Poll of the Day > Do you think this world would be better off without religion?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Absolutely.
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Not really. People will just find something else to become fanatically obsessed with to the point of starting wars with one another.
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I would prefer if we didn't have religion, but religion is what kept us motivated in life. I don't think we would have come this far into the future without religion. But at this point, once someone finds out how to time travel, I just want to see the real truth of our planet's and universe's history.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Nade Duck posted...

people are awful shits regardless of religion, they'd just find other reasons to kill each other.

if you wanna get rid of it can we at least get rid of guns too

No, we need to cut out the middleman and all of the half-steps, and just go directly to getting rid of humans.

No humans solves pretty much every major problem in the world.

If nothing else, it would stop stupid angsty teens and neckbearded manchildren from constantly making BOO-HOO RELIGION SUCKS! topics on a web site about video games, and that alone is the noblest of all goals.

i'm okay with this. kinda tired lately anyway.
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PO making the angstiest of posts about angsty the teens

Everyone should be in agreement here. Even good Christians would agree that the world would be better without religion, purely because it would end the bloodshed caused by the other religions. If you aren't willing to sacrifice your own religion for the good of mankind, then you aren't standing up for your religions ideals anyway.

It's not every religion blowing themselves up. And we had a country without religion once. It was Russia under Stalin.
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Yeah but this thread isn't about getting rid of one religion, it is about getting rid of all religions. The others are just collateral damage.

MICHALECOLE posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

DirtBasedSoap posted...

i don't think people understand what religion is lol

how do you get rid of something that's naturally in humans

Okay what is religion and how is it naturally in humans

Tell me

people are always looking for answers. that's what religion is. you can make Christianity, Islam , Judaism all disappear, but give it a little bit and people would find something else to parade around.
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DirtBasedSoap posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

DirtBasedSoap posted...

i don't think people understand what religion is lol

how do you get rid of something that's naturally in humans

Okay what is religion and how is it naturally in humans

Tell me

people are always looking for answers. that's what religion is. you can make Christianity, Islam , Judaism all disappear, but give it a little bit and people would find something else to parade around.

Yeah but these days we know many of the answers to the questions that religion was supposed to answer. Now our biggest questions are along the lines of "How do we stop these religious people from murdering us?"

Giant2005 posted...

Everyone should be in agreement here. Even good Christians would agree that the world would be better without religion, purely because it would end the bloodshed caused by the other religions. If you aren't willing to sacrifice your own religion for the good of mankind, then you aren't standing up for your religions ideals anyway.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about, and should keep your mouth shut and fingers from typing about anything religious.
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Giant2005 posted...

DirtBasedSoap posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

DirtBasedSoap posted...

i don't think people understand what religion is lol

how do you get rid of something that's naturally in humans

Okay what is religion and how is it naturally in humans

Tell me

people are always looking for answers. that's what religion is. you can make Christianity, Islam , Judaism all disappear, but give it a little bit and people would find something else to parade around.

Yeah but these days we know many of the answers to the questions that religion was supposed to answer. Now our biggest questions are along the lines of "How do we stop these religious people from murdering us?"

sure, that's a really simple way of looking at it.




we still don't have a lot of answers lol
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I'm not religious myself, but I just had this discussion on an article I posted on Facebook the other day. I think it is undeniable that the various religions of the world have done some very good things and very bad things. Ultimately, though, I think they have provided solid moral guidelines for billions upon billions of people for millennia, and some people (certainly not all, but some) really NEED that moral guidance. The problem comes when people don't respect others' religious beliefs (or lack thereof) when they differ from their own.

So while religion has never really been particularly important in my life, I think on the whole it has been a force more for good than for bad (note: neither one erases the other). If we could just chill as a species and stop hating each other over which version of a higher power we revere (or don't), the world would be awesome. But wiping religion out from the world might have vast unintended consequences.
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Zero_Maniac posted...

Giant2005 posted...

Everyone should be in agreement here. Even good Christians would agree that the world would be better without religion, purely because it would end the bloodshed caused by the other religions. If you aren't willing to sacrifice your own religion for the good of mankind, then you aren't standing up for your religions ideals anyway.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about, and should keep your mouth shut and fingers from typing about anything religious.

