Would the world be better off without Religion?

Well let's think about it.

There are basically 3 parts to almost every religion (almost).

- You have the Bible thumper types that try and live their life by the 'book'. These people may try and impose their religion on you, try and convert you, but at the same time they have tried to better their life some way or another, which is great. This is the most positive side to religion, but with everything good there will swing a bad side to things.

-The middle group. I believe Agnostics can fall into this category, it's also people that follow a good set of morals, try and live a decent life, but don't get involved too much, they're basically the people that don't care too much or may not display it very much, a majority of the populus in the world fall into this category.

-Now, we have the 3rd category, the extremists. The opposite side of the spectrum, these are the groups/people that try and justify killing in the name of their religion, by saying their God has told them to. This side almost out-weighs any specific religion when they use their religion as an excuse for hatred (ex: Muslims, the Jews fighting over holy land, etc.. Hell even the Christians had crusades back in the day) There are hardly any religions out there these days that are guilt-free of having violence put in place by their name. Except maybe, Mormons?

But that's besides the point, does the Good outweight the Bad, or the opposite? I personally feel that Religion is a good thing for this world, it really does help people live their lives better more-so than the extreme side that has taken it out of context and the wrong way, but that is just my opinion. Some say that religion isn't a good thing (mj) and that the world would be a better place without it, doing so would create somewhat of a utopia, but that in fact would be a roman case scenario, and would end up turning into it's own form of religion with it's own mini-evolution... Just an opinion, though.

Religion is for the weak.

It gives people something to believe and put faith in, hoping that there is something better than reality. In all honesty, it works. Like you said, people 'converting' or just practicing a good Christian lifestyle can better their lives. I've seen it happen. Just think of all the ex-cons that come out of prison reformed, preaching, and end up turning their life around.

I don't really think their can be a definite answer to your question. If there weren't any religions in this world, what/who would people look to? There are natural instincts in humans to be leaders/followers, and if there weren't any religions in this world, you'd probably have a high number of sects and/or cults that believe in a common goal.

There will always be a greater power out there..

I feel that religion can have positive effects on individuals and on small groups of people. However, the effect of religion on the world is war. The good does not outweigh the bad, in my opinion.

People feel so strongly about religion that when someone else disagrees with them, it doesn't take much to start a war.

Religion is for those who have nothing else to believe in. The world would deffinetly be better off without it.

It's hard to tell. Religion is often times an excuse to make other reasons a little more sexy to wage war. It's a way of okaying it with the masses. Without religion we could have had many of the same wars just for different reasoning.

But let's say we all have one religion? We go back to that theory of Utopia, which in essence, would be the perfect thing we would need to evolve as a species.

One religion would be bad. Imagine what would happen to any intellectual guilty of apostasy.

They're sent to an island to brood in the rapport of the other outcasts.

i think that generalized religion is bad. people should think what they want to think, not be brought up thinking that one option is the only option. cause religion leaves too many questions un answered. so my opinion, make your own opinions.

Nope. If there wasn't religion, many misguided people would have nothing to turn to and then do whatever they damn well please because they have nothing to live for.

religion is very important in this world, it gives people something to put faith in and do their best (ie christianism etc) and make their lives as model citizens, which both helps people turn their lifes around AND makes society better.

I mean, when there's trouble arounda community, or something or the other, religious people (category 1) would try to help which is great way to make the economy and the political system improve much, since democracy is dependent on the people (dont' correct me) as such if the people are like, goodie toshoes, then we won't have much problems :P

I think religion gets worse backlash than it should. There will be divides until we've fucked each other out of diversity.

Kyeruu, do you think atheists are unhappy? Immoral? Negligent of social responsibilities? Is there any tangible thing a theist can do that an atheist can't? Atheists are not necessarily devoid of all faith. We can have faith in people. We can have faith in the tangible, in the here and now rather than in an alleged afterlife. We can even be spiritual people. Admittedly, I am not, however I don't speak for all atheists either.

Just because I don't belive in God doesn't mean I'm not going to try and help an old lady getting mugged. I have morals.

But let's say we all have one religion? We go back to that theory of Utopia, which in essence, would be the perfect thing we would need to evolve as a species.

Conflict is one the very best catalysts for advancement, especially from a research and development standpoint. One of the very core ideas to evolution, "survival of the fittest", is a direct result of conflict.

On the subject of religion itself and if the world would be better off without it, I'm not sure that we would be. Religion has inspired such a massive amount of Arts and such that the world would be a vastly different landscape than what we know now. While there is much to deplore about religion, there is also much to rejoice in my eyes.

Conflict is one the very best catalysts for advancement, especially from a research and development standpoint. One of the very core ideas to evolution, "survival of the fittest", is a direct result of conflict.

Yes, that is very true. But, look at it on a broader scale, my own personal belief believe there are many many other species/creatures/life forms within our universe/parallel universes so now if we could evolve to that point where we are as one we could then compete with other species, which would be on the much broader scale.

On the subject of religion itself and if the world would be better off without it, I'm not sure that we would be. Religion has inspired such a massive amount of Arts and such that the world would be a vastly different landscape than what we know now. While there is much to deplore about religion, there is also much to rejoice in my eyes.

Good point, we would have no Pyramids, no Cistine chapel, no old Roman structures or Colosseums, No massive churches that you can find worldwide, etc.

Just because I don't belive in God doesn't mean I'm not going to try and help an old lady getting mugged. I have morals.

Why would you help the person you're mugging? You make no sense.

Why would you help the person you're mugging? You make no sense.

You're retarded sometimes.. hah.

I know that's not what he meant, but I was bored and felt like typing something. Hmm, I'm watching a show on hippies. You guys were born in the wrong time .

Hmph.

Back on topic.

Wars for the most part may have been influenced, but God has not called for it, when you think about it. Even back with the Romans they used their arsenal of Gods to justify their wars when in fact they were solely based on greed.

Yet, there are so many wars that have been caused by them..

All of the Crusades.
The Troubles in Ireland
Rwanda 1994
Boznia-Herzegovina (and by extension Kosovo)
The Ivory Coast civil wars
Cyprus
East Timor civil war
Sri Lankan civil war
Current Iraqi civil war
Hezbollah vs. Israel
Syria vs. Israel
Kashmir civil war
Chechnya civil war
Sudan
Thirty Years War
9/11 and our current war in Afghanistan was somewhat influced by the Muslims that believe 'death to the infidels', so that could be placed in as a technicality.
WWII was based on Hilter wanting to kill the entire jewish population.