Religion: Does It Do More Harm Than Good? (1 Viewer)

[ur_inner_child]

Differing from the subjects in the threads "Does God Exist" and "What Is God" I wanted to rant about whether it is socially beneficial or not that organised religions exist.

This is not about whether God exists, but rather, analysing and recognising social behaviours as well as various religions.

The only cause for which I feel religion has a place, is from the idea that a secular society would not be any better than a religious society, simply because religion is an easier measure to motivate someone to hold values. Not everyone is able to control themselves in absolute freedom. Other than this, it is another way to discrimate against people, to promote prejudice, and assume superiority over the other.

If religion does more harm than good, why is it on the increase especially in first world countries?

Discuss.

 

[davin]

depends on the religion. from a social impact viewpoint...there are some religions i respect a lot....Mormons would be top of my list on that, actually.

i think it falls to more how religion is used than the nature of religion itself, and unfortuintly it seems to be misused too much nowdays

 

[aamslfc]

I've said this somewhere else...

Religion is the root cause of much of the world's problems. Violence and hatred often stems from religious differences, or breaches of legislation which govern and control the use of religion.

 

[Generator]

Religion in its entirety isn't necessarily bad, especially when it offers many what I consider to be just another constructed form of meaning and direction. That said, intolerant, anachronistic, divisive and oppressive forms of religion and the ways in which they are practiced are harmful and they are of minimal value in a progressive society. In my opinion, that is.

With respect to war and the worlds problems, I think that it is only fair that I point out that it is a fear of the other that is the root cause of most of the world's problems - religion is but one way in which such fears are mobilised, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

There is no question about it. Any good religion does is hugely outweighed by the problems it causes. You just have to look at history to see it. Even now it's still happening.

And it's only going to get worse. Terrorism at the moment is happening because of religion. And within 100 years it is going to turn into a full on war between muslims and christians.

 

[HotShot]

I've said this somewhere else...

Religion is the root cause of much of the world's problems. Violence and hatred often stems from religious differences, or breaches of legislation which govern and control the use of religion.

LOL, its not religion that causes violence. Its humans, its human nature to be violent, to feel alienated, to discriminate those that are different. We fear things that are different.

Violence is everywhere, if you remove religion- 'world's problems would still exist. Many peeps use religion as an excuse to to do violent actions and as a result ur perspective is that religion has cause all this.

Religion, is just a basically a set of rules, a guide. ITs up to you as an individual to make a choice to believe in it, abide by it etc. So religion is not a cause of problems, rather its in human natures. Humans are greedy bastards (like any animal), we want more, and as result we will do anything to get it and this means using religion, politics, art etc.

 

[HotShot]

There is no question about it. Any good religion does is hugely outweighed by the problems it causes. You just have to look at history to see it. Even now it's still happening.

And it's only going to get worse. Terrorism at the moment is happening because of religion. And within 100 years it is going to turn into a full on war between muslims and christians.

That all depends on America's actions, they seem to be the warmongers. They have the power to stop a war, but i doubt they will, they will use for economic purposes to further strengthen their militaric and economic stance in the world.

 

[davin]

yes, america is a warmonger. which is why the u.s. was attacked for YEARS before striking back against the taliban in afghanistan.

and this doesn't help the economic position of the u.s, either

 

[soha]

in my personal life religon does more good then harm
i believe if people in the religon followed their religon properly and didnt go off on tangents then it would do more good then harm
it only takes one to ruin it for everybody

 

[soha]

But your religion implicitly states that people who do not follow it are infidels.

This is one of the dangers, mongering hatred through religion.

so?...wtf..do u know what infidel means

One who has no religious beliefs.
One who doubts or rejects a particular doctrine, system, or principle.

and yes anyone who is not muslim is an infidel
is it that hard to accept?....that u are a non believer in islam..lol

 

[davin]

i'll generally agree with soha here on the word itself, though i will add that infidel does have a negative connotation, so its not exactly a term used with tolerance in mind.

 

[soha]

The um... shall we say 'guidance' of the qu'ran in regards to infidels is what I have an issue with.

Any religion promoting violence or insular, closeminded beliefs doesn't help society.

frankly i dont care what you have a problem with in islam
i am muslim and i have studied islam and i know what to accept and reject
i knwo what is acceptable and not acceptable in my own religon
so when an imam says something i dont necessarily follow it..or when someone takes something out of context i dont necessarily believe it
im also not going to delve into this...because all religons have sects and followers go off in tangents
and people mis represent islam
and you cant follow a religon by the followers..you have to look into the religon itself
if i was an outsider and i looked at islam and the followers i would be put off too..but its once u actually study islam..(properly) not from weird sources then u will understand it and u can judge it..but not by its followers
neways so over this..i vowed never to talk about islam on bos again

 

[soha]

Yeah, because you always got owned.

no i dont get owned
atleast i wont be getting owned on the day of judgemnt little bitch
no really its because i dont care enough...im just going to worry about myself..and wasting my time on forums when clearly most of you are trolls
why should i give a shit..id prefer you to all have a backwards view on islam..makes my life easy....

 

[davin]

back on topic....generally, does religion provide a greater social good or a social evil?

 

[soha]

You believe in Judgement Day? Fuck me. Why are humans so fucking stupid?

um one word..yes
and because thats the way God created us

sometimes i wish you would hurry up and die...and then i can be like in your fucking face you little bitch..

hm thats evil soha...i take that back...

 

[soha]

back on topic....generally, does religion provide a greater social good or a social evil?

all religons promote peace and love harmony and social justice blah blah blah
we just need people to follow them properly

 

[davin]

ah, but you bring up social justice. thats a very grey area.

 

[soha]

No, It's going to be sad when you die, because you won't ever realise that you got fucked in the arse by believing that there is an afterlife.

seriously...i cant wait to die
it wont be sad
it will only be the beginning and you will see eventually
we all will
yaaaay

 

[HotShot]

yes, america is a warmonger. which is why the u.s. was attacked for YEARS before striking back against the taliban in afghanistan.

and this doesn't help the economic position of the u.s, either

oh yeah they were really attacked....

Vietnam, WWI, WWII, Gulf War 1, Gulf War 1, Afghan, Somali,,,it just goes on...

 

[davin]

so, you're saying germany should've won WWI? and what the HECK do you think you're doing listing WWII with other wars that the U.S. was involved in that didn't lead to provocation? The U.S. was attacked by Japan, hense, the U.S. fought Japan. Or are you just saying that the U.S. shouldn't have helped against Germany in europe?

in fact, the U.S. was attacked by waht led to going into afghanistan too.

and really, the wars that would be worth mentioning in here are the ones tied to terrorism, which would limit it, in my view, to The Gulf War and Afghanistan only. To consider things like the Korean and Vietnamese wars, we'd have to be discussing ideologies of capitalism vs communism. Granted, Vietnam was also more in that the U.S. decided to help france when france asked for help. Which doesn't mean i'm defending taht mess.