Larry Lobster
/-_-\
stop being a coward, you said god is white, which implies blacks being c00ns
Whats up with all these religion threads lately?
- Thread starter LurkMoar
- Start date
Slaimon Khan Shah
SLAIMON KHAN SHAH = SHAOLIN MONK/S OF ISLAAM
It's sad that most Americans think of God like he's a human being. Almighty God (Allah) Tells us in Surah 112 Ayah 4 from the Quran (English translation) "And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him." www.TheNobleQuran.com
I just think that religion has brought more harm than good to the world.
I personally don't care anyone's personal beliefs. But I think that religion, organized religion has been a detriment to society, and is showing to create more division and problems than what it(supposedly) tries to teach.
Slaimon Khan Shah
SLAIMON KHAN SHAH = SHAOLIN MONK/S OF ISLAAM
You should look into Islam as it is Perfect even though most Muslims nowadays are weak in their Islam and don't show it's perfectness to non-Muslims. I highly recommend that you visit www.Islaam.ca
it's not about religion...it's about building a personal relationship with God...religion is just an extension of your personal relationship HELLO!!!...I like these religion threads because some of you refuse to acknowledge the spiritual realm which is actually the most important part of our natural existence...
Verbal Kint
Superstar
People that hold this view typically completely ignore all the ways organized religion has contributed to even the creation of society and communities. They also tend to ignore that most atheistic societies have been some of the most bloodthirsty, oppressive societies in history (ie the Lenin/Stalin Russia and the USSR)
umm no.
like I said I don't care what anyone else beleives. And with that I think that my beleifs should be no worry to anyone else.
I never said I was an atheist though. I can have my beliefs and (no matter what they are) and still not believe in religion.
Someone can be spiritual, have a connection with god and live a moral and happy life without being religious or having to identify withany religious "system"
I don't ignore that churches, or religion can do lots of good. But I think that people in general are more generous and giving than what most would like to say.
what I mean is that even without religion, most ppl are good ppl.
the cac mamba
Banned
take note, christians
one thing i actually respect about this jihadist is that he tells all the rest of us we're straight up going to hell
i'll see all you jesus-lovers there 
Verbal Kint
Superstar
If you're saying religion has been a negative for society the alternative is atheistic or I suppose agnostic societies that don't have religion at all. You didn't say 'theistic and government sponsored religions are bad for society', you said 'religion has brought more harm than good'. That implies that non religious societies have done more good and unless I'm missing something (possible) that just hasn't been proven anywhere. Also, its pretty well researched that 'religious' people tend to be more charitable than the non religious
I think historically, religion has been used a tool for controlling the masses and has been abused and manipulated so much to the point that it has done alot of negative to society.
It has done lots of positive.....but when you account for all the holy wars, and all the separatists, and division that we've seen throughout history and even now. 90% was because of some religious reasoning.
Basically my main point is take religion OUT of government. A Secular society would be a better one IMO
Let ppl belief what they want. I don't care if you are christian, buddhist, muslim, jewish...don't matter to me. People are people. But religion has no place with me.
Here is an interesting read,
It is said over and over again by religious conservatives: without faith in God, society will fall apart. If we don't worship God, pray to God, and place God at the central heart of our culture, things will get ugly.
In his classic Reflections on the French Revolution, Edmund Burke argued that religion was the underlying basis of civil social order. Voltaire, the celebrated Enlightenment philosopher, argued that without theism society could not function; it is necessary for people to have “profoundly engraved on their minds the idea of a Supreme being and creator” in order to maintain a moral social order. Alexis de Tocqueville similarly argued that religious faith is “indispensable” for a well-functioning society, that irreligion is a “dangerous” and “pernicious” threat to societal well-being, and that non-believers are to be regarded as “natural enemies” of social harmony.
More recently, Newt Gingrich has argued that any country that attempts to “drive God out of public life” will surely face all kinds of social problems, and a secular country would be “frankly, a nightmare.” Indeed, in the aftermath of the wanton massacre of schoolchildren in Newton, Connecticut, Newt Gingrich publicly proclaimed that such violence was the obvious and inevitable result of secularism in our society. Mike Huckabee agreed.
