points with exception to the last. We have many hundreds of religious denominations and off shoots from main bodies. It would be nice if everyone followed the course of peace and love but unfortunately most of religious sects are governed by "Old farts" who enjoy the power of being in charge and dishing out punishments as they see fit.
Fear has always been a part of religion.The punishments inflicted by the leaders of the churches have been very harsh to keep "their flock" together. Religion suits the church ,not the masses.
Churches have had to modify their actions in this modern era due to law and human rights, but we still have some religions asking their followers to blow themselves up and kill innocent people.
My point being that religion is not a good teacher and never has been. The Night Watchman made a good point that if it wasn't for religion we would be like animals.We are animals, and need some guidance.
cheers
Synbios:
In my earlier post by sex I meant male vs. female. ie. mostly the oppression of females by males as their subordinates. This was greatly put into place by the Catholic Church years ago. In pre-christian, pagan times, females were worshiped.
The actual act of sex is a big one too though as you guys have mentioned. Pagans believed that sex was a unification with god and was sacred. Our view of sex in today's society as somewhat sinful and immoral (at least in the case of premarital) is essentially a new belief put in place by christians (for the most part, the catholic church). Even ancient jews have shown to emphasize sex.
texasboy:
--- Quote from: Synbios on January 06, 2007, 07:25:02 am ---In my earlier post by sex I meant male vs. female. IE. mostly the oppression of females by males as their subordinates. This was greatly put into place by the Catholic Church years ago. In pre-christian, pagan times, females were worshiped.
The actual act of sex is a big one too though as you guys have mentioned. Pagans believed that sex was a unification with god and was sacred. Our view of sex in today's society as somewhat sinful and immoral (at least in the case of premarital) is essentially a new belief put in place by Christians (for the most part, the catholic church). Even ancient Jews have shown to emphasize sex.
--- End quote ---
Agreed Synbios, I can remember reading many articles where the female had to partake in sexual rituals to appease the elders of the church and be indoctrinated into that faith. Yet the older pagan gods gave women most of the power.
It was always a mans world.lol Religion/marriage to have sex with your partner.(out the window)
cheers
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