A world without religion.... OH What a wonderful world that would be !

[RethugAssKicker]

[Sammy Pepys]

1. Eh, I'm not so sure about that. n/t

....

[wryter2000]

2. Yeah

No church charities picking up the slack in the South for FEMA. No one wanted that food after Katrina.

[Marnieworld]

48. It's not charity if you get reimbursed

FEMA gave them $ back for their efforts. At least someone showed up though.

[WildEyedLiberal]

3. People would just find new and different reasons to kill each other n/t

[Mythsaje]

4. Didn't John Lennon sing something about that?

Then again, the mind-blower was when Dolly Parton COVERED the song.

[Duer 157099]

5. Yes! Yes! Yes!

I'm reading a fantastic book called "Losing Faith in Faith" (Dan Barker) and it's giving me renewed focus (I almost said "faith" lol). The author is now part of "Freedom From Religion Foundation" and I'm going to look into them and see how to get involved.

[Avalux]

6. Please remember a lot of folks here are religious -

it's not the religion in and of itself, it's what humans do with it and how they use it to fit their own agenda.

[Beelzebud]

8. I'm glad John Lennon wasn't too PC to sing Imagine...

[jobycom]

19. Funny, I thought the song was very PC. I guess it's not PC to be PC.

If it's not PC to be PC, then being PC is not being PC and not being PC is being PC, so when people say they are against PC aren't they really being PC as opposed to not being PC?

Personally, I think anyone who complains about having to be PC is just trying to justify being rude. But it wouldn't be PC of me to say that. Unless... Oh hell, my head hurts.

[Avalux]

25. That was John Lennon's opinion - look at it this way

How about a world of tolerance for every other human being regardless of religious belief or lack of religious belief. I much prefer tolerance to diversity than doing away with religion.

[QC]

15. A world in which people can understand simple fucking rules....

imagine that!

When discussing race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, or other highly-sensitive personal issues, please exercise the appropriate level of sensitivity toward others and take extra care to clearly express your point of view....

...As a general rule, discussions about ideas are usually permitted, but broad-brush bigoted statements about groups of people — either religious or non-religious — are not. If you are easily offended by discussions about religious beliefs, or if you take pleasure from offending or ridiculing people with different beliefs, or if you consider progressive people with different beliefs to be your enemy or your inferior, do not participate in religious discussions on Democratic Underground.

Discussion topics relating to religion that have little or no relation to politics or current events must be posted in the Religion/Theology forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

[Marnieworld]

50. I agree

I'm not religious but I wouldn't negate all of the good it does for the bad it does. This seems like big ol' flamebait to me.

[MADem]

7. I don't mind religion, as long as people don't demand that EVERYONE

like their flavor of it.

Sure, there may be some people who like beet and celery icecream, but imagine if that was the only flavor available from the ice cream truck at the beach?????

People should enjoy their own flavor, and not demand that others buy it, too....

[ThomCat]

9. I think religion is wonderful

the same way I think Philosphy is wonderful. It can teach people a hell of a lot.

But it should be kept within strict limits somehow. It shouldn't be allowed to have any broad social or political influence. Think what you want, but keep it to yourself.

[deaniac21]

24. What about free speech?

[ThomCat]

33. Talk about it all you want.

I just don't think relgion should be allowed any broad social or political influence. Once religion gets beyond the focus on individuals and starts aiming at society very little good ever comes of it.

[WildEyedLiberal]

39. What about it?

[jobycom]

10. Nah, people would still be the same, they'd just find other things to

justify their actions. Science, economics, whatever. The good and bad stuff religion gets blamed for isn't a result of religion, it is just something in people, and religion is how they explain it. You don't have to look further than the 20th century to see people using science the same way, to justify racial superiority, genocide, personal self-righteousness, or whatever.

[ThomCat]

34. Unfortunately, I agree.

People will always find some excuse to think they are better than everyone else.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. A world without Organized religion....

OH What a wonderful world that would be !

Religion in itself is not the problem, it's what men do with it that creates all the problems.

[deaniac21]

26. Now you are talking. A world without MEN!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

54. Okay, I should have said "mankind"

cause I loves the Men. :evilgrin:

[Taxloss]

12. Oh, no.

RTAK, please report to the A&A Group for public relations training.

[liberalpragmatist]

13. That yin-yang's a religious symbol you know - nt

[RethugAssKicker]

22. Good catch !

[jobycom]

31. So you're saying the OP is really opposed to other people's religion

rather than religion in general. The "Nirvana" quote in his or her sig line would further hint at that. :-)

[lukasahero]

46. BWAHAHAHA!

Thanks for that - didn't even see.

