Would society be better off without religion?

[JohnK]

Why or why not?

 

[Revolight]

No, it would not. Some people are just attracted to faith, it gives them hope and happiness. Religion also motivates people to do good deeds. Granted, religion is sometimes an excuse used by terrorists and other plain idiots. However, religion is still needed because in most parts of the world it makes people happy in a good way, though there are several flaws.

I'm atheist btw.

 

[Schutzengel]

Religion in general doesn't necessarily make society better or worse. It depends on the person's religous views.

 

[malakadang]

Unfortunately no.

Religion is the foundation for many peoples lives. I have consulted many people and they inevitable say that they believe in God otherwise they have nothing. Whether it be the people that think that the troubles they go through in this life will be rewarded in their reincarnation. Or, the people that do obscene things for virgins in heaven. Or people believing in Heaven and Hell.

Religion has, and for quite a while, will continue to play a pivotal role in peoples lives. If you pull the carpet from under 5 billion people, the consequences will be unimaginable. Conversely, religion is the cause of an innumerable number of societies issues, past, present, and undoubtedly future.

It's a lose, lose situation, it's poisoned the minds of too many.

 

[The Don Kiluminati]

Nope, ALOT of problems would still persist. It could be anything from Social pressure, Nationalism ... a clash of "ideologies". Even today, there's plenty of problems that aren't necassarily caused by religion, from which Society suffers from. An example could be racism.

As long as we have free thought and are free thinking, they'll always be problems.

 

[the_dealer]

There is a reason that religion was created. From an atheist's point of view, its in human nature to need something to believe in. Whether its the big bang theory, or God did some crazy-awesome magic and made the world in 7 days, people still need to know why they're here.

I think the question most people ask is not why, but how. People want to know how the world was created. How long it took. I think that the "Why are we here" question is both unanswerable and irrelevant. Nobody knows why. It just is.

Back on religion, everybody understands about right and wrong. People think that its God, or Satan, or Allah, or Krishna. All of these omniscient people with 1ns4an3 p0werrrr! Also known as omnipotent. They believe that these people control what they do. Personally, I don't believe they exist. What I do believe, however, is that these "prophets" - Jesus, Muhammed etc. (basically everyone listed in the Islamic faith) were genuine people who were good at heart. I don't believe in miracles or any voodoo crap, but the stories inside the holy books written after them, such as the Bible, Torah and Qu'ran all have some useful information, and interesting stories with morales - aka. parables.

So no, society would not be better off without it.

tl;dr The figureheads of religion are bs, the storybooks are cool but would be better if they had coloured pictures.

 

[Lord LaLa]

I was going to write something along the lines of this but this seems more thought out and a lot better than what i would have put so i feel the same as the_dealer

There is a reason that religion was created. From an atheist's point of view, its in human nature to need something to believe in. Whether its the big bang theory, or God did some crazy-awesome magic and made the world in 7 days, people still need to know why they're here.

I think the question most people ask is not why, but how. People want to know how the world was created. How long it took. I think that the "Why are we here" question is both unanswerable and irrelevant. Nobody knows why. It just is.

Back on religion, everybody understands about right and wrong. People think that its God, or Satan, or Allah, or Krishna. All of these omniscient people with 1ns4an3 p0werrrr! Also known as omnipotent. They believe that these people control what they do. Personally, I don't believe they exist. What I do believe, however, is that these "prophets" - Jesus, Muhammed etc. (basically everyone listed in the Islamic faith) were genuine people who were good at heart. I don't believe in miracles or any voodoo crap, but the stories inside the holy books written after them, such as the Bible, Torah and Qu'ran all have some useful information, and interesting stories with morales - aka. parables.

So no, society would not be better off without it.

tl;dr The figureheads of religion are bs, the storybooks are cool but would be better if they had coloured pictures.

 

[Proc]

I believe so, think of what we could accomplish without the chains of religion? Science would grow exponentially, with nothing to hold it back. Sure, some people are lost without religion, but people who are fine without religion can find purpose without it. Once the religious lunatics all die off, we would be able to pursue science, life, and freedom.

 

[Joker91]

No, everyone needs something to put their faith into. Be it science or religion. Do I wish people would stop letting religion completely dictate their every action? Yes. However, I think the world would be an overall worse place if it completely lacked religion.

 

[Rs-Gorillaz]

Science would grow exponentially, with nothing to hold it back

Science is growing exponentially at the moment.

Sure, some people are lost without religion, but people who are fine without religion can find purpose without it.[/

People with no religion can still "find purpose with out it" even if others in society choose to pursue it, I don't see your logix here.

Once the religious lunatics all die off, we would be able to pursue science, life, and freedom

I'm sorry this was such an obscure and dumb statement I am choosing not to respond to it.

 

[Tckr]

No it leads people to do good things in their day to day life. We would never have karma if there was no religion.

 

[malakadang]

No it leads people to do good things in their day to day life. We would never have karma if there was no religion.

