Two Choices (Religion)

[KillerKing]

Okay, I know there are loads of things about religion already but I was just curious myself. Don't know if this has been done before either.

Hypothetically... You have two choices.

1) Completely erase religion from the beginning (It never existed)

2) Let religion continue to be


What would you choose and why?

Personally, I would choose to completely erase religion. I believe the world would be such a better place without human beings feeling a need to please a all knowing super being and sometimes going to extraordinary lengths to achieve this. So many deaths have been caused by religion and yes, although even without religion there would still be death, I think that a lot more people would have survived if there was no religion.

[RoseyCadaver]

ITT: Dislike of religions.


While I don't agree with some religion's teachings on certain things like premarital sex,animals having no souls(rofl), and(or) some of the GLBT issues, I know it's not my place to bring someone down for what they believe in.

I also believe that just like anything, religion has brought good things to this earth. You may have read a couple users(I mainly remember what Deadpie said) say some people need religion to feel a need to live or do good. I also think culturally wise it has brought a lot of good things too.

I believe war over religion is just a disguise some political( and religious) leaders use over foolish people to fight for them.

So I choose number two.

[Gordo]

Either one is fine. Religion tends to end up being not so good. Look up the word religious. It's boring and really isn't about having faith. Christianity on the other hand isn't a religion, it's a faith and isn't meant to be religious. Religion is about doing the right thing to be accepted. Christianity is about being choosing to accepted by Christ and as a result of that choice, your behavior will change. Religion has it backwards.

One of the few times Christ gets mad is when the Pharases (sp) are trying to enforce rules (religion) on Christ. The Pharases were supposed to understand gods law and identify the Christ when he shows up. Well, they effed that up about as much as ya could because they didn't understand church law, they didn't understand that christ came to fulfill the law and not only did they not recognize Christ as the Christ, they said his works were that of satan and turned him over to the authorities and he was crucified. So yeah, they blew it pretty big.

The phasises were all about religion, following rules and judging others on those rules. Rules that they made actually. Christ was the opposite. When he came across mathew who was viewed as a horrible because he was a tax collector who was jewish who took a job taxing fellow jews. As a tax collector, he was a special kind of sinner. bible mentions that tax collectors are worse than sinners and prostitutes. Anyway, jesus meets Matt and doesn't judge him, doesn't tell him rules to follow, he simply says "follow me" and they end up at Matts house with Matts friends and Jesus's buddies weren't too happy about that because they didn't want to be around those kinds of people.

If ya choose to look for it, Jesus liked the kind of people that weren't very much like him and the religious people that you'd think would like jesus didn't really like Jesus. Somehow religion got it all backwards when it is clear what the bible says.

Thus I'm not a fan of religion either, yet i'm a christian. Religious people tend to condemn other people for what they think are sins when in fact the bible says, deal with your own issues before you comment or condemn someone for what you believe their issues are. Jesus was all about forgiveness and not mistreating people, religion and the pharases are all about judging people and thats why a lot of people don't care for people that are religious.

[kenoloor]

Personally, I would choose to completely erase religion. I believe the world would be such a better place without human beings feeling a need to please a all knowing super being and sometimes going to extraordinary lengths to achieve this. So many deaths have been caused by religion and yes, although even without religion there would still be death, I think that a lot more people would have survived if there was no religion.

Do you know how many people would lose purpose to live or do good? Some people, twisted as some of us may think it is, derive their entire set of morals and life's purpose from their religion. Taking that away would be potentially devastating to a vast amount of people.

Many people, myself included, have already said (here (http://www.virtualteen.org/forums/showthread.php?t=125663)) that humans will always find something to be fucktards about.

Regarding your actual question, Salty read my mind. Not to mention how unrealistic this is anyway.

