[Split] Religion

[Olivia 26]

You can lighten any thread, Vertex.

[Tosh 8]

Religion I think helped ancient goverments to keep control over their people. I mean, what would you think is worst? A quick execution or a fuckload of years in jail, or what the church could threaten with? Which was eternal damnation and suffering in a lake of burning sulphur. So I defineatly believe the church helped keep control in pretty much generally violent times.

And when you look at modern society goverment doesn't really stop these lost souls from commiting crime. While the rest does not rob and murder simply because in their backbones it is engraved that it just isn't right to do those kind of things.

 

Atleast thats what I hope goes through peoples minds...I may have missjudged how fucked humanity really is

[Kaitlin 22]

I believe that times may not have been so violent without the contribution of religious armies. Certain groups got their power through the intimidation of being connected to a higher power, and because of that the people did not wish to stop whatever was about to happen, or believed that these armies were destined to win because they were endowed with holy power. It is a time tested method of getting what you want, and destroying everything in your path with impunity.

 

Primative people developed rules for living together as a group to protect themselves and insure survival of the species, and these guidelines were absorbed into notions of religion at a later date. I agree with everyone who said that.

[Ekho 52]

I think guidelines in religions were (and still to an extent are) just ways for the church etc to control their followers

[Marie 73]

I'm sorry I suck so badly at getting my meanings across....

 

I think it's a matter of semantics. For example:

 

People made religion to control their societies for the better, and morals were made to stop what was considered harmful to society.

 

That implies religion predated people inventing morals and rules for the betterment of society. In other words, religion is the reason we don't kill or steal, etc. My point was, religion was made to give a reason for why those rules and morals existed in the first place.

[Mea 0]

But isn't there other reasons for morals and rules? I don't have a religion but I still try to do what's right. I just think the world is a better place if we all treat each other nicely. (I'm sorry if someone has already said this.) *is to lazy to read the whole thread*

[jan 14]

I think god made up religeon to make people be good to each other so that people wouldn't pray so much and ask for help. Which, will give him more time to do godly stuff,.. such as making virgins pregnant and buttered bread land upside down. Sooo, the moral is that we should get rid of religeon, and be mean to each other so that people pray more, in order to make buttered bread land upside up and have good breakfasts. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all. And world population really doesn't need alot virgins having babies too.

 

Oh, Vertex! *scribbles to quote sometime in future*

 

@Mea: Would that it were so simple! If more people thought like you, it'd be a very nice world!

[Kaitlin 22]

Yes, it would! Maybe we should really try to be like that, instead of getting so miffed and concerned with the question of religion itself!

[Olivia 26]

That implies religion predated people inventing morals and rules for the betterment of society. In other words, religion is the reason we don't kill or steal, etc. My point was, religion was made to give a reason for why those rules and morals existed in the first place.

 

You're right, which is why I said I suck at getting my meanings across. I think I've been saying things backwards that what I intended, doing kind of a pre-comparison or something.

My underlying and original point is similar to what Marie just said, so all these arguments have been in vain.

 

Morals, Ethics, and stuff were made to help and control society for our own good. Religion was made to solidify those morals, but also to deal with explaining the world and afterlife, etc. so that people would be satisfied and live out their lives as effective members of society. And I also agree with what Kaitlin said about people using religion's control over humanity to get what they want.

 

I did not mean to imply that religion came before morals or early society; because it is indeed the other way around. I was making a correlation but managed to botch it as usual, sort of like explaining the effect before explaining the cause. Sorry for my communication skills, and as always, much <3 for everyone who took the time to read my thoughts

[Marie 73]

It's ok. It usually takes me two pages of back and forth to finally spit out what I actually mean.

[Cerendrallion 32]

Do you all want to hear my theory on religion and the existence of God and all that?

 

I don't think it actually matters whether God exists or not. If the idea of a God inspires people to do good (and there is a lot of good going on the world - missionaries educating, helping the poor, etc - the news generally likes to concentrate on the bad side), then does it really matter? In that way the idea of God is more powerful than the actual being. If it brings hope to the sick and dying and comfort to the lonely, then who cares if he/she actually exists?

 

Christianity, like most religions, is an incrediably noble religion when you get right to the roots of it. (I'm sorry, I know varying degrees about other non-Christian faiths, so I'll stick to what I know). The Ten Commandments - what would it be like if people actually lived by them? Pretty good, methinks.

 

Thing is Christianity is diluted and compromises have been made - corruption. But in some cases the spirit of what Christianity is all about is still around. And that's a good thing, I think.

 

Hope that made sense. (Oh, and sorry if it wasn't entirely relevant)

[Olivia 26]

It did make sense, Laura. And I agree with most of what you said. But as so often with humans, the idea and the essence of good is altered by the people who believe it and enforce it. Many noble ideas have been corrupted, and it's not usually God(s) that converters or atheists disprove of, it's the people that interpret the God's "will" and that claim to worship him/her.

[Cerendrallion 32]

Oh yes. Its when people start putting their own spin on what was originally a good and noble idea that the trouble starts - but there are still some genuinely pious people that genuinely do a lot of good following what they believe to be God's will.

[Ekho 52]

The thing that always annoys me is the amount of violence and killing thats done in the name of religion

[Cerendrallion 32]

I know. That's always terrible.