:rofl:

[JohnKleeb]

14. You're wrong

I guess I am a minority here on the boards but I really do see religion as a positive force in the world. Yes it has its bad but that's a lot of things in life. Remember it was religion that drove the Civil Rights movement, helping hte needy out, and so many other causes of right.

[Tulum_Moon]

21. The world may just be a better place

We could all live as one. But I don't see Muslims giving up on Islam.

[Bridget Burke]

28. I don't think that Muslims are the only ones ...

Who would not abandon their faith. Why did you single them out?

And who says we must all "live as one"?

[JohnKleeb]

29. People will always find reason to hate, its human nature at its worst

I wouldn't give up Christianity either. The past two years of my life have been hard but thanks to religion things really have become more clear.

[ThomCat]

Religion also justified the racism that the civil rights movement opposed.

Religion wasn't just on one side of that fight.

[JohnKleeb]

43. I am aware of that

but it was in fact a Southern Baptist minister that was the face of the Civil Rights movement. Religion like many things in the world is a two sided coin. It has its people who use it to promote hate read the Phelps and those who use it to promote the good in people ala King.

[ThomCat]

49. So if religion was the foundation on both sides of the fight

religion gets the credit no matter who wins?

[JohnKleeb]

52. Not what I said

Religion isn't this evil thing that some make it out to be. You know why slavery became commonly used in the American South. It had more to do with finding a racial scapegoat so poor whites and poor blacks would hate each other no matter what.

[ThomCat]

55. And religion was a huge part of the justification for slavery.

I know that my last post wasn't what you said, just the obvious conclusion based on what you said.

[Inland]

16. Huh. I would have picked a world without war, or disease, or warming

for my "wonderful" world. I don't think religion would have made my top ten of things I would wish away, although religions that cause war would have been included in number one.

[QC]

18. Yeah, but that would make for lousy trolling.

This topic, on the other hand, will inspire precisely the ugliness and division that the OP was hoping for.

[Inland]

30. Roger that. nt

[ThomCat]

40. Getting rid of religion would get rid of most wars.

[WildEyedLiberal]

41. Like WWII?

[Inland]

45. Sure it would. And disease, and poverty.

Anything else? Hospitals? Charities? That annoying brunch crowd?

[stopbush]

17. One can dream, can't one?

A good start would be to make the distinction between spirituality and religiosity. They
are, in fact, quite exclusive of each other.

[RethugAssKicker]

23. Agreed... thats why I specifically stated "religion"

[Zynx]

20. Okay, what exactly would actually improve?

Greed? No. Killing? Hell no, the godless among us have proven that they are plenty capable of killing people en masse. Poverty? The greediest person I've ever met was a Republican atheist. Dishonesty? Oh, because we all know atheists don't lie.

Come on. Give us your best shot. When you make such a bold statement, you must provide some kind of argument.

I think a world without flame baiting types such as yourself would actually show more promise.

[RethugAssKicker]

27. I don't think the wholesale killing of people would occur

without it...The idea that God will reward you for killing "his" enemy would not exist. IMO.

[QC]

35. Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot might disagree with you there. n/t

[WildEyedLiberal]

38. Great minds think alike n/t

[WildEyedLiberal]

37. The Holocaust wasn't religiously motivated.

Neither were Pol Pot's killing fields, nor Stalin's gulags, nor genocide in Rwanda.

Pretty much all the "wholesale killing of people" in the 20th century was done for reasons other than God/religion.

[ThomCat]

44. Sure it was.

The whole idea of singling out the Jews was entirely based on religion. There was a long and robust history of Christians persecuting and blaming Jews. The Nazis simply developed what was already there.

The holocaust was the largest Pogrom in history. Without religion (both the Christian and Jewish religions) it could never have happened.

[Inland]

51. Here you go.

Killer wholesale

Killer retail

[Zynx]

56. Hmmm...Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot...

They must not have killed people wholesale by your definition. I could throw Hitler in there, but I'm not up for the debate about his religion since that is always a pointless exercise.

[rinsd]

53. Totally agreed, religion is the excuse/rationalization for depravity

not the cause of it.

[SmokingJacket]

32. Why post something like that?

Just to piss people off? Because it ain't productive. Religion's not going anywhere. And I say that as an atheist.

[Inland]

36. No, look at the carefully thought out thesis

Oh, wait, there's no message at all. Yeah, it seems it's just to piss people off. Thankfully, nobody is taking the flamebait.

[rman]

42. people can do evil without religion

[ThomCat]

47. True, but religion is great soil for growing evil.

[Moderator]

57. Locking

A world without flame bait.... OH What a wonderful world that would be!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html