Religion gave us the idea that there was evil/sin. Religion promoted this idea in the wars years before.
And Religion is still caging millions with the fear of evil.

Do you think Religion is the root of all evil?

Religion: Good or Evil?

By Edgar Pearlstein

Is religion a force for good or for evil? There is evidence both ways, and I don't know how to balance the pluses and minuses.

Certainly religion provides comfort to many people, and perhaps gets some to behave more ethically than they might otherwise. Religions have inspired many great works of art, architecture, and music. They have sponsored charitable, medical, and educational institutions.

On the other hand, religion is divisive and provides impetus for discrimination, cruelty, family breakup, and persecution toward those of different religion. Religion is a medium for some people's hypocrisy. Even murder and child neglect are sometimes ordered by the god.

I am reminded of a quote from Steven Weinberg (Nobel laureate in physics): “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil — but for good people to do evil — that takes religion.”

People fight and die over religious holy places, some of which are claimed by more than one religion, as in Jerusalem and India.

In some cases religion makes people miserable through arbitrary rules, such as those about divorce, birth control, shunning, and limitations on medical care.

There are also some large-scale horrors to which religion contributed: wars, pogroms, crusades, jihads, persecutions, inquisitions, witch hunts. We have seen these things in old history and some continue today.

Here are just a few of the many examples we have had in very recent times: In the countries of former Yugoslavia, there were Catholic Croats, Orthodox Christian Serbs, and Muslims all at each other. In Lebanon, it was Christian Arabs (supported by Israel) versus Muslim Arabs in a terrible civil war. In India, it is Sikhs and Hindus fighting over a holy place.

Almost every modern religion has at times been the perpetrator and at other times the victim of such evils.

Religion has served as justification, if not the real reason, for slavery, colonialism, and even cruelty to animals.

On another level, it can be argued that religions tend to discourage people from thinking independently and clearly. For religions insist on the Truth of ancient stories and superstitions regardless of any evidence or reasoning that appeared since their origin. The religious mindset of smug rectitude and superiority gets in the way of a mindset toward justice and reason.

“The simple faith of a child”, sometimes glorified by religious people, can be charming in a young child, but is disgraceful in an intelligent adult.

There is no such thing as "evil".

ritchboy:

There is no such thing as "evil".

really? why do you say that? You must have an explanation right?

babaearly:

Religion gave us the idea that there was evil/sin. Religion promoted this idea in the wars years before.
And Religion is still caging millions with the fear of evil.

Do you think Religion is the root of all evil?

The fact is that no single phenomenon can be termed "the root of all evil". The main problem with religion is that it was invented when humans had little knowledge and as such, it is no longer as useful as it once was yet many people refuse to give it up. This tends to lead to making wrong decisions based on wrong premises or right decisions still based on wrong premises.
One such as myself would generally prefer to have the best premises available when making any decisions.

@Thehomer; i do believe that there was a man named Adam who had a woman mate named Eve. These two were the first pair of modern humans. They were creatures, created by The God. I believe in creation by the Creator Who organized, ordained and ordered all things.

I believe that the first pair named above was given a religion by the Creator.

that religion is simply Submit to Me your Creator in full submission.

Are you saying that the above is not the case?

if that is what you are saying, then tell me if Adam and Eve invented a religion for themselves to more complicate themselves in their new environment called earth, which i am sure they probably did not dwell long on earth to live long enough in every square inch of this relatively small place if you contrast it with jupiter?

If Adam and Eve did not have a religion, how did they organize themselves and their children discriminating between right and wrong? finally, who was the first to invent 'religion'? what was the religion that was first invented? considering that Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Lot, etc, even Moses, etc didn't practice the religion of judaism, even Jesus didn't practice judaism [look at how the jews of today practice their religion you will know], what religion will you consider the submission to God of these men? or did no one of them have a religion by which they obey/submit to God?

babaearly:

really? why do you say that? You must have an explanation right?

Evil: morally wrong or bad; immoral;

When you consider the fact that "morals" are a load of hogwash, then you have to put "evil" in the same bracket.

