Hero of Hyrule Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I don't really care about Christians with this questions...There are not that much active christians anyway. I think that many here would agree with the statement that religion caused a lot of evil, and is still causing it now. Knowing how fundies act, that perfectly understandable. But I tend to think that religion is mostly an excuse for evil, and NOT the cause of it. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willybilly30 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Depends on what religion you’re talking about. I think it’s mostly an excuse for evil Depends on what people believe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy-tiger Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 An excuse for evil? Most certainly. Creates evil? In some ways. Perpetuates evil? You're damn right it does! (yeah, I know you didn't mention that, but you should've) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vixentrox Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Evil is subjective in many cases. Religion didn't create it, but it has made many natural things seem evil [gay sex? porn? ect] and evil was done in the name of advancement for many faiths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hero of Hyrule Posted December 7, 2005 Author Share Posted December 7, 2005 Ok, to Narrow it down, let's only use The Monotheistic world religions and maybe ancient Pagan religions, since Eastern Religions are very different. It's always the same with me...I'm pretty bad at starting topics. Sorry. Evil needed a definition to. Let's leave brainwashing out, and concentrate on material things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
necrosmith Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Good and evil are very subjective terms. Can you be a little more precise? For example, I believe war is evil. Religion has been the cause of and justification for many wars. Therefore, I believe that religion has caused and justified evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlinfmct87 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Did religion create evil? No. Does it enable evil? Are people more likely to commit atrocities in the name of God? Most certainly. It's mob mantality, us-and-them, and the joys of absolute certainty that you're right. After all, God wills it, right? Merlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 After all, God wills it, right? Merlin He does? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white_raven23 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Religion defines evil. Without a group telling you which things are evil.....my gosh, you might follow your own judgement and decide what evil is based solely on how negatively people are affected by something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlinfmct87 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 After all, God wills it, right? Merlin He does? Well, no, I don't think he/she/it does. Truth be told, if it's there, I don't think it gives two shits about us. But many(most?) Christians seem to have a different view... Merlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Neil Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I would say that any kind of thinking, that puts pleasing an imaginary god above the well-being of the individuals in the populus, is evil. It doesn't matter if you're denying equal rights to homosexuals or throwing maidens into a volcano. It's all the same. When you convince yourself that all that is good is dependant upon pleasing the tribal deity, that's pretty evil. "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." ~Steve Weinberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Gods Fail Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Did religion create evil? No. Does it enable evil? Are people more likely to commit atrocities in the name of God? Most certainly. It's mob mantality, us-and-them, and the joys of absolute certainty that you're right. After all, God wills it, right? Merlin Yep - religion gives it's practitioners the high of righteousness. To think you represent the highest moral authority in the universe (which allows you to tell anyone to shut up) gives you an incredible ego rush. It's not unlike the feeling you get with a gun in your hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlinfmct87 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I would say that any kind of thinking, that puts pleasing an imaginary god above the well-being of the individuals in the populus, is evil. It doesn't matter if you're denying equal rights to homosexuals or throwing maidens into a volcano. It's all the same. When you convince yourself that all that is good is dependant upon pleasing the tribal deity, that's pretty evil. "With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." ~Steve Weinberg Perfect, Neil. That's exactly what I was looking for. Did religion create evil? No. Does it enable evil? Are people more likely to commit atrocities in the name of God? Most certainly. It's mob mantality, us-and-them, and the joys of absolute certainty that you're right. After all, God wills it, right? Merlin Yep - religion gives it's practitioners the high of righteousness. To think you represent the highest moral authority in the universe (which allows you to tell anyone to shut up) gives you an incredible ego rush. It's not unlike the feeling you get with a gun in your hand. There is a gun, it's called hell. It's where everyone who disagrees with their preacher goes. Merlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 But I tend to think that religion is mostly an excuse for evil, and NOT the cause of it. I would agree, except that in some cases, religion tends to incite more evil than otherwise would be incited. Take the terrorists, for example. Why are they doing what they are doing? Religion. They honestly believe that they have a mandate from god to kill everyone who isn't of their religion. Now, what would happen if Christians also believed the same and we allowed that kind of belief to perpetuate and build up to a breaking point? Probably a thermonuclear war. (Not that one still can't happen with the Islamic extremists, but still.) Yeah, some people will always be hateful, but they need a leader, someone to whip up that hatred into a frenzy and get them to act. That's what religion does. If not for religion, I'm willing to bet that Saddam and Osama would still be overgrown bullies in their own countries and 9/11 wouldn't have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlinfmct87 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 This makes me ponder an ooold question that got me into a lot of trouble way back when. Is religion the enemy of civilization? Are the two interests mutually exclusive? Merlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardAbbey Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I don't really care about Christians with this questions...There are not that much active christians anyway. I think