Religious debate

[DeletedUser]

For the sake of debate about the entirity of the groups of 'religion' supporting various Gods, let us put forward cases from which 'religion' not God but 'religion' is a bad thing for the world.

I believe religion itself manipulates the entity that is God for its own purposes of propaganda, sometimes, or complete control, in other times.

(Yes, that was a topic starter, feel free to bring up other subjects...)

 

[DeletedUser]

I believe religion is there for people who wish to believe there is something after death, or a higher purpose to life.

I held the belief for a long time that religion is for the weak, who cannot make it through life knowing that when you die your body will slowly decompose and left as a rotting corpse, you're mind ceasing to exist from the moment you die.

Although now I see that religion is there for people who need it. We're all different and have different levels of mental maturity, so some people need stability in life.

^ That's my take on the concept of religion and god, although more religion. I have other views on whether Religion is good for us, although cba to write it down.

 

[DeletedUser3312]

Religion is bad.
A terrible thing which results in war, grief, greed and lust for power.

Should be gotten rid of. Does nothing good.

 

[DeletedUser]

There is nothing wrong with religions, its the people who interpret the religions that are the problem.

 

[DeletedUser]

There is nothing wrong with religions, its the people who interpret the religions that are the problem.

And unfortunately its the people who made them so many are inherently flawed. I know they are slowly evolving which is at least something, hopefully they'll continue their trend to taking less of a role in society

 

[DeletedUser]

Nuff said really... :/

 

[DeletedUser]

Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the religion of my family although I guess I don't follow it anymore. Buddhism is pretty awesome and quite similar to Titoism.

 

[DeletedUser]

Scientology I'm convinced is based upon Stargate SG-1...

 

[DeletedUser]

"a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs." - Source

I have no issue with religion as a whole. It is organized religion that I have an issue with. Organized religion leads to the twisting of beliefs in order to benefit the organization. Religion as its own is perfectly fine. If someone wants to believe that God set up the Universe and will care for us in the afterlife, who am I to prove them wrong? There is no solid proof that God does not exist and that there is no Afterlife. While evidence may point away from it, God can exist as a way to deal with such unanswerable questions.

Personally, I stray from organized religion but I like to keep the idea of God. I believe that God is much like a clockmaker in that he created the basis for the universe and then sat back and watched it run.

 

[DeletedUser]

You all talk about the bad things Religion did - think about the good things it has done?

 

[DeletedUser]

You all talk about the bad things Religion did - think about the good things it has done?

yeah. Like that time when that geezer got stuck up a cross. That was great...

 

[DeletedUser]

Religion was the basis of the invention of the Code of Laws which forms our legal system today. We put weight in our religious beliefs as proven by how many swear by respective holy books as a sign of their allegiance to what is correct, the truth.

 

[DeletedUser]

yeah. Like that time when that geezer got stuck up a cross. That was great...

Ignorance. :icon_rolleyes:

Religion was the basis of the invention of the Code of Laws which forms our legal system today. We put weight in our religious beliefs as proven by how many swear by respective holy books as a sign of their allegiance to what is correct, the truth.

Exactly. Religions also help to form Morals and Values we see in everyday society.

 

[DeletedUser]

Religion is powerful. Anything that is powerful will be used by the ambitious for their own agenda. The "religious" wars throughout human history have rarely been about God; money and power were the real motives behind the pretexts.

Personally, I suspect religion has helped many more people than it has harmed, but I guess there is no way of measuring that.

Buddhism is pretty awesome and quite similar to Titoism.

Hahaha! You crack me up sometimes, Boxxy.

 

[DeletedUser]

Hahaha! You crack me up sometimes, Boxxy.

Boxxy luvs the Tito.

Religion won't ever go away in my opinion, which is a bitter sweet thing.

