Would your home be better without "religion?"

by Tatiana 14 Replies latest jw friends

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  Tatiana

  I have a serious question that I have been thinking about a lot lately. I'd really like other views. Just so I know I'm not .
  
  Say there was no religion. Say the Bible was never written. Say everyone on Earth, our home, believed in some power that created us, but were not afraid of that "power/being." Say we all knew that this was our home and we had to take care of it or else.
  
  Say that no one believed that this "being" was going to swoop down and take care of all of our problems. That we knew the being created us, but this being told us we were on our own and we'd better make the best of it. There would be no "saving" us from ourselves. There would be no destruction of anyone. Good or bad. No promise of some obscure afterlife/virgins/heaven/hell/paradise earth.
  
  Just "us." And the power that created us...and we knew we had to make our own bed.
  
  Think about it. We sit here hoping for something "better" that religion has promised us. We sit here believing that a "being" is going to take away all of our problems. Some say they don't believe in giving to charity, because in time a "being" will take away all hunger, pain, and death. In the meantime, millions of people in our home starve and die.
  
  Some say they don't get involved in politics because a "being" is going to destroy it all anyway, so why bother. So, we do nothing to change it. We sit here and hate our fellow man and woman because they don't go to the same "building" as we do to pray to said "being." Each one telling the other they will be destroyed by said "being."
  
  We get complacent. We wait. For what? Something better from someone in the sky, when we could make it better ourselves. If there was no "hope" of some other "existence" in some invisible place or some far off utopian paradise, wouldn't we try so much harder to make THIS time and place as best as possible? Wouldn't we take care of each other? And not wait for someone else to do it?

  If we had no false hope of any "being" running to our rescue, and we didn't sit around on our asses waiting for an invisible "being" to take care of us, wouldn't this world we live in NOW be a better place?
  
  I truly believe it would be. I believe humans have the capacity to love beyond anything else. I believe if not for religion and false hope we would be able to bring out all the best in ourselves and truly love each other.

  Am I wrong?
• 

  Gopher

  Your comments about the effects that religion has are spot-on. You're not one bit cuckoo.

  These thoughts are what Karl Marx had in mind when he stated "religion is the opium of the masses".

  It seems that the world will always have religion, despite its pitfalls. The fear of death and the uncertainty surrounding life make many want to believe that something else is in control. It can be more comforting to "leave things in God's hands" than to directly address (or just cope with) vexing and troubling realities of life.
• 

  bernadette

  My home would definitley be better without religion.

  I truly believe it would be. I believe humans have the capacity to love beyond anything else. I believe if not for religion and false hope we would be able to bring out all the best in ourselves and truly love each other. Am I wrong?

  I wouldn't say your wrong and I would like to see a world without religion but we would still be left with the struggle for existance. Humans would have to nurture their capactiy for love, there would be a need for sacrifice and sharing. Justice would need to come into the picture. What would inspire us? Perhaps men and women from the past and strong leaders who have atruistic motives? Just musing

  bernadette
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  blondie

  What is "religion"?

  A group of beliefs adhered to by a group of people?

  Is it the same as personal spirituality, a way of living within human society to benefit humans and the earth around us?

  I think of "religion" as an outside event imposed on others knowingly or unknowingly in a community. If a person were born in one area of the earth rather than another, what "religion" would be expected of them?

  I finally realized I had to take personal responsibility to investigate and choose the values that I knew followed the basic concept to treat others as I would like to be treated. Of course, this is not black and white and each person must choose themselves what falls into that area of action, and take responsibility for it in regard to their personal values and the community's.

  Blondie (no groupie)
• 

  magoo

  ........."imagine there's no heaven, imagine there's no hell......imagine there's no religion, even if you could"......

  been listening/reading john lennon lately?..........

  magoo
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  Junction-Guy

  If there's no God,no devil, no heaven,no hell, then I guess we would just have to make the best of it, but given our human natures we would be much worse off without some religious belief. The fear of hell/anhilation by god is what keeps this world in check. If nobody had this fear, then people would steal,kill, lie, do whatever they could to get ahead in this life, and they already do it, but it would be on a much more grander scale if there was no belief in God or an afterlife.
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  Tatiana

  If there's no God,no devil, no heaven,no hell, then I guess we would just have to make the best of it, but given our human natures we would be much worse off without some religious belief. The fear of hell/anhilation by god is what keeps this world in check. If nobody had this fear, then people would steal,kill, lie, do whatever they could to get ahead in this life, and they already do it, but it would be on a much more grander scale if there was no belief in God or an afterlife.

  I don't believe this, junction-guy. Wouldn't our "human nature" dramatically change if we had no religious belief? And think of how many murders/torture/anihilations have ocurred in the name of religion. So, you are saying that without any religious beliefs of some alternate reality in the future, humans would have no conscience and just descend into chaos? So, why aren't all athiests running around committing all these things now? I don't know....just throwing it out there. Yeah, love that Lennon song.
• 

  nvrgnbk

  Most assuredly yes!
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  Junction-Guy

  Well here is another analogy, They announce on TV that a certain city would have no police force, no jail, anymore. There would be widespread looting, stealing, etc etc etc.
  
  very few murders in the US are religious based, maybe in the middle east, but not here.
  
  
  Without some sense of punishment in the future, there would be more crime.
• 

  Tatiana

  Well here is another analogy, They announce on TV that a certain city would have no police force, no jail, anymore. There would be widespread looting, stealing, etc etc etc.
  
  very few murders in the US are religious based, maybe in the middle east, but not here.
  
  
  Without some sense of punishment in the future, there would be more crime.

  Yes, but you are thinking of what it would be like NOW...in the present...if everyone STOPPED believing. I'm speaking about from the beginning of time. If no one EVER believed in some future paradise. I think the world would be sooooo different than it is now. I think we all would EACH take responsibility for each other and the world would be a much better place. I also think fear of punishment may prevent a minority of people from committing crimes, but most criminals still commit crimes knowing full well what the punishment will be.