Religion – or so the age-old hypothesis goes – is therefor a necessary glue for keeping society together. And conversely, secularism is a danger to societal well-being. For if people turn away from God and stop being religious, then crime will go up, corruption will increase, perversion will percolate, decency will diminish, and all manifestations of misery and malfeasance will predominate.
It is an interesting hypothesis. Perpetually-touted. And wrong.
Consider, for instance, the latest special report just put out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (and recently summarized on the website 24/7wallstreet.com), which lists the ten states with the worst/best quality of life. According to this multivariate analysis which takes into account a plethora of indicators of societal well-being, those states in America with the worst quality of life tend to be among the most God-loving/most religious (such as Mississippi and Alabama), while those states with the best quality of life tend to among the least God-loving/least religious (such as Vermont and New Hampshire).
If you are curious as to which states are the most/least religious, simply check out the Pew Forum’s Religious Landscape Survey. It’s all there. And then you can go ahead and check out how the various states are faring in terms of societal well-being. The correlation is clear and strong: the more secular tend to fare better than the more religious on a vast host of measures, including homicide and violent crime rates, poverty rates, obesity and diabetes rates, child abuse rates, educational attainment levels, income levels, unemployment rates, rates of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy, etc. You name it: on nearly every sociological measure of well-being, you’re most likely to find the more secular states with the lowest levels of faith in God and the lowest rates of church attendance faring the best and the most religious states with the highest levels of faith in God and rates of church attendance faring the worst.
And guess what? The correlation holds internationally, as well.
As I’ve discussed in my book Society Without God, and as I extensively elaborate on in my newest book Living the Secular Life, those democratic nations today that are the most secular, such as Scandinavia, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, etc., are faring much better on nearly every single indicator of well-being imaginable than the most religious nations on earth today, such as Colombia, Jamaica, El Salvador, Yemen, Malawi, Pakistan, the Philippines, etc.
As University of London professor Stephen Law has observed, “if declining levels of religiosity were the main cause of…social ills, we should expect those countries that are now the least religious to have the greatest problems. The reverse is true.”
Consider some specific examples.
The Save the Children Foundation publishes an annual “Mother’s Index,” wherein they rank the best and worst places on earth in which to be a mother. And the best are almost always among the most secular nations on earth, while the worst are among the most devout. The non-profit organization called Vision of Humanity publishes an annual “Global Peace Index.” And according to their rankings, the most peaceful nations on earth are almost all among the most secular, while the least peaceful are almost all among the most religious. According to the United Nations 2011 Global Study on Homicide, of the top-10 nations with the highest intentional homicide rates, all are very religious/theistic nations, but of those at bottom of the list – the nations on earth with the lowest homicide rates -- nearly all are very secular nations.
Heck, look where Ebola is currently wrecking havoc? It isn’t in highly secular Sweden. Or highly secular Estonia. No – it is in various African nations where God is heavily worshipped, church is heavily attended, and pray is heavily engaged in.
* * *
Do societies fall apart when they become more secular? Clearly not.
And thus, the age-old hypothesis that religion is a necessary requirement for a sound, safe, and healthy society can and should be put safely to sleep in the musty bed of other such flagrant fallacies.
It is said over and over again by religious conservatives: without faith in God, society will fall apart. If we don't worship God, pray to God, and place God at the central heart of our culture, things will get ugly.
In his classic Reflections on the French Revolution, Edmund Burke argued that religion was the underlying basis of civil social order. Voltaire, the celebrated Enlightenment philosopher, argued that without theism society could not function; it is necessary for people to have “profoundly engraved on their minds the idea of a Supreme being and creator” in order to maintain a moral social order. Alexis de Tocqueville similarly argued that religious faith is “indispensable” for a well-functioning society, that irreligion is a “dangerous” and “pernicious” threat to societal well-being, and that non-believers are to be regarded as “natural enemies” of social harmony.
