Religion: The Root of All Evil?

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
If what you said was true, you should have no opinion about this. After all, you are one of those "tiny humans".

Religions are the creation of humans. The gods that these religions worship are made by humans. There is no point of creation, the universe/God as always been. Good and evil do not exist without each other, and the concept of good and evil are human creations.

Originally posted by Mr Brightside
That depends on who says it, you might say that good and evil are human creations, but I don't, I say that humans were told what is right and wrong a long time ago and were taught it by one known as Jesus. Think about it, when Jesus was born King Herod craved power, so he tried to kill Jesus to stop him from becoming king, is there a religion that says you're allowed to do that? i don't think so, he tried to do it because nobody could stop him.

But that is your mythology, and the topic is “Religion: The Root of All Evil?”
I say this can be true because people take mythology to a point were they do great harm to others. Christianity has a lot of blood of its hands. How many people have died because of Christianity in the last 2000 years?
However, Christianity is not alone in this blood shed; other religions have followed the same evil path.

Originally posted by Mr Brightside
In other words, if everyone would be a true christian, the world would have NO wars because everyone would abide by the same rules...
There is no rule that the world leaders have made that says "do unto others what you want them to do to you"

True Christian™

You forgot the trademark.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
But that is your mythology, and the topic is “Religion: The Root of All Evil?”
I say this can be true because people take mythology to a point were they do great harm to others. Christianity has a lot of blood of its hands. How many people have died because of Christianity in the last 2000 years?
However, Christianity is not alone in this blood shed; other religions have followed the same evil path.

Agreed.

The flip side of that coin is...

"How many people have died for Christianity?"

(or any religion for that matter)

🙁

Originally posted by sithsaber408
Agreed.

The flip side of that coin is...

"How many people have died [B]for Christianity?"

(or any religion for that matter)

🙁 [/B]

True; and I am glad you see my point. I do not believe that any religion is evil within its self, it is what the people in the religion do that is good or evil.

There are aspects which inspire goodness in people, but also aspects which inspire the worst sort of atrocities.

Originally posted by Morgoths_Wrath
Considering how much hatred and bloodshed has stemmed from religion throughout human history, would you say that religion is generally an evil thing? Would it be better if we had no religion at all? Is religion just a scapegoat, and even if we didn’t have it would we just find other reasons to hate and kill each other?

Now religion promotes good (unless the religion is based on evil). Just because people use religion as an excuse doesn't make religion bad....

Originally posted by AOR
Now religion promotes good (unless the religion is based on evil). Just because people use religion as an excuse doesn't make religion bad....

All things have the potential of good or evil. A thing cannot do, therefore a religion with no followers will have no effect. Once you add people, then the good or evil will come out of the thing, but it is up to the person to do the good or evil. God does not do, we do.

Originally posted by Mr Brightside
In other words, if everyone would be a true Christian, the world would have NO wars because everyone would abide by the same rules...
There is no rule that the world leaders have made that says "do unto others what you want them to do to you"

Excellent documentary.

Something anyone who is religious should see.

Originally posted by Shakyamunison
All things have the potential of good or evil. A thing cannot do, therefore a religion with no followers will have no effect. Once you add people, then the good or evil will come out of the thing, but it is up to the person to do the good or evil. God does not do, we do.

Now, things are either good, or things are either bad. But that's because nothing has free will aside from humans. Therefore "things" that do things, do things with the intent of fullfilling the purpose, and nothing more. Eat to live, live to die. Very basic living style, and yet very very boring. So when free-will is added into the occassion normal things that would usually have a good purpose or a bad purpose is mixed to give the human the actual choice. And so religion, based on love, is good. But when humans are mixed with religion, religion is mixed with bad.

So I guess in conclusion, humans are evil. But then again only humans came up the actual "good" ideas. 😑, there I go rambling again....

Originally posted by Mr Brightside
And that's because in the book for one specific religion it says you're allowed to do that, don't blame all religions just because of one.

Not true, the Koran does not say it's okay to kill people, blow up buildings etc.

Originally posted by AOR
Now, things are either good, or things are either bad. But that's because nothing has free will aside from humans. Therefore "things" that do things, do things with the intent of fullfilling the purpose, and nothing more. Eat to live, live to die. Very basic living style, and yet very very boring. So when free-will is added into the occassion normal things that would usually have a good purpose or a bad purpose is mixed to give the human the actual choice. And so religion, based on [b]love, is good. But when humans are mixed with religion, religion is mixed with bad.

So I guess in conclusion, humans are evil. But then again only humans came up the actual "good" ideas. 😑, there I go rambling again.... [/B]

You are only rambling because you see that if humans were only evil then good could not come from them. All humans are both good and evil, we decide what we do.

Plato said that ignorance was the root and stem of every evil. This can be applied to the religious conflicts that history is afflicted with; if religions were not ignorant of each other, then they would be less likely to lead to hatred and war. Sadly, an educated religion is an oxymoron, which means that, yes, religion is evil because it denies the validity of others.

End of discussion.

I'll say it again...
Before religion people were mean.
If religion disappeared tomorrow, people would still be mean.
If there never was religion in the first place, people would still be mean.
It is the human factor which brings the fireworks, turning anything into a reason to be mean.

Originally posted by Makedde
Not true, the Koran does not say it's okay to kill people, blow up buildings etc.

It sure does say it.

Kill disbelievers wherever you find them. If they attack you, then kil them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. (But if they desist in their unbelief, then don't kill them.) 2:191-2

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/inj/long.html

"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh."
--Voltaire

Originally posted by Ya Krunk'd Floo
Plato said that [B]ignorance was the root and stem of every evil. This can be applied to the religious conflicts that history is afflicted with; if religions were not ignorant of each other, then they would be less likely to lead to hatred and war. Sadly, an educated religion is an oxymoron, which means that, yes, religion is evil because it denies the validity of others.

End of discussion. [/B]

No true, an educated religion is attempting to establish itself as we speak. Sadly, however, people believe that if the masses want it, it must be accepted. Which is not so. A religion based on openess towards all things, and attempts to find the fine line that connects it all together, is an "educated" religion. However if "religion" can be defined as a belief of a person or people, then yes there are such things as educated religious/religions.

Discussion reopened....

Religion: truth-serving and self-transcending.
Religionism: ego-serving and self-contradicting.

Kill disbelievers wherever you find them. If they attack you, then kil them. Such is the reward of disbelievers. (But if they desist in their unbelief, then don't kill them.) 2:191-2

The Koran does not say that. If you actually read the passage:

Start no fights, but if someone starts a fight with you, kill them wherever you see them, and retake any land they've taken from you. And don't fight in holy places, unless they attack you there, in which case, kill them. But if they stop attacking you, let hostilities cease.

Well, it's still saying that "it's okay to kill people," but only when they start a war of aggression against you. Most people would probably agree with this, actually.