So the Christuan ideals don't have any objections to the constant and relentless mass murder of innocent people? I knew it was like that in the past, but I thought they grew out of that phase.

Giant2005 posted...

Zero_Maniac posted...

Giant2005 posted...

Everyone should be in agreement here. Even good Christians would agree that the world would be better without religion, purely because it would end the bloodshed caused by the other religions. If you aren't willing to sacrifice your own religion for the good of mankind, then you aren't standing up for your religions ideals anyway.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about, and should keep your mouth shut and fingers from typing about anything religious.

So the Christuan ideals don't have any objections to the constant and relentless mass murder of innocent people? I knew it was like that in the past, but I thought they grew out of that phase.

Define "innocent". I think that, if you do enough digging, you'll find that what they teach you at your Liberal public school isn't quite accurate, or the full picture. Also, Christian doctrine has never supported mass murder of innocents. Christians did that anyways because they had no idea what the Bible actually said until it was translated first to German by Luther, then other languages.
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The funniest thing is that, these days, some of the most intolerant people are the anti-religious ones.

But truth - I'd much rather get rid of all humans. Religion (and religious people) are just a common and easy target for irrational blame, and once we get rid of that/them, the world will shift to something else to hate and blame.

Get rid of all human beings and you instantly solve every problem for everyone right now.
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Zero_Maniac posted...

Giant2005 posted...

Zero_Maniac posted...

Giant2005 posted...

Everyone should be in agreement here. Even good Christians would agree that the world would be better without religion, purely because it would end the bloodshed caused by the other religions. If you aren't willing to sacrifice your own religion for the good of mankind, then you aren't standing up for your religions ideals anyway.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about, and should keep your mouth shut and fingers from typing about anything religious.

So the Christuan ideals don't have any objections to the constant and relentless mass murder of innocent people? I knew it was like that in the past, but I thought they grew out of that phase.

Define "innocent". I think that, if you do enough digging, you'll find that what they teach you at your Liberal public school isn't quite accurate, or the full picture. Also, Christian doctrine has never supported mass murder of innocents. Christians did that anyways because they had no idea what the Bible actually said until it was translated first to German by Luther, then other languages.

Firstly, I'm not a liberal.
Secondly, I'm just interpreting your words and actions.
I said that even Christians should agree that getting rid of religion would be a positive thing, because of all of the lives it would save. Christians are supposed to care about those lives.
Then you showed up and basically refuted the whole thing. If you are a fair representation of Christians, then apparently they do not care about those lives. Or at least, they don't care enough about those lives to be willing to give up the money and power generated by their own religion.
Either way, you are making some strong implications that Christians are not as altruistic as I gave them credit for.

dancer62 posted...

Mead posted...

In some ways yes, in other ways no.

Most charitable works worldwide are done by religious groups.

Some charitable works, and all atrocities, Crusades, Inquisition, Holocaust, Jihad, etc.

Few things: "All" atrocities is clearly bullshit considering that most genocides don't even have a religious overtone and most religions strictly have things against atrocities. Secondly, the Holocaust had nothing to do with religion. Third, the Crusades were just another series of wars. The only thing on your list with an overtly religious theme might be Jihad (granted, the Inquisition might not have been possible without religion) but when your religion and your state gets mixed up, it's not necessarily your religion getting into the fight.

Solid Sonic posted...

Religion was actually better when there was more unknown. In this day and age, thanks to scientific rigor and discovery, there just isn't any room for belief in something you can't fully explain. You can believe in things we don't have the ABILITY to explain but just saying there's something out there that just "is" doesn't really stand scrutiny.

And, yes, when you die that's it. It sucks, life is meaningless, but sorry.

There are actually a lot of things we can't fully explain. The biggest one is existence itself where our theories are, at best, highly suspect.

Zero_Maniac posted...

TheWorstPoster posted...

Want to see a world without religion?

Communist countries tried that.

Also this. The fact that the "Yes" answer in the poll is winning is quite telling of the maturity and thoughtfulness of this board/site.

Yes, when you have no religion, the state quickly becomes your religion. Humans have a fundamental need to believe and submit to a higher power and, when that higher power is concentrated in the hands of evil men, things get pretty fucking scary. Religion goes a lot way in moderating the mobs.



