Millennium wrote:mariej wrote:Millennium wrote:mariej wrote:Looking throughout history, I would say that religion has caused more evil than good and the world may have been a better place without it. I don't think the absence of religion would change human nature, but it sure has its share in fueling the fire.
I disagree....the pursuit of power, in the name of religion, has caused more evil than good.....
Well thats the point, what could have been a rational peaceful belief was turned into an irrational scare tactic for profit and people follow it to this day.
It has been bastardized by a few, and then all religions have been lumped by the ignorant as bad for society. As much as Frank, and Ninja want to deny it, religion has done a world of great things and continues to this day, but, like in politics you have those that will take advantage of a few, and harm the image of the many.
Good things could be done without the religious BS, so don't give religion credit when the credit goes to people. If organized religion disappeared tomorrow it would help assure a more modern, sane, and peaceful future in general on Earth. It would be the single biggest explosion of progress ever.
And it has not just been "bastardized by a few" - that is your ignorant and wishful thinking. Countless leaders, tyrants, churches, priests, etc. used it to kill, torture, and help oppress. Countless loads over the centuries have held back and punished attempts at progress and freedom. The block to freedom and equality alone blows your statement out of the water. It is bastardized and used for negative things every day all over the world.
Seeing the nature of archaic text, this was very predictable and no surprise at all. That is just another reason it's ridiculous for any modern person with indoor plumbing to assert that it is from God. God would have known the centuries of slavery and oppression organized religion was custom suited to fuel. God would have known that countless bases of power and people were going to take the calls for killing non-believers and buying children slaves, and a list of other horrible standards, as the opposite of help for freedom and peace.
If you wanted to cause a ton of problems in the world you would create organized religion with text and put some death and stoning in there along with slavery rules and dogma about punishment and needing to be saved, sporting exclusive correctness about God's details. Knowing the obvious basic nature of humans to follow cults like needy children, you have a guarantee of mayhem and oppression for a long, long, time.