Do you believe that Religion benefits mankind?

jeanniebeanz

Or is it a detriment to society?

I'm sure this has been asked before, but since there are so many new people here I'll ask again...

J

"If your brother, the son of your father or of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the spouse whom you embrace, or your most intimate friend, tries to secretly seduce you, saying, 'Let us go and serve other gods,' unknown to you or your ancestors before you, gods of the peoples surrounding you, whether near you or far away, anywhere throughout the world, you must not consent, you must not listen to him; you must show him no pity, you must not spare him or conceal his guilt. No, you must kill him, your hand must strike the first blow in putting him to death and the hands of the rest of the people following. You must stone him to death, since he has tried to divert you from Yahweh your God. . . . (Deuteronomy 13:7-11)
Nearly every religious holy book promotes this type of goodwill and understanding. Does it benefit mankind--I think not!

Golf

Benefits you ask? Such as?

Golf

Hecklerboy

I believe religion was created to control the masses.

You don't need an organized religion to praise god.

Jourles

"Religion is poison."

-- Seven Years in Tibet

daystar

This is just a theory, but I think religion in many cases to be specifically created in order to guide mankind in the way that the creators of the religion want it to be guided, for good or ill.

I also highly suspect that those at the highest levels of the most powerful religions are mostly atheists seeking to form order from chaos.

littlerockguy

Any kind of benefit anybody would get from religion would have to pay too high a price for it in the long run in one way or another.

lonelysheep

Nope. Can you imagine what the world would be like with NO religions in it?!

jgnat

I think Religion is a tool than can be used for good or evil.

I blame humanity itself for doing evil or good to itself. Every one of us are just a step away from our selfish selves, that would stomp and tear our way to survival, destroying everyone and everything in our path. Ritual and taboos give us a form and structure that can rise us above ourselves and make us behave better.

There have been great people, with strong religious conviction, who have done great good. Was religion a hindrance to what they might have been? I don't think so. Their forms and beliefs made them better people, heroes worth imitating. I am thinking of Martin Luther King, Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa, Mahatma Ghandi.

Of course, great evil has been done in the name of religion, too.

GetBusyLiving

Do you think that keeping a person ignorant enriches their individual life experience?

Any sort of organized faith is evil, IMO.

GBL