I told them not to get me started...
Please refer to the end of
this thread for helpful background.
Quote:
Originally posted by cybrsamurai
...
RELIGION: Im not religious, I think religion can be a good thing it can also be a very bad thing. The tensions in the middle east are (bad) the crusades (bad) murder of pesents under the rule of the japanese buddhist temples (bad) etc... Helping people cope with uncertainty of death (good), Helping people through tough times (good), helping draw a more unified community (can be good) etc..
Its hard to say whether the absence of religion would be good or bad. Religion breeds fanaticism and complacency wich are both bad however I would say it makes alot more people happy and fulfilled than fanatics.
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While that is an accurate (but superficial) listing of religion qua religion, it fails to get at the fundamental flaw in every system based on faith: wishing won't make it so.
Faith is
not a valid foundation of knowledge of reality. Faith can tell you nothing about the world, or how to live in it. Religions, both organized and otherwise, purport to have the ultimate truth, if you would only
Believe! They count on the gullibility/ignorance/laziness of their audience. If I might paraphrase P. T. Barnum (I think?): One will never go broke betting on the gullibility of the public.
Would life on Earth without religion not come up with a basic code of ethical behavior similar to "Common Law". Given that most cultures have/had analogous codes given widely dissimilar religious systems, I would posit that such codes are "common-sensical" and readily apparent to anyone who wishes to think about it. And that is the key: expending the effort required to think.
Religions allow people to go through life without having to
think about the great questions that face us: What is reality? How can we know it? How should we act? Religions have cookie-cutter answers to all of these questions, if only you'd take their word for it! Just imagine, you'll never have to worry about any of these issues again - just do as I tell you! Don't think - Believe! Religions are fundamentally anti-intellectual and anti-mind. Witness Islam of today, or Christianity of the Middle Ages, or Buddhism of any time period, and notice the inherent antipathy against intellectual discourse present in those systems. Then make up your own mind.
[/soapbox]
Bob