For Atheists only, Do you actually believe without religion we would be better off?
If cave men did not worship animals, No Hinduism, No Buddhism, no Judaism and no christianity. These religions and all the other religions out there did not help man become what he has become. They did nothing for the moral values of society. They did nothing to better the life of Human kind. As an atheist I am appalled at people who claim the world would be better without religion. I can prove there is no god and I can even easily prove religion is necessary for humans. Don't you see this.
2009-11-10T14:21:26Z
It saddens me that not one person understands? I am tired of listening to this giberish. Good luck destroying each other time for me to move on.
?2009-11-10T14:27:55Z
Favorite Answer
First, you cannot prove there is no God. There is no logic in the world that can do this. Second, you cannot prove religion is necessary for humans. To do so you would have to remove religion from the population and prove it couldn't survive, which is not possible. However, since I am atheist, I can show that humans can survive without religion. Also, many so called "Christians" are not church goers, but are instead "Armchair Christians" who accept that they are going to Heaven simply because they believe there is a God and they haven't killed anyone.
Next, there are many great works of art of a religious nature. In at least a few cases it is reasonable to assume that the artist would not have been inspired to create art without religion. I think the world would survive just fine without these works, however. Things such as the Sistine Chapel wouldn't exist, the artists and architects who created it would still have created other works.
There are many places in the world which would benefit from lack of religion, the Middle East chief among them. These days, as has been the case throughout history, religion is used as an excuse to kill. Now, while people would likely still find excuses to kill without religion it is almost certain that some of those people would not and, thus, lives would likely be saved. I see no need for religion in the world today, no benefit that it gives mankind whatsoever. The Catholic church allows the victimization of hundreds, maybe thousands of children to save face rather than protect those same children, for instance. Without religion those priests could have just gone about their lives as gay men rather than becoming priests in an attempt to avoid the temptation of the "sin" of homosexuality resulting only in the temptation switching from sex with consenting adults to molestation of children who can't fight back and aren't likely to tell.
Then we have cults which result in suicides and the victimization of women in general and young girls in particular. We'd all definitely be better off without that.
Next, hate groups in America are only legal if they are religious in nature. You can't spread hate speech unless you have special protection under the law which allows you to do so with immunity.
So, yes, I would have to say that, on the whole, the world would be better off without religion. I can see no positive benefit other than it helps some people cope. I am sure those people would find other ways to cope without religion, though. There are plenty of detriments to religion.
Ah utilitarian argument. While religion may have been useful in the past. We have recently found that reasonable people 9/11 all terrorists involved were emotionally stable, has university educations, were reasonably wealthy. Had no history of mental instability. One hijacker was excluded because he was emotionally unstable. They did this because the idea of life after death seemed reasonable, they obviously believe this stuff. Delusions are not generally a good idea. Religion was probably useful in the past because it provided some law and social services, while also being self sufficient. People would willingly buy into it. Currently we have far better forms of these. Our law system is far better, our charities are more efficient. So the abuses (ie rape of children for one) outweigh any current modern benefit of religion. Religion may have been useful in the past, but we can do everything relgion does socially more effectively through secular organizations, without the problem of delusional thinking, lying to children, manipulation, indoctrination, etc.
So IMO the utilitarian argument fails horribly in the year 2009.
Gen. Stiggo (Atheati-in-Chief)2009-11-10T14:23:41Z
Society without religion would have done fine in instilling moral values. Without religion, science would probably have advanced faster, allowing society as a whole to advance faster. These are just two basic points. So no, you would not be able to prove, as you claim, that religion is necessary for humans.
You can prove there is no god? Really? You can prove religion is necessary for humans?
I suspect that you're stretching the definition of the word "prove". Using your standards anybody can prove anything merely by saying that it's proven.....travel that path and you've created a new religion. And I believe we have quite enough of those already, thank you very much.
To answer your question, it's quite possible we'd be better off without religion but one cannot prove a hypothetical scenario.
religion is not necessary- if you believe that, you are a moron. And whether or not religion can be useful is of no matter, considering it is simply a game of make believe. We're ready to grow up and accept the real world and wake up out of the deception. Now that we are in an age where information can so easily be spread, it's time to put the past fantasy aside and seek what is really out there in the far reaches of the universe.