[Genghis Khan]

Second option. I don't mind religion, it's just when Jehovahs and Muslim missionaries give me an anal probe I'm like

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0fDzlITXzYs/Ta7MIe_BvQI/AAAAAAAACSM/AX2onNe9oYI/s1600/tumblr_ljvborsj241qj41h3o1_500.jpg

[kenoloor]

Christianity on the other hand isn't a religion,

http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/300W/f/2010/140/8/b/LOL_WUT_by_xHyperShadowx.jpg

[Amaryllis]

Imagine, sang John Lennon, a world with no religion. Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no witch-hunts, no Gunpowder Plot, no Kashmir dispute, no Indo/Pakistan partition, no Israel/Palestine wars, no Serb/Croat/Muslim massacres, no Northern Ireland 'troubles'. Imagine no Taliban blowing up ancient statues, lashing women for showing an inch of skin, or publicly beheading blasphemers and apostates. Imagine no persecutions of the Jews - no Jews to persecute indeed, for without religion they would long ago have intermarried with the surrounding populations.

But, you may ask, what if religion is true? Let me, then, be ambitious if not presumptuous, and try to persuade you that you do not have the truth. Your confidence in your God is simply wrong!

Why do you believe in your God? Because he talks to you inside your head? That is surely not a reliable argument. The Yorkshire Ripper's murders were ordered by the perceived voice of Jesus inside his head. The human brain is a consummate hallucinator, and hallucinations are not good grounds for beliefs about the real world. Perhaps you believe in God because life would be intolerable without him. That's an even weaker argument. Maybe life just is intolerable. Tough! All sorts of things are intolerable, but it doesn't make them untrue. It may be intolerable that you are starving, but you won't make a stone edible by believing - no matter how passionately and sincerely - that it is made of cheese.

By far the favourite reason for believing in God is the argument from improbability. Eyes and skeletons, hearts and nerve cells are too improbable to have come about by chance. Man-made machines are improbable too, and they are designed by engineers for a purpose. Surely any fool can see that kidneys and wings, ears and blood corpuscles must also be designed for a purpose, by a master Engineer? Well, maybe any fool can see it, but let's stop playing the fool and grow up. It is 146 years since Charles Darwin gave us what is arguably the cleverest idea ever to occur to a human mind. He demonstrated a working process whereby natural forces, with no design whatsoever, can by slow, gradual degrees generate an elegant illusion of design, to almost limitless levels of complexity.

Buuuut... There were many wars and conflicts not motivated by religion. Such as the World Wars, The American Civil War, Cold War, the Rwandan Genocide and so on.

The thing is, a world without religion does not equate to a world of peace. Aggression, destruction, disagreement, racism, territorial expansion, discrimination and resource depletion are simply a part of growth and quests for peace. To advance, we must learn. And however much misery religion has caused, it, too, has been a source of unity for some.

Were there to be no religion, humanity would still find another scapegoat for their stupidity and ignorance and as in the Witch Hunts in Salem - many accused those of which they disliked to be witches and they were tortured and burnt. Often, "God" is used as a source of power and an excuse for doing what one wishes to do.

In time, I believe, atheism will grow and spread, but as of now and as of the past, it exists. Conflict is unavoidable but knowledge and wisdom can be acquired from it.

[Jess]

Even though I'm an atheist and I do believe religion do cause a lot of deaths and problems (though it isn't the only thing obviously), people should be able to believe in whatever they want as long as they don't force it on others. And just because there's no religion doesn't mean there will be world peace.

So, number 2

[trooneh]

Second option, I completely believe that people should be free to believe what they want. However, in return, I want the same courtesy, instead of being demonized by certain people.

[Gordo]

image (http://th04.deviantart.net/fs70/300W/f/2010/140/8/b/LOL_WUT_by_xHyperShadowx.jpg)

Religion: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially 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.

Here is a definition of religion from dictionary.com note the words in red. I Christ didn't come to look for hard workers or devotional people or people to follow ritual observances. He reeeeeally didn't like that stuff and he hated the notion of "governing the conduct".

Christ was and is all about, "Follow me..." Never does he say follow the rules. Never does he say be religious. Never does he say work on you conduct. Never, never, never does he say go to church.

IN FACT, the only time Jesus was pissed off was at a temple talking to the pharasis because they were a bunch of rule following people who loved to sit back and judge others!

Imagine if every religious person didn't condemn other people for their beliefs, but instead followed the teachings of Christ! As in Jesus Christ. Christ/Christian, hence the name Christianity. It's based on Him. Not rules. Not the old testament laws. Him. Period! In fact he even said the reason he came was to fulfill the law (rules). He said that because God knows we can't even follow the 10 commandments.