Good:

• It offers hope and a basic code to live by for many people.
• Sometimes "Finding God" can really change people's lives around because they feel they are being judged.
• It encourages charity and community spirit, and a lot of priests are like the "elder wise men/women" from years gone by.
• The most useful teaching that many christians use is "Treat someone else how you would want to be treated," and if Religion does no other good, at least it promotes peace. (Though not necessarily following it)
• It is an idea that saves somebody from the abyss of thinking about death and the Universe. It is much easier to be able to explain the "miracles" on a higher being rather than look into what actually causes it. I have said before and will say again; Everybody would Like to think there is something better to this life after death, those who belief in religion actually believe there is.

But Unfortunately the Bad completely outweighs the Good. In fact there is so much bad I won't even attempt to list it, but it mostly comprises off: Killed more people than it has saved. People waste their lives following a false idea. Ignorance is bliss, but is blind to the truth. It weakens people mentally, which in turn makes them rely on "God" for everyday life. Acts of great horror can be blamed on a higher being...

 

[DeletedUser]

Good:

• It offers hope and a basic code to live by for many people.
• Sometimes "Finding God" can really change people's lives around because they feel they are being judged.
• It encourages charity and community spirit, and a lot of priests are like the "elder wise men/women" from years gone by.
• The most useful teaching that many christians use is "Treat someone else how you would want to be treated," and if Religion does no other good, at least it promotes peace. (Though not necessarily following it)
• It is an idea that saves somebody from the abyss of thinking about death and the Universe. It is much easier to be able to explain the "miracles" on a higher being rather than look into what actually causes it. I have said before and will say again; Everybody would Like to think there is something better to this life after death, those who belief in religion actually believe there is.

But Unfortunately the Bad completely outweighs the Good. In fact there is so much bad I won't even attempt to list it, but it mostly comprises off: Killed more people than it has saved. People waste their lives following a false idea. Ignorance is bliss, but is blind to the truth. It weakens people mentally, which in turn makes them rely on "God" for everyday life. Acts of great horror can be blamed on a higher being...

But what about the value of each of the bad/good things. Maybe from a Sociologists perspective it is different as much of socialising a child with good intentions, values and norms comes from Religions.

 

[DeletedUser]

I think that although it may have had its odd use in history, its really not needed today.

In fact, it would be impossible to say what history would be like without religion as its been invovled in a numbber of areas, both good and bad. Have too say, more bad examples leap to mind than good.

Today however, there's little use for it. They'll either stick to their guns and act like its still the dark ages, or they'll attempt to keep up with todays society and end up diluting themselves to the point where they don't matter.

Also, I disagree that religion gave us all our goodness etc. As religions were created by people (my opinion), the ideas behind them were created by humanity. Its not like without them we'd have been selfish and cruel. I'm not religious, yet I'm not going to be evil to everyone just because there's no religion telling me to. Laws would have been made anyway and we'd keep to them.

 

[DeletedUser]

I'm a nihilist. Gave up Islam and became a Nihilist shortly after doing Hajj when I was 14. Never looked back.


Faith in God is easy.
Following a set of practices that men say God wants us to follow ?

Much more flawed and full of logical gapes.

 

[DeletedUser]

I don't understand WHY people believe in God in the first place. Ingenious idea of someone to come up with the idea that life was designed and that it was too good a coincidence for us to come along. BUT!

There being a god just raises further questions for instance, I can follow the theory of the universe, of there being equal negative and positive energy so as to fulfill the conservation of energy but if God exists, who made God? And, who made the maker of God? Does God have a family? If so, who was the founder of God's family? What did God make the world out of? Where is god now?

The truth is, we are so insignificant it's mind boggling. People like to feel important, but we are the result of a billion other planets and we happened to be the one which went all the way. You may find just 1 other planet in the universe which has Life on it, but I can almost guarantee the life won't be the same as ours in any way shape or form.

But back to Religion... I don't see how anyone can take any sort of Religion seriously when you have a book telling you things that to somebody with common sense seems ludicrous, especially Scientology.

 

[DeletedUser]

edit: sorry, I made an inappropriate comment