Better or Worst: a world without religion?

[X-press]

This would be the best of all possible worlds,...
if there were no religions in it.
{John Adams}~ Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.
~ Does the existence of Religions make things worst for mankind?

[sophis^catrina]

~ Does the existence of Religions make things worst for mankind?

It makes it worse when it comes to a global, society sense. As lots of wars have resulted because of religion and many so-called religious people have manipulated people or threatened them in the name of religion.

It makes it good when it comes to the individual sense, as it gives people peace, hope and a meaning to their lives. Thus you see very low suicide rates in countries that have a religion.

[Pineapple Thief]

Someone once said something I considered very wise, and hadnt thought of before. If there were no religion, those wars would still have occured. The culprits would simply have fought those wars on other grounds.

I think this applies to many situations were wars are fought on supposedly religious grounds.

But this is a brilliant thread, and warrants a fuller answer. Inshallah Ill get back to it :)

[Arabian Prince]

~ Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.
I would totally understand why the so called "John Adams" would assume that. However when it comes to my agreement with his thoughts or sayings, my religion would not allow me to think in such way, let alone say such things. But I still believe that we are entitled to expressing our very own personal thoughts on any issue whatsoever. This is what is known as being open-minded. So please don't attack! (IF you have any queries about the term open-minded there's a whole 100+ thread all about it!)
I would only agree with him if I was to think on a much larger scale, meaning the world as a whole. If religions siezed to exist then we would be half way through the march on uniting all people of the world. So many lesser obstacles. Then again what good would it be if all the people on earth didn't know who they owed their existence to??

~ Does the existence of Religions make things worst for mankind?
Not necessarily. I believe its the other way around. Mankind has the choice of turning religion for or against him. Come to think of it there's the 7adeeth (saying) from the Prophet PBUH that states that every child is born with the instincts towards god (fi6ra), then the parents convert the child into whichever religion they desire.
I believe conflict mainly arises just because not all people surrender or give in to certain thoughts, ideals or mentalities. And that could be anything, not necessarily religion!

[Orion]

Better or Worse? Time for quotes, for those who have said it better:

With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
Steven Weinberg (1933 - )

However ... it is a personal thing ... and you only know before your faith that you are religious or not:

Say nothing of my religion. It is known to God and myself alone. Its evidence before the world is to be sought in my life: if it has been honest and dutiful to society the religion which has regulated it cannot be a bad one.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

And if it never existed ... that's difficult to imagine:

Religion is a candle inside a multicolored lantern. Everyone looks through a particular color, but the candle is always there.
Mohammed Neguib

because:

Religion is the opiate of the masses.
Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)

[marshmallowhut]

This is just my personal opinion and I sincerely hope none take any offense...

I feel that the existence of religions does not directly instigate any wars or any form of conflict. This is because, I feel that more often than not, religions seek to arrive at a peaceful compromise in the event of conflict. Aside from that, life is a sacred gift from God and most pious people would probably not resort to taking life away in the event of some major disagreements.

With reference to what Arabian Prince said about how we would be halfway there if religions did not exist, I think otherwise. Due to the existence of many religions today, people are segregated to some extent. However, even without religions, people would still be grouped in certain ways. For example, in the US where people support either democrats or republicans. Aside from that, there are also racial barriers to deal with. In most cases, the larger problems in society have arisen due to things such as race or different ways of thinking over matters which have direct impact on lives. I'm not sure if this is correct, but if I'm not wrong, most of the world's major issues have arisen due to things such as 'nuclear weapons', disagreements on constituitions..etc and not religion.

Personally I believe that religion has not made life any worse for mankind. Instead, it instills a deep sense of peace and inner calm in those who have been practicing what has been taught. Also, most religions provide a basic moral framework that people use as basic guidelines in everyday life. Hence, if anything, I believe religion has made people in general better.

[IceTea]

If there is not hereafter and heaven and hell then there is no need for religion to guide people to the straight path they need to follow. But that is not the case, that is why religion is required otherwise human beings will have no clear guidance rules and standards to help them to reach to their goals. And human beings are having a free will but at the end they will be responsible for their choices.

