[colecampbell666]

To be clear, I'm not talking spirituality or belief, but rather the organized religion aspect.

I believe that we could be much farther along were it not for weird and nonsensical prejudices, and all of these wars fought in the name of zombie jews and space volcanoes. Religion is not based on any fact, rather faith, belief, and to an extent prejudice and fear-mongering. If God is real and omnipotent, surely he is intelligent on an incomprehensible level, and we're supposed to have free will, so why not do what we wish with our free will? Why is having sex bad if we choose to do it for pleasure? God allows us to, does he not? What horrible consequence does it have on our morals, ideals, or life? None. What's wrong with abortion, if we have free will do we not also have the right to choose an abortion? It's prejudices like these that hold us back.

Sure, religion has some good points (the combined efforts of some churches support worthy causes such as African-Aid etc) but these ideas can easily be found in many other places.

I say Yes, and I firmly believe that religion has no place in this world.

Kudos to Scotty for the idea.

[iamzack]

Individual spirituality/belief I think is a good thing, actually.

Organized religion seems to take all the good things and use them for evil.

[Blue Lion]

Holding us back from what?

[Janos]

What timescale and period are we talking about?

[Scotty]

DAMN!   

As I go to hit "submit" for the yes option, I accidentally clicked "snuffalupagus."

The perfect reason for it not to be there.

[colecampbell666]

From what we could achieve. Lower population growth due to better sex-ed leads to less food shortages. Stem-cell research leads to better understanding of the human genome and the ability to more effectively combat disease. quadriplegics will be able to move, thanks to new spines, courtesy of stem-cell research. No more wars fought over which zombie is cooler. No more laws lobbied for by people with only their faith backing their decisions, only those backed by reason (at least a larger portion).

What timescale and period are we talking about?

Clarify. I'll say current day and the future.

[Scotty]

No more wars fought over which zombie is cooler.

Not necessarily.  Some people are inherently idiots, and will fight over, quite literally, which kind of zombie would actually be cooler if it attacked the world.

On a side note, I do not dislike the foundation for religion, merely what it has morphed into.

[colecampbell666]

Zombie = Jesus/Muhammed/Joe Smith/whoever.

[iamzack]

muhammed wasn't a zombie

[Flipside]

No-one holds your key to heaven but you.

[kode]

To be clear, I'm not talking spirituality or belief, but rather the organized religion aspect.

I believe that we could be much farther along were it not for weird and nonsensical prejudices, and all of these wars fought in the name of zombie jews and space volcanoes. Religion is not based on any fact, rather faith, belief, and to an extent prejudice and fear-mongering. If God is real and omnipotent, surely he is intelligent on an incomprehensible level, and we're supposed to have free will, so why not do what we wish with our free will? Why is having sex bad if we choose to do it for pleasure? God allows us to, does he not? What horrible consequence does it have on our morals, ideals, or life? None. What's wrong with abortion, if we have free will do we not also have the right to choose an abortion? It's prejudices like these that hold us back.

Sure, religion has some good points (the combined efforts of some churches support worthy causes such as African-Aid etc) but these ideas can easily be found in many other places.

I say Yes, and I firmly believe that religion has no place in this world.

Kudos to Scotty for the idea.

So because He gave us free choice, you must defy His glory?

[captain-custard]

So because He gave us free choice, you must defy His glory?

he gave us nothing we took it !

seriously giuys all this god stuff sucks so big

no proof no proof no proof

[colecampbell666]

How is it defying his glory. I'm speaking of a divine being, not any of the human-wrought texts, or human ideals. Most of todays religion is blatant human opinion, if there is a God why would he lay down such arbitrary rules?

[Scotty]

he gave us nothing we took it !

From?  The vast, unending vaccuum of space?

seriously giuys all this god stuff sucks so big

Jerkish opinion alert!

[kode]

How is it defying his glory. I'm speaking of a divine being, not any of the human-wrought texts, or human ideals. Most of todays religion is blatant human opinion, if there is a God why would he lay down such arbitrary rules?

Well, I'll certainly agree that the Holy Book is not to be taken at face value. You must find the message within.

[captain-custard]

he gave us nothing we took it !

From?  The vast, unending vaccuum of space?

seriously giuys all this god stuff sucks so big

Jerkish opinion alert!

because i do not believe what you believe then i am a jerk ..... nice

maybe you can stone me or banish me ......

your belief is your belief , there is no fact just opinion , i have no written work , no dogma , and no "im better than you" attitude
i am responsable for my actions and i will deal with that and not wait to be judged by my maker but judged by my peers


and yes we did come from the vast vacuum of space .... incredible


your beliefs are based on fear and oppression and have very little to do with anything else.....

[Scotty]

Jerkish opinion = "seriously giuys all this god stuff sucks so big"

your beliefs are based on fear and oppression and have very little to do with anything else.....

Amazing... You are able to qualify my beliefs despite not knowing me or what I actually believe   

i have no written work , no dogma , and no "im better than you" attitude

1) I do have the first.  Point being?
2) Not really
3) Do I really have one of those?

[kode]

I believe "holier-than-thou" is the correct attitude here.

[Flipside]

I don't mind one way or another what people choose to believe in their hearts, what I do disagree with is the attempt to institutionalise it. Someone's belief or disbelief in heaven or God has no impact on me personally, however, religious institutions do attempt to impinge on my opinions, as the recent debacle with the UN 'Anti Religious-Defamation' act, there's a bag with a bear-trap in it if ever I saw one.

I don't believe in the idea of criticizing someone for what they believe, however, that's not the same as criticizing what they believe, it's almost as thin a line as the one between 'criticize' and 'attack'.

I think everyone's belief is unique to a certain degree, and to try and regiment those beliefs, to use an eternity of torture as coercion for joining their 'club' etc, makes organised religion a dangerous thing.

It's like the medicine man, he is the man in charge of both the initiation and the law of the tribe. You more or less live or die at his say-so. In many ways priests can be similar, they claim God is judging your soul, but the fact is that it is they who are doing so, it is they who claim you to be a 'sinner', not God.

[peterv]

QFT