Life without religion?

Consider four of the largest Atheistic experiments in history:

• The executions and repression of the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution

• The Soviet Union

• Communist China

• North Korea

With love in Christ.

You state that you feel that as a whole religion benefits society. I must disagree. How much blood has been spilled, how many wars waged, how many people killed in the name of one god or another. The crusades, the spanish inquisition, the salem witch hunts, the fighting between different religions, the protestants vs catholics in Ireland are just a few examples. Or how about how religion has in the past attempted to hold back scientific progress that did not agree with the established dogma at the time. Need I remind you of how the church persecuted Copernicus, or Galileo for their theories of our solar system and the universe? Or how about the way in which modern day stem cell research is being held back by religious special interest groups?

You ask us to imagine what life would be like without being told of the biblical stories from the past. what makes you think that we cannot experience those stories without the constraints of that particular religion. Growing up I was exposed to the stories of ancient Roman, Greek, and Norse mythology. Yes I benefited from those stories, but at no point and time did I believe they were fact. Yet at the time they were written, the people of the time viewed them in the same way that some view the bible. This was their religion, and they believed in it as much as some believe in the bible. Yet we view their beliefs now as quaint mythology. We have not suffered viewing ancient Roman beliefs as mythology, and I don't think society would suffer in any way if we viewed today's modern religions as mythology as well. As a whole I think society would benefit without the constraints of organized religion. There would definitely be much less persecution in the world.

Study countries that have more relgion and countries that have less. Study many main stream religions and it all gets down to three basic principles, money, power and control. One can believe what one will but to find the bottom line one must be willing to do some searching. These quotes sums it up

Every Christian sect gives a great handle to Atheism by their general dogma that, without a revelation, there would not be sufficient proof of the being of god.

-- Thomas Jefferson, arguing that Chrisian exclusivism (via the idea of an exclusive revelation) degrades the credibility of the Christian religion, in a letter to John Adams, 11 April 1823 (capitalization of god per original)

If by religion we are to understand sectarian dogmas, in which no two of them agree, then your exclamation on that hypothesis is just, "that this would be the best of worlds if there were no religion in it."

-- Thomas Jefferson, in a reply to John Adams' letter, quoted by Joseph Lewis in his address "Jefferson the Freethinker," delivered at a banquet of the Freethinkers' Society of New York on the evening of April 13th, 1925, at Hotel Belleclaire, 77th Street and Broadway, New York City, in honor of the 182nd anniversary of the birth of Thomas Jefferson.

I have lived the way you described most of my life. I think I am more of a "good" person than most of the very religious people I have run across. I have spent much of my life being a volunteer in local governments and in other countries. I was never in any way promoting any religion....just teaching useful things to make others lives better. I suspect that if I had been religiously affiliated I would have done a lot of damage even promoting hate for those who had different points of view.

we benefit and don't from religion

Religion teaches us "good against bad" etc etc, stuff like that.

If we didn't have it, chaos I believe.

Then if we didn't have it, we could be able to look on the more logical side to everything. Not be clouded by false hopes, and actually know what to expect.

now those are just thoughts.

It would be bliss. No wars, no hatred, no graft or corruption. We could appreciate life and our fellow humans without fear of prosecution. Children could be raised to respect all peoples. Woman would be equal, they would be able to control their reproductive rights, get educations, have jobs. We could obtain life saving medical treatment, have transfusions. We could put our money into schools and hospitals not build grand churches or temples or line the pockets of healers. Helping your fellow man is not a religious belief, having good morals is not due to religion. Think of all the tens of thousands of humans killed in the name of their god. All of the suffering and hatred. WOW.

Im a sikh, I cant truly think of what my existence could be like without my faith in god... it provides me a lot of capability... targets to artwork for interior the betterment of humanity to seek for and unfold the reality... to artwork difficult, dispell lies and artwork for understanding, supply to charity... to stay a sturdy existence and honor my acquaintances and kinfolk... my morals and ethics have been shaped with the aid of sikh philosophy.... i think of many anybody is already residing in a international without faith on the grounds that so few actual persist with it... tremendously once you notice the restructuring of what constitutes a kinfolk at the instant or maybe the definition of marriage... in my view i think of that folk of religion are greater advantageous off than people who lack it...

Again fireball, you amaze me with your ridiculous answers.

Anyway, i think that the world would be a better place without religion. Scientists wouldn't be slowed down, we would be YEARS ahead in technology, and terrorist wouldn't exist.

You don't need religion to be a good person, you just need to have morals, and common sense

hope u r fine

life with out religion is nothing

why should I believe 'truth' of what they fear to live?