If ya want religion in your life, become a Jew. Read the old testament and follow the 600+ rules there. I swear to you, Jesus came so we wouldn't have to be religious because that = following rules. He doesn't want rule followers, he wants you to be interested in him. Period.

If you're anti catholic become a Christian. I assure you, very few people need the Catholic church or any church for that matter.

[kenoloor]

Religion: a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially 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.

Here is a definition of religion from dictionary.com note the words in red. I Christ didn't come to look for hard workers or devotional people or people to follow ritual observances. He reeeeeally didn't like that stuff and he hated the notion of "governing the conduct".

Right. "Blah blah, usually involving..." usually. (that means not always)
For fuck's sake, read what you copypasta.

[Jupiter]

well..

i'm religious, so number two.

but even if i didn't believe in a religion, i still feel like things would be so different. bad, maybe worse. maybe better. but to be honest, i really don't think that religion is MUCH of an issue in the day to day world. *shrugs*

[BFG9001]

One. No one would ever know if it, so they can't miss it.

[Gordo]

Right. "Blah blah, usually involving..." usually. (that means not always)
For fuck's sake, read what you copypasta.

Remove everything from usually onward. That leaves you with beliefs etc. Beliefs are thoughts, not action. You believing anything will have zero impact on me. So a belief system is very benign.

Religion requires obedience to an institution and if that institutions says, hey, lets have some Crusades and we'll give people a choice to become catholic or we'll kill them. We gave 'em free will! Some died and the rest signed up to follow our ways and orders.

Religion is about power and money. Faith and beliefs aren't. If muslims didn't have a goal of wiping out the godless infidels, 911 would never happen, but their religion mandates that all non muslims must die.

There's a big diff between religion and faith if you choose to see it and unlike the Jehovah witnesses, it's not anyone's job to attempt to save anyone else. Hope you have a good weekend planned.

[TheMatrix]

If you completely erased religion from the beginning, what would our ancestors have to believe in? How would they explain natural events to themselves? Science didn't just appear one day, you know.
Because the first option is eliminated, that leaves the second option.

[Gaybaby94]

Personally, I would choose to completely erase religion. I believe the world would be such a better place without human beings feeling a need to please a all knowing super being and sometimes going to extraordinary lengths to achieve this. So many deaths have been caused by religion and yes, although even without religion there would still be death, I think that a lot more people would have survived if there was no religion.

This, and not to mention thousands of years of persecutions of minority groups such as African Americans, Native Americans, the LGTB community, and the non religious.

[canadaski]

If religion never existed people would do good things because they want to do them and it makes them feel good, not because they fear being thrown in a mythical fiery dungeon for all eternity. If this were the way, we would have genuinely good people instead of sheep.

[shatter..]

I choose option number two. If religion was completely wiped out people would still grow to want to know where they came from. Yes, there is science but there are going to be people that reject it and come up with religion. Even then, science is all but theories.

[Peace God]

That's a really vague question unless you define religion and when/how it started. Still I pick one. Religions aren't evil but I definitely prefer a world with less dogmatic viewpoints that are open to change and criticism. Religions generally aren't as open to that.

[Philleeep]

im going to say 1.5 i may explain later as to why x

[ryan2000]

2. The human race created religion to cope with the fears of what lies ahead after death, and how we got here. Humans are afraid of the unknown, and the good thing about religion is that it allows these fears to rest, because they have a firm belief that something better is out there. However, what needs to change is the violence that erupts between religions. People have become so mad with their belief in their god/gods/no belief, that they fight, or even kill over the subject. How we could correct this? i dont know. Will it ever happen? I'm pretty sure not. (unless someone somehow managed to convert all people to one religion, or enough evidence comes through to finally convince the thick-headed people of the world ((Don't mean to hate, just saying what i think)) that there is no supreme being.)

[Sephtyan]

I'd choose numero uno. I may not have devoted my life to researching my answer for this question, but I think that had religious beliefs never existed then we as a human race would have been able to advance much more quickly through our understanding of the common sciences.