Is it religion or the lack thereof that divides us?

Coexistence could be achieved based on goodwill but in your question there is a general tone of relativism that demonstrates a certain ignorance of why seemingly unimportant issues such as abortion, homosexuality and contraception are such a concern for true believers.

In a nutshell these issues fall under the category of what theologians call the "culture of death", it is a historically demonstrable fact that every single time a civilization engages on the path of the culture of death that civilization declines and eventually disappears from the face of the earth ; in monotheism this is interpreted as the fact that God has never, does not, will never tolerate the culture of death. So you see what you consider a sideline to the real important issues is actually believed to be of such importance that the very survival of western civilization is at stake ; everybody worry about political threats and economic prosperity but not everybody realizes that when you defy God by implementing laws that scorn the gift of life we are are spelling our own doom. Just like Moses said: I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live (NAB Deuteronomy 30:19)

Its true. Religion has given Jesus a bad name. Thank Him I'm not religious and has a personal connetion with him. The Roman Catholic Church condemned Galileo for claiming that the Sun is the center of the universe. I think the worst part about organized religion is how damn hypocritical they are and self-righeous towards those who aren't as "holy". They turn the lost and needy away before you can say "jerks". I think that Baptists are on the top of the bad scale. They do the least to help others and they sit around on their bottoms singing all day long. (Note to kero_bearu:) The New Testament teaches Love, there is no religion about it. Religion killed Jesus. If religion will kill me, so be it, because I want to be like him. I am not religious. I don't do crazy religious practices. Athiesm is a religion. Evolutionism is a religion. Commuism is a religion. Cathlocism is a religion. I'm about the least religious person I know.

You said, "Is it religion or our lack of religion that divides us (do not divide the question please, its yes or no)"

I find it very difficult not to divide the question, and I'll tell you why.

If there was a lack of religion, everyone would have the same beliefs. But when there is religion, there are many, many different types. And they all preach that the other religions are wrong. Example: Christians are taught that Wiccans worship the devil, and that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ then you are going to Hell (too bad for Jewish folk.)

So the only answer I can come up with is that it is Religion (and how people are taught that religion) that divides us, and not the lack thereof.

EDIT:

On second thought, Waffle provided me with another answer with his many edits. I think it is people's inability to allow others to have (and state) their own opinion without criticism that divides us.

I am not an atheist, but I am a democrat.

I post often in R&S when I have the time, but I have never posted in the politics section.

I read many nonreligious/atheists who do indeed not throw out the baby with the bathwater but answer questions with dignity and calm.

Your question about religion or lack of same dividing "us" does not have a simple yes or no answer, and yet that is precisely what you ask for in your post.

All sorts of problems with this one.

Your number (99.9996) is completely fabricated. Don't insult us with cheap lies.

To business:

On a basic level. If everyone was identical in every way, (and believed that cooperation was a good thing) - we would be unified.

It follows that any identifier is counter to unity.

Also, religions aggressively denounce each other, and often lead to religious parties killing each other (Ireland, The Crusades, Pakistan)

As for baby throwing; simply it is a failure of logic ("he said many stupid things, and gets his opinions from a stupid book. It thus follows that everything he says is necessarily stupid") - Obviously this is flawed. Right is right, no matter how dumb the person it comes from is

i think both divide the society. but i think we should go above our personal believes and take decisions that are genuine and beneficial not just for one section but all the sections of the society.

that is the whole point of democracy- to consider the masses.

but i still think that it is religion which divides the people because it gives people different identities, it divides human beings. even in America where majority of the people are christians, the religion is further divided into different sects, further creating barriers between people.

What divides is the AT field.

Every man is an island, and no matter how intimate you get with someone, even if you know them all your lives, you will never know them completely (and not even for a very great part at all if you ask me).

To realize this alienation, this intrinsic loneliness, is Absolute Terror.

In this light, religion is just a symptom, not the 'disease'.

You have that idiocy and moral obtuseness I've come to associate with Libertarianism. Did you ever think Ayn Rand had the moral views she had because she was in an adulterous relationship with Nathaniel Branden.

Let me oppose a real thinker to her :

Dante Alighieri The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.

I've been studying philosophy for decades. She is about the bottom of the barrel.

Read

With Charity Toward None: An Analysis of Ayn Rand's Philosophy

by William F. O'Neill

TOY MESSIAHS are what separate us.

It's both because they are interrelated. You cannot have a lack of religion if there was no religion in the first place.

I think some people can look past the issue and there are those that never will.

It is lack of real religion that divides us.

Blood sacrifice is not a religion, but increasing the light (the original gospel) would bring more tolerance. So your point is very well taken, since tolerance would be a sign that the religion is really a religion. More on the light and the original gospel is on my bio.