Sweetnecta:

@Thehomer; i do believe that there was a man named Adam who had a woman mate named Eve. These two were the first pair of modern humans. They were creatures, created by The God. I believe in creation by the Creator Who organized, ordained and ordered all things.

I believe that the first pair named above was given a religion by the Creator.

that religion is simply Submit to Me your Creator in full submission.

Are you saying that the above is not the case?

Yes I am. Humans evolved on the earth. There was a long period of time before humans came on the scene. Modern humans did not come from a single pair of individuals. If you believe they were created, how were they created? Were they moulded or did they simply jump out of the ground?

Sweetnecta:

if that is what you are saying, then tell me if Adam and Eve invented a religion for themselves to more complicate themselves in their new environment called earth, which i am sure they probably did not dwell long on earth to live long enough in every square inch of this relatively small place if you contrast it with jupiter?

If Adam and Eve did not have a religion, how did they organize themselves and their children discriminating between right and wrong? finally, who was the first to invent 'religion'? what was the religion that was first invented? considering that Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Lot, etc, even Moses, etc didn't practice the religion of judaism, even Jesus didn't practice judaism [look at how the jews of today practice their religion you will know], what religion will you consider the submission to God of these men? or did no one of them have a religion by which they obey/submit to God?

Human societies do not need religion to differentiate right from wrong. This is why across cultures and religions, there are some basic tenets that are consistent. This is also why when a person rejects a religion, such a person does not automatically turn into a sociopath.
Religion is simply the human extension of certain superstitious reasoning that humans have. Religions like culture evolve.

babaearly:

Religion gave us the idea that there was evil/sin. Religion promoted this idea in the wars years before.
And Religion is still caging millions with the fear of evil.

Do you think Religion is the root of all evil?

thehomer:

The fact is that no single phenomenon can be termed "the root of all evil". The main problem with religion is that it was invented when humans had little knowledge and as such, it is no longer as useful as it once was yet many people refuse to give it up. This tends to lead to making wrong decisions based on wrong premises or right decisions still based on wrong premises.
One such as myself would generally prefer to have the best premises available when making any decisions.

thehomer is most likely correct. You can't say religion is the 'root of all evil'. There are some 'evils', if you like, that hav resulted from scientific advancement (like the Fukushima nuclear incident). But then, religion does deserve an award for having hampered progressive civil development. It clearly is no longer required in the system of things today; and it often happens that not taking a cog out of the wheel slows it down.

@sauer


Religion is Evil
by
Josh Becker


I've just read the second article in two days about Mel Gibson's upcoming, self-financed film about the death of Jesus, "The Passion," and the controversy it's already causing before almost anyone has seen it. I just want to add in my two-cents' worth before I've seen it, either.
         
In point of fact, I don't give a good Goddamn about Gibson's movie or Mel Gibson, for that matter.  I think he's a third-rate director and a second-rate actor who's never had the ability to master his American accent, and sounds like he comes from America's 51st state -- the state of anemia.
         
As these articles keep pointing out, Mel is part of a religious sect called "Catholic Traditionalists," who didn't even have a church in Los Angeles, so Mel went and built one.  These nuts only perform their services in Latin, and have broken from the Roman Catholic Church over the Vatican's 1965 accord wherein they finally exonerated the Jews for the death of Jesus.  But Mel's not willing to go there.  He and the other Traditionalists obviously still harbor a grudge that the Jews were culpable for the death of Jesus.
         
Perhaps if the Jews actually ran Israel at the time of Jesus' death they would have been responsible, but of course they didn't.  The Romans ran Israel and most of the world at that time and it was their rules everyone was following.  Which isn't to say that the Jews themselves might not have executed Jesus for being a rabble-rouser, but they certainly wouldn't have crucified him -- that's a Roman tradition, and the Romans were rather traditionalists in their own way.
         
You know what?  Who gives a flying bleep?  Hello!  This was 2,000 years ago.
         
