Would the world be a better place without religion?

[russwest0]

What's your take?

[Im Still Ballin]

yes

[NumberSix]

Probably not.


The simple minded people will say yes. They're missing the largest parts of human history though. Without religion to control people, society wouldn't be where it is. It has done a lot to dissuade large groups of people from pursuing their own interests into pursuing larger group interests.

Are we now at a place where from here on we don't have a need for religion? Maybe. We wouldn't be here without it though.

[tomtucker]

no , only islam

[Godzuki]

yes

[ROCSteady]

No. Less annoying, self righteous and contradictory? Absolutely

[CelticBaller]

People will find ways to start shit, so no

[Godzuki]

People will find ways to start shit, so no

noc's smelly fgt

[DonD13]

People will find ways to start shit, so no

i agree.
for example sowjet communism, although atheistic, it was structured like a religion with the same power to destroy

[fiddy]

no , only islam

Allahu Akbar

[Im so nba'd out]

The world would be a POS either way.

[dr.hee]

Probably not. My subjective evaluation of (organized) religion is mostly negative, but I still think it's an underrated factor in turning self-centered individuals into organized groups that subscribe to shared norms, moral guidelines and socially accepted behavior. Humans have an intrinsic need for meaning and externally fixated guidelines, and organized religion provides just that.

At least my personal experience is that being confronted with statements supporting moral relativism and raising questions about the legitimacy of traditional mainstream definitions of free will, people tend to react with fear and irrational dismissal of concepts like moral responsibility on an individual level.

It seems that people have difficulties in dissociating the effect of belief in a concept on behavior from it's actual objective truth value. Just take free will. Mentioning the possibility that free will might not exist in the traditionally accepted way doesn't change anything about the question whether it actually exists or not. It only changes the belief of people about it. Still, it's empirically verified that humans tend to show less pro social behavior when being confronted with arguments against free will. You know, the whole "If we don't have free will, why help other people and punish criminals?" thing. Completely irrational, but still an effect we have to take into account when evaluating external sources of guidelines and moral statements.

So even though subjectively my take on organized religion is basically a bunch of people worshipping their collectively shared imaginary friend, I still acknowledge that in the light of a lack of ability and/or willingness of people to confront themselves with uncomforting truths about reality and trying to construct moral systems and behavioral constrainst purely based on individual thought, organized religion seems to be beneficial for the stability of human societies because of it's value for establishing an accepted external moral authority and supporting socially accepted behavior by inducing fear.

Short story...organized religion=necessary evil.

[GimmeThat]

guns don't kill people
knives don't kill people
religions don't kill people

knowledge don't kill people
dumbness don't kill people

you combine a few ingredients together

[Noob Saibot]

There is no right or wrong answer for this question. Some people may view the world worse off without religion because people are gonna start fighting and talk shit no matter what and about anything. Then some will say yes because you had those who take advantage of people using religion as a means to get ahead in society.

For about the last 150 or 100 years or so humanity shifted from religion to technology/science. So instead of people wearing cloaks, turbans, and robes calling shots for everybody, now it will be people behind computers or machines themselves watching your every move. So take your pick.

[riseagainst]

it could certainly continue to exist without religion. Not sure about better.