Such as blowing up buildings, creating cults and enslaving minions, all the crusades and jihads, the recent burning of another holy book, and the subsequent murder produced by such an act, the degradation of women, the honour killings, the extremists on all ends, the time wasted either going to church, praying every friday, or the food forgone, the list is endless.

Sure, it may lead some people to do good things, though, it is not pragmatical to simply yank the carpet from beneath the believers. Maybe over time with education they will diminish, as Atheism is on the ascent, and religious followers on the decline.

 

[Jimmy]

Religion is a divisive force, used to promote hate, prejudice, and separation. Any society would do well in freeing themselves from the shackles of religious superstition, and in this way I can say it would be unequivocally good for religion to wither away altogether. There is not a single thing provided by religion that it can claim a monopoly on, and so it is quite clear that it serves no useful purpose whatsoever.

Religion is the foundation for many peoples lives. I have consulted many people and they inevitable say that they believe in God otherwise they have nothing. Whether it be the people that think that the troubles they go through in this life will be rewarded in their reincarnation. Or, the people that do obscene things for virgins in heaven. Or people believing in Heaven and Hell.

The fact that individuals find meaning in their lives through religion does not mean that society as a whole would not be better off without it. Further, taking religion away from society does not necessarily entail taking it away from individuals; a slow process of secularization could come about in such a way that religion merely fades in influence over people's lives, and nobody is left feeling as if they missed it.

I'm sorry this was such an obscure and dumb statement I am choosing not to respond to it.

I don't think obscure was the correct word to use there.

Nope, ALOT of problems would still persist. It could be anything from Social pressure, Nationalism ... a clash of "ideologies". Even today, there's plenty of problems that aren't necassarily caused by religion, from which Society suffers from. An example could be racism.

As long as we have free thought and are free thinking, they'll always be problems.

You didn't answer the question at all.

 

[malakadang]

The fact that individuals find meaning in their lives through religion does not mean that society as a whole would not be better off without it. Further, taking religion away from society does not necessarily entail taking it away from individuals; a slow process of secularization could come about in such a way that religion merely fades in influence over people's lives, and nobody is left feeling as if they missed it.

My standpoint is that if religion was suddenly yanked away from society, the aftermath would be cataclysmic.

Society is a collective body of individuals, so, if you take religion away from society, it stands to reason that it's been taken away from the individuals. Though, I agree, and was eluding to the fact that gradually, religion will fade in time through education and perhaps secularization, though, an abrupt change is not pragmatic.

 

[Billetes]

My standpoint is that if religion was suddenly yanked away from society, the aftermath would be cataclysmic.

Society is a collective body of individuals, so, if you take religion away from society, it stands to reason that it's been taken away from the individuals. Though, I agree, and was eluding to the fact that gradually, religion will fade in time through education and perhaps secularization, though, an abrupt change is not pragmatic.

You can't just take religion away and everything it's brought in an instant, of course if that were to happen, then yes I agree everyone that lives their lives by following a religion to the bone will be lost, and it would be chaos. But if it is done slowly as time goes by, then that's different, and I believe it's happening as we speak. I honestly think religion is destroying itself slowly, there's always going to be people that convert and leave religion but even though for instance Islam is the fastest growing religion, I think there's more people being brought up without religion than ever before, and there's also more people leaving religion than ever before.

 

[malakadang]

You can't just take religion away and everything it's brought in an instant, of course if that were to happen, then yes I agree everyone that lives their lives by following a religion to the bone will be lost, and it would be chaos. But if it is done slowly as time goes by, then that's different, and I believe it's happening as we speak. I honestly think religion is destroying itself slowly, there's always going to be people that convert and leave religion but even though for instance Islam is the fastest growing religion, I think there's more people being brought up without religion than ever before, and there's also more people leaving religion than ever before.

Precisely what I said.

The only reason Islam is still on the incline is because of the lack of education. Many of the Muslims live in 3rd world countries, they have never ever been exposed to western society. Imagine if all of a sudden we were exposed to flying cars, and teleportation devices, I think we would certainly be changed.

 

[Zerk Perk]

i think it would be better with it because it gives people hope and keeps some people from doing really bad things

 

[Divine_God]

i think it would be better with it because it gives people hope and keeps some people from doing really bad things

Bad things?

Religion has caused the death of more people in history than ANYTHING ELSE.

I feel that, yes people would be better off without religion, but now, since it has instilled itself into peoples minds. If one were to simply take it away society would collapse. In general however, humanity without a religion would be better.

 

[0120012345]

Religion has been responsible with the death of potential contributors in the future of the past. I agree with that.

I presume that society would probably be better without religion. Religion opposes many cases. Abortion, divorce or the use of contraceptives in some countries.

All of these, religion will dispute if either it is right or wrong regarding their religious practices, the commandments of their gods.

Religion makes every step to the future complicated as they dissent every opportunity to make the community be improved.

 

[T_Onli_One]

No, everybody needs a guide in life.