My opinion on religion

[Nico101]

Religion. It's one of the most beautiful and yet horrifying things mankind has created. It brings people together and yet makes them mortal enemies. Those who have lost hope can find it in religion, those who have no energy to carry on with their lives might find it in religion and those who think they don't have a purpose in life are given one by religion. And yet it is one of the most frightening things you could imagine. How many million people have died because of a slight change in belief? How many have died because they were classified as 'evil'? How many billions of people had their lives negatively affected by religion? And I'm not just talking about a specific religion here, many, if not all religions have caused suffering. Open any history book on a random page. Chances are high it states something about a religious conflict. Just think about the crusades, how many lives of innocent people had been taken just because they didn't want Christianity to be forced onto themselves? And still today religion costs many lives. Islamic extremism, day by day bombings in Iraq, shootings in abortion clinics, and, and, and. But it isn't religion itself that causes people to kill and die for it. It's misinterpretations of the message religions try to spread. People who misinterpret it for their own benefit, people who twist the message in a way, their 'cause' seems reasonable. But what is that message anyway? In my opinion religion is a moral codex, which we should follow. I mean it states 'You shall not murder' in the bible, and nobody here can tell me that's wrong, but in this time and age, do we really need an old bearded man to come down from a mountain and tell us we shouldn't murder, so we don't kill each other? Aren't we in a time, after so many wars and so much suffering, that we should slowly see what is wrong and what we should and shouldn't do? Hasn't humanity come far enough, that everyone can set his morals himself? In my opinion, the day we treat each other the way we should, religion loses its meaning. Because now, it only gives hope to those, who are not treated the way they should be. Hope that everything gets better once they die.

 

Any thoughts on this?

[John Cuthber]

" But it isn't religion itself that causes people to kill and die for it. It's misinterpretations of the message religions try to spread."

No, it's the fact that the bible tells you to kill people.

It's pretty clear.

You can't "interpret" stoning someone to death as anything other than incitement to murder.

"In my opinion religion is a moral codex, which we should follow. "

Really, so the bit that tells you where you should get your slaves is morally sound advice is it?

Well, that's one point of view, but I think it's a rare one.

 

Have you actually read the Bible?

[SlavicWolf]

The Bible was written by fallible scribes. So when a Jew or a Christian disagrees with the Bible, he may ascribe it to an error of the authors. And the Bible generally progresses from violence to peace - the violent passages are superseded by later, more peaceful ones. So the violent fragments are no more binding than something described in a historical chronicle.

 

My views regarding religion are similar to Machiavelli's - religion should exist but merely as a moral compass. But don't claim that all religions are pure and peaceful. They aren't. The teachings of Jim Jones and Charles Manson aren't the same as the teachings of Buddha or Jesus.

[Moontanman]

The Bible was written by fallible scribes. So when a Jew or a Christian disagrees with the Bible, he may ascribe it to an error of the authors. And the Bible generally progresses from violence to peace - the violent passages are superseded by later, more peaceful ones. So the violent fragments are no more binding than something described in a historical chronicle.

 

My views regarding religion are similar to Machiavelli's - religion should exist but merely as a moral compass. But don't claim that all religions are pure and peaceful. They aren't. The teachings of Jim Jones and Charles Manson aren't the same as the teachings of Buddha or Jesus.

 

 

Religion as a moral compass? My morals are vastly superior to any of the abrahamic religions, make me wonder if you've read their holy books or if you want to keep slaves and get a bride by raping the girl...

[ydoaPs]

The Bible was written by fallible scribes. So when a Jew or a Christian disagrees with the Bible, he may ascribe it to an error of the authors. And the Bible generally progresses from violence to peace - the violent passages are superseded by later, more peaceful ones. So the violent fragments are no more binding than something described in a historical chronicle.

 

My views regarding religion are similar to Machiavelli's - religion should exist but merely as a moral compass. But don't claim that all religions are pure and peaceful. They aren't. The teachings of Jim Jones and Charles Manson aren't the same as the teachings of Buddha or Jesus.

Except Jesus spends almost a whole chapter saying precisely that the old ones aren't superseded.