Just to start, please note. This is not a 'troll thread.' This is not an attempt to antagonize anyone, so if you're here for that just take a step outside and get some fresh air. No, what I want to discuss is humanity as itself, not as an entity manipulated by another all-powerful being.
Religion has been the cause of many deaths- more than any other abrupt cause in history. People have been tortured in the name of religion. Killed. And yet... in the name of religion, nations have been founded. Order has been brought to certain areas as people gathered under a common belief, and possibly these people have been brought together under a common banner instead of having even more killing than they otherwise would have had.
Some people think Religion causes people to act kind towards one another. Because God said so, we should respect our fellow neighbor and be kind to even our enemies. Others believe humans would, on their own, be just as kind towards one another as they would be if God said to be- just that they would do it because of their own senses of morality.
So I'm curious what Bnet thinks, after I've tried my best to [concisely] show both sides of the argument [that I am aware of, anyways]. Do you believe religion has done more good than harm, or more harm than good? Has the order it has brought around the world outweighed the strife it has brought? If you are a religious person and believe in a God, do you think it might have been better if we were never aware of God? And if you are not religious, do you think in a world without these people sharing beliefs, would the world be in even more chaos as people fought over other differences?
Discuss. Nicely. Respectfully. Don't be an asshole. Cheers.
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I now I'm a bit late to the party, but since others have bumped the thread I would like to contribute as well. First of all, I don't really have a definitive answer for the question, (No one does if you really think about it.) because its impossible for someone to know how something in the past would possibly be if it wasn't for "this" or for "that". I guess I'm leaning more towards a no, mainly because I believe in a persons right to choose how they live their life. Whether that choice is about their Faith/lack there of, Sexual Orientation, or any other beliefs that may or may not differ from my own. While I don't necessarily believe that the world would be a better place without Religion, I do think it would be a better place without Zealots of any Faith, in my opinion they are the ones that cause people to get the idea of a Religion convoluted, and cause the good representations of their Faith to be stereotyped and criticized. I was raised a Christian by the way, if that matters, but anyway that's just my opinion on the matter so feel free to disagree.