Would society fall apart without religion?

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Religion as a social force is a means to unite very large groups of people, transcending even national and ethnic boundaries. This can be for good or bad.

Exactly. No thing can be good or evil in and of itself. Religion is a thing. Inanimate. Incapable of good and evil. Whether an individual religion is good or evil depends on the qualities of the living people that organize and comprise it. This is the glaring flaw of the brainwashed anti-religious Marxists. They humanize a thing while dehumanizing people, all the while failing to realize that they themselves worship their own religion (i.e. the God of the State).

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: amdforever2
Society will not fall apart without religion.

Religion is rule through fear. People no longer, and arguably never did, need to be ruled that way.

O RLY?

And what keeps you from just robbing a bank when you need money?

 

[RGN]

Religion brings moral code, without morality there is no right and wrong, with out right and wrong....

 

[mb]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: amdforever2
Society will not fall apart without religion.

Religion is rule through fear. People no longer, and arguably never did, need to be ruled that way.

O RLY?

And what keeps you from just robbing a bank when you need money?

Personal ethics and the desire to not be in jail.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: supafly

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: amdforever2
Society will not fall apart without religion.

Religion is rule through fear. People no longer, and arguably never did, need to be ruled that way.

O RLY?

And what keeps you from just robbing a bank when you need money?

Personal ethics and the desire to not be in jail.

Exactly. Which is rule through fear and force.

He was speaking of religion's "be good or you'll go to hell" aspect. Our society is "be good or you'll go to prison." It's very much the same thing.

 

[mb]

Well, going to jail is a more certain and direct consequence.... going to hell? Just repent and you're OK, right?

 

[igowerf]

I think we needed religion hundreds of years ago, but not so much anymore.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche#Nihilism_and_the_death_of_God

 

[dandruff]

yes ... weaklings need that structure ...

 

[dandruff]

Originally posted by: Cooler
Weaklings need somthing to belive in other wise weaklings would feel life had no meaning.

fixed.

 

[EatSpam]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: amdforever2
Society will not fall apart without religion.

Religion is rule through fear. People no longer, and arguably never did, need to be ruled that way.

O RLY?

And what keeps you from just robbing a bank when you need money?

Certainly not the fear of some spook in the sky....

 

[Compton]

Originally posted by: Cooler
People need somthing to belive in other wise people would feel life had no meaning.

The meaning of life is whatever you want it to be.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
China is doing fine without religion.

China still has religions. Text

Yeah but most people there are not religious, at least not really serious about any religion. I've lived there for many years.

So yeah a society could do just fine without religion.

 

[zanieladie]

Yes.

 

[enyce2k9]

in court u place your hand on the bible and swear.
u.s. is based on christianity.

if there was no religion things would have been different for sure.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
China is doing fine without religion.

China is nothing without the US who happened to be founded by Protestant Christians.

 

[Evander]

"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
Albert Einstein

"It is my firm opinion that Europe does not represent the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan. And Satan?s successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips."
Ghandi

 

[MrDudeMan]

this thread makes me sad because of how close minded some of you are. i dont mind dislike for religion or even if you wanted it to go away in general, but you guys have no clue what it is about. granted, your experience with believers of any religion will directly influence what you think about that religion, but a lot of people have their own agenda which does not parallel that of the religion they follow, thus corrupting the message and misconstruing the true meaning. i cant fault you for forming an opinion based on what you see, but it is ignorant nonetheless. i am religious and i answer the poll no. of course it would not fall apart...that is ridiculous.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Evander
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
Albert Einstein

"It is my firm opinion that Europe does not represent the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan. And Satan?s successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips."
Ghandi

the ghandi quote doesnt mean what you are wanting it to mean. ghandi said himself he would be christian if it werent for the other christians. i happen to be christian and find his statement to be accuracte as well. i take the time to study what the bible actually teaches and read several books per week by christian apologists to understand faith, not just spead senseless drivel to the masses. that was a little off topic, but i wanted you to know my background a little bit.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan
this thread makes me sad because of how close minded some of you are. i dont mind dislike for religion or even if you wanted it to go away in general, but you guys have no clue what it is about. granted, your experience with believers of any religion will directly influence what you think about that religion, but a lot of people have their own agenda which does not parallel that of the religion they follow, thus corrupting the message and misconstruing the true meaning. i cant fault you for forming an opinion based on what you see, but it is ignorant nonetheless. i am religious and i answer the poll no. of course it would not fall apart...that is ridiculous.

QFT but no point with these jerks.

 

[shoRunner]

religion can be generally defined by "A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion."

there will never be a time without religion. those on ATOT who are extremely anti-christian, would be followers of that "religion."

religion is a fact of life, ALL significant and great cultures had an institution of religion.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: Evander
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."
Albert Einstein

"It is my firm opinion that Europe does not represent the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan. And Satan?s successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips."
Ghandi

Not sure why you quote Ghandi but he caused many Indians to die needlessly and drove the British out of India (causing violent clashes between Hindu, Muslim and Sikhs) and look at India now. Imagine if British Imperialism had continued to today; India would have been a thriving first world superpower.

 

[zerocool1]

I think it would obviously drastically change things because there wouldn't be fanaticsism or fundementalism. Those sorts of ideas tend to allow for the use of violence to accomplish an end--suicide bombings in Islam, the Inquisition from days of yore. It would remove many differences from man and his fellow man. Perhaps that's why Lennon was singing about No Religion in Imagine.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: Taggart
One of the roles that religion has played historically is maintaining standards of 'decency' and right and wrong. Be good and you go to heaven. Be bad and go to hell. Do you think society would go into a dark age without this incentive?

I am not religious btw, I just think a lot of otherwise degenerate people have an incentive to be 'good' because of religion.

You have an incredibly narrow-minded view of religion. Heaven and hell only exist in one religion and there are a great many more religions around the world.

I think most religions try teaching the basics of right and wrong. I think human beings are inherently evil. However, society is falling apart even WITH religion; without SOMETHING to push the basics of right and wrong like religion, society would simply fall apart faster.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Originally posted by: destrekor
i think that this point in time the cultures on this planet are not capable of living the same way we do now without religion.
give it some time and all religion will be ditched as we grow smarter and come to realize more on our own. that or we will all die in mass extinction at the hands of nature

Hehe, I can't wait for that to happen. :laugh:

 

[Patrick Wolf]

If there was no religion, what reason would people have to live? Maybe we'd get by purely on our instincts? I don't know.

This question can't be answered, only pondered, since religion has been around for as long as forever.

What about aliens? There's almost a 100% chance some sort of aliens exist, did God create them?