<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Franchise4Ever:</div><div class="quote_post">Whether you believe in religion or not you can't ignore the fact that religion teachs morals and guidelines to humans. It's why I think most have lasted as long as they did.</div> It's also taught war and racism.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting MainMan:</div><div class="quote_post">who wrote the bible... I WANT NAMES!!!!! and no its not jesus shuttlesworth</div> Paul of Tarsus, Luke, Simon Peter, James the half-brother of Jesus, Jude the half-brother of Jesus, Matthew, John the apostle, Mark. Unless you wanted Old Testament authors, Isaiah, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Zacharias, Jonah, Amos, Ezekiel, etc.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">War and racism were around way before religion.</div> Doubtful....REALLY doubtful. Religion has been tied in with human beings since like day 1, racism hasn't.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Franchise4Ever:</div><div class="quote_post">Doubtful....REALLY doubtful. Religion has been tied in with human beings since like day 1, racism hasn't.</div> Exactly. Most cavemen probably never saw anyone from another ethnic group.
The point I was trying to make is that it's simplistic to say that religion has been the source of these things. War, racism, hate, etc. are all values that were at one point advocated by the major religions. I will acknowledge that. But, we're here 2-3 centuries after the political/social influence of those religions has diminished significantly, and we still see these values being espoused. The overriding similarity between all of these situations, is that power leads people/societies to call for these things.
Well I won't turn this into why I'm not Muslim anymore, but I will say this....I respect anyone's beliefs whether they're Muslim, Christian, Atheist, Agnostic, etc........I like a lot of things about Christianity and Islam I just don't neccessarily believe in having any sort of religious affiliation.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">But, we're here 2-3 centuries after the political/social influence of those religions has diminished significantly.</div> Tell that to suicide bombers, plane hijackers and people calling for fatwahs (sorry to call out muslims, just as an example). Tell me, if there was no religion, would you have muslims killing themselves in the name of Allah believing they would be going to heaven with how ever many virgins they believe? Would you still have prehistoric ways in some middle eastern countries where the woman has to wear the full body covering and walk a certain distance behind her husband? Or people still stoned to death? Religion is not all that dimished in some places.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SkiptoMyLue11:</div><div class="quote_post">Paul of Tarsus, Luke, Simon Peter, James the half-brother of Jesus, Jude the half-brother of Jesus, Matthew, John the apostle, Mark. Unless you wanted Old Testament authors, Isaiah, David, Daniel, Jeremiah, Zacharias, Jonah, Amos, Ezekiel, etc.</div> haha, i was gonna post this, but couldnt think of that many.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting I-Miss-MJ:</div><div class="quote_post">Tell that to suicide bombers, plane hijackers and people calling for fatwahs (sorry to call out muslims, just as an example). Tell me, if there was no religion, would you have muslims killing themselves in the name of Allah believing they would be going to heaven with how ever many virgins they believe? Would you still have prehistoric ways in some middle eastern countries where the woman has to wear the full body covering and walk a certain distance behind her husband? Or people still stoned to death? Religion is not all that dimished in some places.</div> Yes, you would have those type of killings. The death and destruction you see in the Arab/Muslim nations may appear to be solely about religion, but it tends to be more about their identity. The fact is, that when people feel that their language, culture, religion, or general identity is threatened, there will be inevitably be extremists. Should we demonize Irish seperatists, because of the IRA. Or African Americans seeking equality, because of the Black Panthers? The KCF and Sikhs demanding less police presence. The list goes on, but they all bring up the same point: you can't generalize these situations. If you do, you risk taking people who use the name of religion (to be specific to this topic) to further their own gains and using them to represent the rest of the community.
People like religion cause it makes them feel more secure and part of a group. It's that simple. It gives you a meaning to your life when you can't find one and a reason not to fear death. If you look at most religions though, they are all a bit nuts. There is no religion that doesn't have its weird side.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">People like religion cause it makes them feel more secure and part of a group</div> true some of the times, but there are also those that really do have a good understanding and do believe.