More recently, Newt Gingrich has argued that any country that attempts to “drive God out of public life” will surely face all kinds of social problems, and a secular country would be “frankly, a nightmare.” Indeed, in the aftermath of the wanton massacre of schoolchildren in Newton, Connecticut, Newt Gingrich publicly proclaimed that such violence was the obvious and inevitable result of secularism in our society. Mike Huckabee agreed.
Religion – or so the age-old hypothesis goes – is therefor a necessary glue for keeping society together. And conversely, secularism is a danger to societal well-being. For if people turn away from God and stop being religious, then crime will go up, corruption will increase, perversion will percolate, decency will diminish, and all manifestations of misery and malfeasance will predominate.
It is an interesting hypothesis. Perpetually-touted. And wrong.
Consider, for instance, the latest special report just put out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (and recently summarized on the website 24/7wallstreet.com), which lists the ten states with the worst/best quality of life. According to this multivariate analysis which takes into account a plethora of indicators of societal well-being, those states in America with the worst quality of life tend to be among the most God-loving/most religious (such as Mississippi and Alabama), while those states with the best quality of life tend to among the least God-loving/least religious (such as Vermont and New Hampshire).
If you are curious as to which states are the most/least religious, simply check out the Pew Forum’s Religious Landscape Survey. It’s all there. And then you can go ahead and check out how the various states are faring in terms of societal well-being. The correlation is clear and strong: the more secular tend to fare better than the more religious on a vast host of measures, including homicide and violent crime rates, poverty rates, obesity and diabetes rates, child abuse rates, educational attainment levels, income levels, unemployment rates, rates of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy, etc. You name it: on nearly every sociological measure of well-being, you’re most likely to find the more secular states with the lowest levels of faith in God and the lowest rates of church attendance faring the best and the most religious states with the highest levels of faith in God and rates of church attendance faring the worst.
And guess what? The correlation holds internationally, as well.
As I’ve discussed in my book Society Without God, and as I extensively elaborate on in my newest book Living the Secular Life, those democratic nations today that are the most secular, such as Scandinavia, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, etc., are faring much better on nearly every single indicator of well-being imaginable than the most religious nations on earth today, such as Colombia, Jamaica, El Salvador, Yemen, Malawi, Pakistan, the Philippines, etc.
As University of London professor Stephen Law has observed, “if declining levels of religiosity were the main cause of…social ills, we should expect those countries that are now the least religious to have the greatest problems. The reverse is true.”
Consider some specific examples.
The Save the Children Foundation publishes an annual “Mother’s Index,” wherein they rank the best and worst places on earth in which to be a mother. And the best are almost always among the most secular nations on earth, while the worst are among the most devout. The non-profit organization called Vision of Humanity publishes an annual “Global Peace Index.” And according to their rankings, the most peaceful nations on earth are almost all among the most secular, while the least peaceful are almost all among the most religious. According to the United Nations 2011 Global Study on Homicide, of the top-10 nations with the highest intentional homicide rates, all are very religious/theistic nations, but of those at bottom of the list – the nations on earth with the lowest homicide rates -- nearly all are very secular nations.
Heck, look where Ebola is currently wrecking havoc? It isn’t in highly secular Sweden. Or highly secular Estonia. No – it is in various African nations where God is heavily worshipped, church is heavily attended, and pray is heavily engaged in.
* * *
Do societies fall apart when they become more secular? Clearly not.
And thus, the age-old hypothesis that religion is a necessary requirement for a sound, safe, and healthy society can and should be put safely to sleep in the musty bed of other such flagrant fallacies.
Verbal Kint
Superstar
Here's the thing: Yea religion was often used an an excuse for governments to provoke their people into war, but that happens even without religion. The Russians didn't use religion, the US didn't use religion to convince the people to fight the world wars or in Nam. Ghengis Khan killed more people than anyone and the Mongols didn't care at all about religion. When governments want to take something over they find a way to make it happen. If it ain't religion it's something else
Religion was used as a tool by governments/monarchies,etc to radicalize or to control their people.
Sure there were would be wars over other things, but nothing touches ppl and gets them easier than religion.
But this isn't just about wars and governments, but ppl themselves need to stop being so radical with their beliefs.
Christians and Jews are just as much at fault as muslims