that many here would agree with the statement that religion caused a lot of evil, and is still causing it now. Knowing how fundies act, that perfectly understandable. But I tend to think that religion is mostly an excuse for evil, and NOT the cause of it. What do you think? Religion is not only the cause of all evil it is the root of all evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlinfmct87 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I don't really care about Christians with this questions...There are not that much active christians anyway. I think that many here would agree with the statement that religion caused a lot of evil, and is still causing it now. Knowing how fundies act, that perfectly understandable. But I tend to think that religion is mostly an excuse for evil, and NOT the cause of it. What do you think? Religion is not only the cause of all evil it is the root of all evil. All evil? Everywhere? I do have a passionate... dislike for religion, I think we can trace a lot of harm back to it, but all? Can't people be pigs on their own without god's help? Merlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dianka Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 Evil, unless you all are referring to evil as a lack of good judgement, mental instability, selfishness, or an otherwise bad decision, does not exist to me. Was Hitler evil, or was he an amphetamine addict who was extremely mentally unstable? Is Saddam evil, or is he a naricissist? Saying that someone or some act is evil means that a spiritual force influences them. I just don't think evil is a good answer for why people do things. It is as good as throwing your hands up in the air. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I just don't think evil is a good answer for why people do things. It is as good as throwing your hands up in the air. Well, it's not a cause really because evil is subjective to one's culture. Perhaps the question should be rephrased to, does religion lead to acts of violence? I would say yes, but not all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotBlinded Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I don't really care about Christians with this questions...There are not that much active christians anyway. I think that many here would agree with the statement that religion caused a lot of evil, and is still causing it now. Knowing how fundies act, that perfectly understandable. But I tend to think that religion is mostly an excuse for evil, and NOT the cause of it. What do you think? Religion is not only the cause of all evil it is the root of all evil. All evil? Everywhere? I do have a passionate... dislike for religion, I think we can trace a lot of harm back to it, but all? Can't people be pigs on their own without god's help? Merlin Once again, you show just why I you. It's the ego that is the cause of evil. It wouldn't matter what form it took (religion, government, etc.), it would still need conflict in order to feed it. What religion does is take a group of egos and feeds them. This is just opposite of what it should do. People are people and will always seek a group that feeds their egos until a realization happens. But, without evil in some form, there would never be any change. Evil is just something that interfers with living. It's not a supernatural power, it is a needed incentive for change. Disease can be viewed as evil, but disease is needed for the health of the planet and to clean out (or accept) mutations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlinfmct87 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I don't really care about Christians with this questions...There are not that much active christians anyway. I think that many here would agree with the statement that religion caused a lot of evil, and is still causing it now. Knowing how fundies act, that perfectly understandable. But I tend to think that religion is mostly an excuse for evil, and NOT the cause of it. What do you think? Religion is not only the cause of all evil it is the root of all evil. All evil? Everywhere? I do have a passionate... dislike for religion, I think we can trace a lot of harm back to it, but all? Can't people be pigs on their own without god's help? Merlin Once again, you show just why I you. It's the ego that is the cause of evil. It wouldn't matter what form it took (religion, government, etc.), it would still need conflict in order to feed it. What religion does is take a group of egos and feeds them. This is just opposite of what it should do. People are people and will always seek a group that feeds their egos until a realization happens. But, without evil in some form, there would never be any change. Evil is just something that interfers with living. It's not a supernatural power, it is a needed incentive for change. Disease can be viewed as evil, but disease is needed for the health of the planet and to clean out (or accept) mutations. Ego..... Hmm. I like that. I'll have to toy with that in my head to see where it goes... but it has strong bones to say the least. Religion does tend to give people absolute certainty. The highest statement of Ego, to say the least. We're right, God's on our side, we have all we need to know, don't confuse us with the facts - or even another perspective. It stops thought, doubt, consideration and pondering dead in it's tracks. After all, if you have the answer to life, why bother looking for a better one? This is, of course, an extreme example, but shades of it are found throughout society. The best way to describe it is a back-door to morality and critical thought. I've used this example before - if someone walked into a courthouse and said that we need to take the rights of gays because homosexuality is inherently wrong and evil, he'd be laughed out. Put a Bible into his hand(or a Quran, or a Torah, it's the same principle) and the law is re-written, common sense is thrown out, and rights start disappearing. I you too, sis... Merlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LloydDobler Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I think evil is the cause of religion, not the other way around. The lust for power and/or control is the root. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotBlinded Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I think evil is the cause of religion, not the other way around. The lust for power and/or control is the root. Yep....ego dominated incentives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlinfmct87 Posted December 7, 2005 Share Posted December 7, 2005 I think evil is the cause of religion, not the other way around. The lust for power and/or control is the root. Yep....ego dominated incentives. Agree 1,000%. Merlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skankboy Posted December 8, 2005 Share Posted December 8, 2005 I'd say western religion created evil in that it portrays a dicotomy that doesn't actually exist in the real world... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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