[quote]Beowolf wrote:
wfifer wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
Beowolf wrote:
Think about it this way?
How many people kill in the name of faith? Do evil in the name of faith? Are prejudice in the name of faith? Discriminate in the name of faith? Today? In history?
How about atheists?
Religion beats it out by a mile.
I think we need new religions. One that preach Jesus’s actual message. Buddha’s message, Socrate’s message, Marcus Aurelius’s message.
I think a world with just athiests would be just as war torn. Religion is just an excuse for war, not a cause (in most cases).
It’s the discrimination, intoleration, and prejudice in which I fault organized religion.
The only reason more people are murdered in the name of religion throughout history is because more people claim religious beliefs than claim to be atheists.
Agree with everything else 100%.
I disagree with both of you.
I mean Zap, where do you get off saying something like that? You’re as ridiculous as your namesake.
And Beowulf, why do you think a nation of atheists would be just as war-torn? People simply aren’t as passionate about anything else as they are about religion. If you take that away, you take away the most powerful tool in rousing the people to action. It’s more likely that all the idiots who are so devout now would turn into apathetic drones.
We’d find something else to fight over. We just wouldn’t have religion as an excuse anymore to cover it up when a nation wants more land/oil/ect…
Very few modern wars are started because or actual religous beliefes. The religion is more of an excuse to motivate the masses than anything else in many cases throughout history.
Yes, religion plays an important role in war, but it is not the sole motivator at all.
I am an athiest, but I also believe some people simply need to spirituality of Theism (though not necessarily through an organized religion).
And I was pointing out, Zap, that religion causes more intoleration and prejudice than Atheism ever has and most likely ever will.
As long as religion is kept out of government and schooling, atheists are generally happy to let people worship however they want in their own homes.
Religious people (many of them) want their views to dictate policy and control science and education. THIS is the “bad” point of religion, not nessecarily the war.
On a second note, is it necessarily or nessecarily?[/quote]
Yeah, but what happens when Atheism becomes the official non-religion of the government? Is it then tolerant? Why not ask the Tibetans? And that is just a recent example. The problem is not religion per se or Atheism per se it is harnessing one’s belief/non-belief system to the government. Once your dogma whether it be Christianity or Atheism (make no mistake Atheism was part of the dogma of Communism)is harnessed to the coercive power of the State then people get murdered and tortured, oppressed, etc all in the name of the religion/dogma/philosophy. Thus the beauty of our Constitution.