ParanoidObsessive posted...

Nade Duck posted...

people are awful shits regardless of religion, they'd just find other reasons to kill each other.

if you wanna get rid of it can we at least get rid of guns too

No, we need to cut out the middleman and all of the half-steps, and just go directly to getting rid of humans.

No humans solves pretty much every major problem in the world.

If nothing else, it would stop stupid angsty teens and neckbearded manchildren from constantly making BOO-HOO RELIGION SUCKS! topics on a web site about video games, and that alone is the noblest of all goals.

Cutting the Gordian Knot. >_> tbh, given that sentient beings are the only thing which gives the world meaning, it might as well not exist so we should wipe out the planet as well.
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DryvBy posted...

It's not every religion blowing themselves up. And we had a country without religion once. It was Russia under Stalin.

Well, we've actually had a few countries without religion. You certainly can't forget Maoist China.

Giant2005 posted...

I said that even Christians should agree that getting rid of religion would be a positive thing, because of all of the lives it would save. Christians are supposed to care about those lives.

Except it wouldn't necessarily save lives and it would certainly cost other lives.
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Giant2005 posted...

Zero_Maniac posted...

Giant2005 posted...

Zero_Maniac posted...

Giant2005 posted...

Everyone should be in agreement here. Even good Christians would agree that the world would be better without religion, purely because it would end the bloodshed caused by the other religions. If you aren't willing to sacrifice your own religion for the good of mankind, then you aren't standing up for your religions ideals anyway.

You clearly have no idea what you're talking about, and should keep your mouth shut and fingers from typing about anything religious.

So the Christuan ideals don't have any objections to the constant and relentless mass murder of innocent people? I knew it was like that in the past, but I thought they grew out of that phase.

Define "innocent". I think that, if you do enough digging, you'll find that what they teach you at your Liberal public school isn't quite accurate, or the full picture. Also, Christian doctrine has never supported mass murder of innocents. Christians did that anyways because they had no idea what the Bible actually said until it was translated first to German by Luther, then other languages.

Firstly, I'm not a liberal.
Secondly, I'm just interpreting your words and actions.
I said that even Christians should agree that getting rid of religion would be a positive thing, because of all of the lives it would save. Christians are supposed to care about those lives.
Then you showed up and basically refuted the whole thing. If you are a fair representation of Christians, then apparently they do not care about those lives. Or at least, they don't care enough about those lives to be willing to give up the money and power generated by their own religion.
Either way, you are making some strong implications that Christians are not as altruistic as I gave them credit for.

Firsty, I didn't say you were a Liberal. I said your public school that you either go to or went to almost certainly is. Secondly, no you're not interpreting my words, (and you can't even see whatever actions I may be doing behind my screen). You're twisting them. You think that just because I don't want to get rid of religion (including my own) that I do not care about the lives of humans. This assertion is entirely unfounded and fallacious, because it assumes that the very existence of religion causes people to be slaughtered or otherwise die, which is just not the case. Only someone corrupted by the Liberal world would think this, because it's the Liberals who see religion as a bad thing and a threat, and want everyone else to see religion the same way.

I'm guessing you also think the Crusades were not an act of self-defense on the part of the Christians. Why? Because you've been brainwashed by the Liberal schooling system. They tell you all about the horrible things Christians did during the Crusades and tell you that the Church said those horrible things were okay and that the indulgences given to the crusaders made whatever atrocities they committed okay...which is not the case.
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In modern times, unequivocally yes.

Many of the dogmatic rules and what seems today like archaic practices may have had a value many millennia ago before the widespread understanding civilization and science of today, but now they don't serve any societal function other than to just be a "tradition" that serves no purpose other than as a ritual for followers to follow. And that's not tha harmful ones.

That being said, people do a lot of things that serve no real purpose (like posting on gamefaqs potd), so long as people keep it in perspective and don't preach or push it on others and look at thier practices like a hobby not a calling to twist and use to control others.
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Yes, BUT, there are many, many religions that mind their own business. I'd say religions like those under Christianity, and Islam can take off, but others like Shintoism don't bother anybody.