But all of this meaningless hoopla just brings up other issues for me.  First of all, Jim Caviezel plays Jesus in "The Passion."  One more time a gutless naughty person has cast a gentile as a Jew.  Doesn't this offend anyone else but me?  Jesus was Jewish.  He was born a Jew, raised a Jew, and died a Jew, and all in the land of the Jews, Israel.  His parents were Jews, all of the apostles were Jews, everyone he knew was Jewish, and if he returned today he wouldn't go to church he'd go to synagogue.  The fact that over a billion Christians get down on their knees and pray to a dead Jew has always amused and fascinated me from the time I was a little kid.
         
But I'm going to take this whole issue one big step farther.  Religion, of any denomination, sect or ilk, is the basis of nearly all that's evil on our lovely planet.  Religion is not here to make anything better, it's only purpose to divide and separate us.  We're the chosen people, you're not.  Our God is the real God, yours is false and profane.  Although we must show love and compassion for other members of our own religion, those of any other can be killed, tortured, and maimed because they're infidels.  Religion, at its very heart, means I'm right and you're wrong, or you're right and I'm wrong, but someone's always got to be wrong.
         
I say that religion is the pretext for evil on our planet.  Religion is the method whereby humans can rationalize their awful behavior to other humans and pawn it off as good deeds.

         
The basis of all Judeo-Christian religions, which includes Islam, is the old testament bible, which states very clearly "Thou Shalt Not Kill."  Although I didn't know it at the time, nor is it even my title, the name of my first film is really much more appropriate: "Thou Shalt Not Kill . . . Except."  As George Carlin so aptly put it, except "if you believe in another invisible man than I do."  In which case the root and basis of all these religions, the ten commandments, can be happily and easily be tossed out.
         
Evil does not run around in a red devil suit with horns.  Evil runs around as fundamentalists of every kind, Christian, Jew, Muslim or Hindu.  I'll leave out the Buddhists and the Quakers because I don't think they have ever bothered anybody.  But they certainly aren't joining in with the rest of us, either.  Religion is about separation, me and you, them and us, it has nothing to do with living with the rest of humanity in peace.  Therefore, religion is the basis of evil.
         
Catholic priests have been seducing and despoiling young boys for over a hundred years, but are adamantly against homosexuality.  Muslims say they believe in the ten commandments and that Abraham, Isaac, and Moses were all holy men, but all Muslims believe in the jihad and that anyone who is not a Muslim ought to be, and eventually will be, killed.  Fundamentalist Christians, who also purport to believe in the ten commandments, really believe that when the apocalypse comes and Jesus returns, all the Jews will either have to convert to Christianity or will be killed, and that's perfectly okay.  Of course, Jesus will be in the nearest synagogue praying to Yaweh while this mass murder is going on.  And the Jews and Hindus all believe that they are the real chosen people and everyone is just screwed anyway.
         
This is all moronic, simple-minded, idiotic, pre-civilized, childish thinking.  Any name that we knuckleheaded humans can give to this incredible animating power that we call God, be it Jehovah, Jesus, Krishna, Allah, Buddha, or Zoroaster, are all ridiculous bullshit.
         
As Joseph Campbell, the great historian of mythology, so clearly pointed out, anyone that takes any of these old books of mythology literally has completely missed the point.  The bibles old and new, the Koran, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Book of Zoroaster, and all the rest of the "holy" books are merely collections of mythology.  They are metaphors and parables about how to live your life and how to face death.  They are highly imperfect users manuals on how to get through this veil of tears we call life.  If you actually believe that Jehovah is an old (white) man with a long beard who is watching each and every one of us over six billion humans and judging us, you're an slowpoke.  If you literally believe that Jesus is Jehovah's son, you've decided to turn off a big portion of your brain and not deal with reality.  If you literally believe that if you kill an infidel that Allah will bless you with seventy-two virgins in the land of milk and honey, you've definitely got a screw loose.  These are all myths.  Period.
         
Yes, there probably were guys named Jesus, Mohammed, and Buddha, but they were humans just like the rest of us.  The fact that a lot of other desperate, unquestioning people gathered to them doesn't make them anything other than plain old humans.

