Religion causes war and should be elliminated.

[Brian37]

Welcome ! Religion is bullshit .

Yep, it is "lets pretend" for adults.

[Sleeper]

Being primates causes wars, and that can't be eliminated. Welcome.

[Plu]

Being alive and with too large a group to all have enough resources causes wars, it's not limited to primates.

[usalabs14]

Hi, welcome. I'm assuming you're an Anti-theist like me and believes mankind would be better off ten times over without religion and many hundreds of years more advanced, which really pisses me off we're so far behind. I disagree with those saying Religion doesn't cause wars or hasn't, 9/11 caused a holy war in a sense and was religiously motivated. If you also look at the major genocides in history you will find they were religious in nature or religious in structure.

How very true, but I would disagree on mankind should be 100s years ahead in technology.  It maybe a song, but think of the lyrics to Zager and Evans "In the year 2525".

As for 9/11 caused a "holy 'war'"?, lets have a look at those 2 words,,,,1st, holy as in religious, and 2nd, war as in destruction, so combine the 2 and you have religion condoning "war", so, remove religion and you remove war.

But with that said, if war is over money, and "I want what you got" (greed), then remove money and share the planet's land and there wouldn't be war, imagine this:-

A world (utopia), where people live side-by-side regardless of color or creed, communities helping each other, money isn't needed because you wouldn't have a need for anything, if someone asked a farmer if he/she has a spare goat for goats milk, then, if that farmer has one, then it's given, but if not, then that person would ask elsewhere.  A house is taken down during a natural disaster, whole communities whether neighbors or not, pitch in to help rebuild it, food is grown and shared, land is shared, languages taught to each other so there would be no language barrier.

I would rather live in a peaceful utopia than a violent dystopia controlled by technology and violence.

Sure, have a certain amount of technology, but not go over the top, as to have technology completely do everything for us and control our lives, "in the year 2525", "Logun's Run", "The Matrix", "Star Trek", "Star Wars", these may contain futuristic words and images, but keep going the road we are going now and they could well be a reality.

Ponder on this:-

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wonderin' if man is gonna be alive He's taken everything this old earth can give And he ain't put back nothing
Now it's been ten thousand years, man has cried a billion tears For what, he never knew, now man's reign is through".

If we made this planet a peaceful utopia, and completely eradicated religion, then by the time 9595 comes around we WILL! still be alive.

A small joke which may upset a few religious people, but being an atheist, I don't really care :)

Q..      What is a priest?
A..       A priest is someone that everyone calls father, but to his children, they are obliged to call him uncle.

[Sleeper]

Being alive and with too large a group to all have enough resources causes wars, it's not limited to primates.

He/she's not talking about lions fighting over the spot nearest the pond. The fact that we're primates explains our wars.

[mendacium remedium]

As should any belief system or economic system which polarizes the population.

Politics has caused more war than religion has, and has killed scores more.

[Hydra009]

I would rather live in a peaceful utopia than a violent dystopia controlled by technology and violence.

Who wouldn't?

Sure, have a certain amount of technology, but not go over the top, as to have technology completely do everything for us and control our lives

No offense, but that sentiment appears to be at least a hundred years too late.  Machines (with special emphasis on computers) are already ubiquitous and have been for some time now.  If you live in an industrialized nation, virtually every aspect of your life is dependent on machines of some form or another.  Everything from manufacturing, farming, medicine, transportation, communication, etc.  Machines don't yet do everything for us *lifts legs to let the Roomba through* but they've taken on a good portion of it.  And thank goodness they have.  They have spared countless people lives of drudgery and made reality a standard of living that would be otherwise impossible.  And you know what?  I fervently hope that this process continues on.  I <3 technology.

"in the year 2525", "Logun's Run", "The Matrix", "Star Trek", "Star Wars", these may contain futuristic words and images, but keep going the road we are going now and they could well be a reality.

These are fictional movies and while they generally depict possible scenarios, I think people take this stuff too seriously (and that's coming from me, the sci-fi geek) and irrationally fear advances in technology.  Not to say that there aren't ethical issues to consider, but they should be considered based from the facts on the ground, not from fictional stories and a misleading availability heuristic.

[pr126]

Politics has caused more war than religion has, and has killed scores more.

Islam is a political ideology, with a thin veneer of religiosity  used to enforce obedience.

The state is Islam, where religion, laws and and politics are inseparable.

BTW, Islam has piled up 270 million corpses since 622 AD, and counting.

[NitzWalsh]

Ants fight their own little wars.

Do they have religion?

How do you eliminate ant religion?

[Plu]

Ants worship their queen. But taking that away makes them all die, so that's not much better :p

[NitzWalsh]

Ants worship their queen. But taking that away makes them all die, so that's not much better :p

So to get rid of religion, we have to kill them all? I think that'd work with people.

[VaasMontenegro]

First, I've been an atheist since I can remember, and I believe in one world, one unity, meaning, total peace and everyone living and helping each other, no religion, no weapons, no borders, this planet is for everyone, regardless of color or creed.

Look at history and the present, wars happen because of religion, Hitler persecuted the Jews, the Irish fought each other (Catholic against Protestant), everyone says their region is the truth, and war breaks out because of it, look at most of the so called cults and organizations that have formed since as early as 1815 all based on religion, and the wars that are caused are all fought for the sake of religion.

Think about this, if current technology permitted us to travel the universe and found a very primitive planet, but it's inhabitants are socially acceptable, but we showed them something that's 1000 years ahead of their time, they would consider us gods, because the technology wouldn't even be thought of, and we wrote a book explaining would "could" happen if they didn't change their ways (much as the USA are telling Iraq), but someone saw that book and found out we are as human as they are and can be hurt, thus a group of people wanted to keep peace and decided these so called "gods" are not wanted and did the only thing they could do at the time, and since then, the book as been re-written, written again, words twisted, and re-written again and again, and over the centuries, the REAL truth has been completely wiped out.

As it's said, keep telling the same lie, and it becomes indistinguishable from the truth, and people would believe the various versions and make up their own meanings to them.

So, to conclude, if this world was totally without religion, there would be peace, and tranquility, everyone helping each other, there would be no famine, because countries would help each other, nobody would be helpless, as the strong would help the weak, people would be able to travel across countries with no boundaries, everyone would be able to communicate regardless of where they life, because people would teach each other their languages , THIS!! is the world as it should be, maybe it'll happen in 10,000 years when mankind has finally near but wiped themselves out, and the true people of peace will grow.

Every religion except MY religion causes war. My religion is a religion of peace.

You say that it is not do you? Meet me at 12:30 AM on 03/15/2013 and I will show you a piece of my mind... WITH MY FIST!


No but seriously, religions do not cause wars in and of themselves. Competing interests cause wars. Religions are not innately competing interest unless outlined in their core theology.... which sufficient for your argument, many if not most religions have a non-compete clause somewhere in their contracts.

They have done in the past and could well do in the future.

(Spanish inquisition, The Crusades, many conflicts in the middle east, to name a few that were entirely religiously motivated)

[blackbear89]

Don't just discuss it in pen, pick up the sword!

[Plu]

I don't think swords are going to cut it anymore in this day and age. Science has long since moved us beyond those.

[AllPurposeAtheist]

Can't we all just get along? No? Well fuck you! Get along or I'll kill you all!