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Does religion make the world a better place?

**helen****helen** Deactivated Posts: 9,235 Supreme Poster
in Politics & Debate
I know this has already been a hot topic quite recently, one that helped Bumblebee with her essay :D, but we've just published the results of our religion and spirituality survey that you may well be interested in.

Of those that were willing to answer the question in this thread's title, 22% said that religion makes the world a better place with comments like:
It reminds people of values and boundaries.
Most religions strive for peace.

47% believe religion makes the world a worse place to be saying, for example:
Religion creates natural conflict and disharmony among people.
A lot of wars, arguments and terrorism occur with religion as the excuse.

Click the link for the full article

Comments

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I will go out on a limb and say, no. not any more.

    I do however think religion did aid the development of early society... but I dont believe it's relevant any more, and is more of a hindrance to the advancement of human knowledge than anything.

    perhaps on an individual level it makes people feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but on a global scale it's not constructive, and gives us one more thing to argue about.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I thought a lot of war was to do with religion? Difference of opinion/race etc etc.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    No.

    Agree.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    For people who follow religion I suppose it must make the world a better place in their eyes. I couldn't imagine the world without religion and I do think I benefit from religion even though I am not religious myself. I love christmas and easter and these wouldn't be celebrated if religion didn't exist and therefore my year would be a little more bland!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    no. it's people's actions that make the world a better place.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    xsazx wrote: »
    The only issues that gives religion a bad reputation is the cases where an extreme minority have taken it into their heads that they are to force their relgion onto others and are completly intolerant of different perspectives of life. This is particulary clear in the case of islam and the terrorist attempts, just because a few people who call themselves muslims (despite going against many of the key teachings) take situations into their own hands does not mean every religous person does.

    Na, I disagree and think it's worse when a majority do, like christians and slavery.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aladdin wrote: »
    No.

    Why not? (not disagreeing with you or anything, just curious)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Replicant wrote: »
    I will go out on a limb and say, no. not any more.

    I do however think religion did aid the development of early society... but I dont believe it's relevant any more, and is more of a hindrance to the advancement of human knowledge than anything.

    perhaps on an individual level it makes people feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but on a global scale it's not constructive, and gives us one more thing to argue about.

    bang. nail. head. i agree with this.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No more or less than any other line of thought.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    No it doesn't. In theory it's a good thing that could make the world a better place, even if it is a load of bullshit, but in reality it has made the world a rather horrible place to live in for some people.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Not at all. None of the positive values that are attributed to religion (such as morality) are exclusive to religious thought. I also think that it often serves to impede logical thought and scientific progress, which I believe is responsible for far greater good in the world than religion can ever claim to be.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm With Stupid wrote: »
    Not at all. None of the positive values that are attributed to religion (such as morality) are exclusive to religious thought.
    That doesn't mean religion doesn't help promote them though. There can be more than one line of thought/organism that promotes good things.

    Regardless of the above though I think discussing this issue is frankly bollocks because reducing religion to usefulness/not usefulness is fallacious imo.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It could. If it wasn't bastardised by the "organised" elements like Catholic Church, Synod et al.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    People have used it as an excuse to do evil, they've also used it as an excuse to do good.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sofie wrote: »
    Why not? (not disagreeing with you or anything, just curious)
    It has done far more harm than good and it continues to be used as a tool of manipulation and as a justification for discrimanation, hatred and prejudiced.

    A lot of good things have been done in the name of religion too of course. But the bad things still outweigh the good by a large margin. And the the good things that have been done in the name of religion (charity, goodwill, morality, etc) are by no means exclusive to religion.

    I have no problem with individuals holding religious beliefs but in its current state organised religion is too easily used for manipulation and to justify and promote wrong acts. Unfortunately I don't see things being much different for centuries to come.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    bluewisdom wrote: »
    That doesn't mean religion doesn't help promote them though. There can be more than one line of thought/organism that promotes good things.

    Well it can do. It can also be used to spread hatred. However, religion always claims to promote good, when in reality, it is as amoral as any other belief system. The existance or otherwise of God means nothing. The existance of an afterlife means nothing. It's what you use that belief as motivation to do, that is good or evil. The best way I could describe religion, is completely unnecessary. People use it as motivation to do great things. People use it as motivation to do evil things. People use other forms of motivation to do good or evil things anyway, so the way I see it, if religion was to disappear, not much would change in the grand scheme of things.
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