I don't see Islam stopping people from living their lifes normally, so saying the world without religion is better is totaly wrong. Maybe it's better for some people who only to follow their evil desires and also follow the Satan, they want to live for fun only without thinking about what is waiting for them. Then such people will say it's better without religion because they are only trying to ignore the truth until they die.

[Orion]

If there is not hereafter and heaven and hell then there is no need for religion to guide people to the straight path they need to follow. But that is not the case, that is why religion is required otherwise how would human beings will have no guidance rules and standards to help them to reach to their goals. And human beings are having a free will but at the end they will be responsible for their choices.



Someone once said, "religion is for those who don't want to go to Hell. Spirituality is for those of us who have already been through it."

People can be tested in life ... they don't have to wait till death for a bean counter in the sky for a final assesment ...

Still each to their own ...

[IceTea]

People can be tested in life ... they don't have to wait till death for a bean counter in the sky for a final assesment ...




A final assesment will be there and everyone will get his/her own book and read it ...

And yes people are tested in live and the stronger your faith the harder the tests will be.

[Arabian Princess]

if there was no religion, we will be relying on people's conious to make this life easy and smooth, the problem with human beings is that not all of them have a life concious. The possibilty of more problems is very high.

Idealy, all religions call for good causes.

[mimosa]

There is a difference: no religions = good, no religion = bad. ;)

[fatamooo]

I don't think that the world would be better off without religion, but to be honest I can't imagine a world without religion, because even in the most remote civilisations that have had absolutely no contact with the outside world, they would turn to something to worship, which shows that they have this innate sense that they are dependent on a greater being.
If we take away religion from the face of the earth, that means we would remove anything else attached to it, spirituality, so much culture, lots of the arts - and I really think, that eventually ethics and social mores would deteriorate; who cares if I cheat or kill or do whatever if no ones gonna punish me for it? If I can get away with it now, then I'll just go wild!!

[mimosa]

Quite, we need religion as a method of living and to give it reason. But do we need "Religions" to make us squabble over the details and let the trees obscure the wood?

[Pineapple Thief]

I think the word a lot of you are looking for is 'organised'.

[fatamooo]

Ya, sometimes people become so intent on having others agree with their specific way, they fail to see the big pic. I don't think people should fight over whose religion is right - I think, in this day and age, we should just be thankful for HAVING religion in our lives in the first place, and rather than looking for things that separate us from one another, find more common ground.
Also, maybe the overabundance of all these religions is also another reason for all the conflict - not to offend anybody, but some of these modern religions are seriously out of whack!! All those cults and whatever, like the Jimmy Jones cult in the '70s, when over 1000 people in the states actually worshipped this man, and then all committed mass suicide as a tribute to him or something :o... mothers even fed their babies cyanide!! Now that is really stupid.

[marshmallowhut]

If we take away religion from the face of the earth, that means we would remove anything else attached to it, spirituality, so much culture, lots of the arts - and I really think, that eventually ethics and social mores would deteriorate; who cares if I cheat or kill or do whatever if no ones gonna punish me for it? If I can get away with it now, then I'll just go wild!!

I think religion is necessary.. but without it, there are still laws that govern basic human rights and what is right and wrong.

[X-press]

....who cares if I cheat or kill or do whatever if no ones gonna punish me for it? If I can get away with it now, then I'll just go wild!!But fatamooo, isn't it that killing, cheating, betraying, stealing, abuses etc still very much exist in all four corners of the world, eventhough religion is there and teaches clearly right from wrong. Religions have not really solved these problems or at least have not always convinced those who commit these 'crimes' or 'sins' that such acts should not be done.

I like Sophis reply and I also believe that religion helps more at a personal level as it is a guide, but it does not necessarily bring the harmony and peace expected when it comes to a social level. Is the world really less wild today because there are religions in it? Would the world have turned necessarily into something worst than what we have today, if religions were never there at the first place? One or the other, it seems the end result is not what was expected...