         
Religion is all based on weakness and laziness.  It's the throwing in of the towel on the mysteries of life.  It's saying, I can't make head or tail out of any of this poo, so I'll just go with what everyone is doing.  If they're all getting down on their knees, eating a cookie and believing it's the body of Christ, then I will too.  If they're all wrapping themselves in leather thongs, covering their heads with beanies, and rocking back and forth, that's what I'll do.  If everybody else is bowing to Mecca six times a day, I guess that's what I must do, too.  This is the behavior of lemmings following other lemmings off the edge of the cliff.  There is absolutely no difference between praying to Jesus, praying to Jehovah, bowing to Mecca, or lighting incense to Krishna, than there is sieg heiling to Hitler, blindly following Pol Pot into the killing fields, or chopping up Tutsis with machetes.  It's all called thoughtless behavior.
         
It's part of our job as humans to think about and consider our place here on the planet and our position amongst all these other people.  The second you abnegate this responsibility, you've fallen into an evil trap.  As the writer Harlan Ellison has said, "We're all the same person under different skins," and that's truly a holy thought.  All the religions on Earth want to point out is that we are all different, and we of our religion are better than those other unholy blasphemers.  That's evil.  And that is what all religion at its core is all about.  Us and them.  We're holy, they're infidels.
         
A word religions seem to really like, particularly the Jews is "tradition," which is the handing down of beliefs or customs from one generation to the next.  This is another form of acceptance without questioning.  For several hundred years an American tradition was, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian."  A good old Australian tradition was "the Abo-hunt," where they tracked down and shot the Aboriginal people for amusement.  A good old European tradition was the pogrom, where, if your luck had turned sour, go kill some Jews.  The Russians loved this tradition, but the French and Germans thought it was a pretty swell tradition, too.  And it's always been a tradition of the Serbs to hate the Croats, the Hutus to hate the Tutsis, whites to hate blacks, Christians to hate Jews, Jews to hate the Palestinians, Hindus to hate the Muslims, and Muslims to hate everybody.
     
Well, let's just thank God for tradition, sing songs in its praise and dance the Hora.
         
Karl Marx said that "Religion is the opiate of the masses," and he couldn't have been more correct.  Religion is a drug that encourages you to not think for yourself, and, in my very humble opinion, is much worse and far more deadly than heroin, pot, cocaine, and alcohol all put together.  None of these other drugs breeds contempt for other people, but all religions do in one way or another.  Religion is the insidious evil of our planet, and the sooner people start to wake up to that the sooner we can get on to bigger, more important issues like peace and goodwill toward others.

^^^quite correct, though it must be pointed out that the author has his own biases. Religion, as it is practised today, is pretty much toned down. A larger percentage of Roman catholics, for instance, go about their businesses meekly and without much thought about displacing muslims who encroach on their spaces. A couple of hundred years ago, this wasn't the case as witnessed during the crusades.
Apparently, though, religion seems to have outlived its usefulness, just as killing Red-indians or going on an Abo-hunt is no longer the fashion among the peoples mentioned by the author. In its excess, religion will rather serve as an all-consuming drug which encourages unbrotherly love and brutal violence between the different sects/beliefs. Additional reasons why it should be dropped!

@Sauer

Forget about the biases, but the truth is bare for all to see. You cant be a master of yourself by being so religious. Religion takes away that mastery of life, the ability to see things in real perspective. Religion teaches you about 'Faith', but what of Reason? Religion lacks Reason.

Religion is not the root of all evil, but an instrument of the root of evil just like money is also an instrument of the same root. The root of all evil exists within man himself, and not outside of him.
Religion can be used to take the soul of a man up or bring it down into the abyss. It all depends on how it is applied and for what purpose. If we are talking about the Abrahamic faiths like christianity and islam, for example, these two faiths were created to lock the soul of man in a spiritual prison by the priesthoods of these faiths for the express purpose of control and world domination by the ruling elites. And they are considered as evil for this nefarious reason, because they seek to dis-empower man to keep him in a controlled state of existence rather than empower him to set him free.

babaearly:

Religion gave us the idea that there was evil/sin. Religion promoted this idea in the wars years before.
And Religion is still caging millions with the fear of evil.

Do you think Religion is the root of all evil?