Phaseolus

Hi every one, There this Question thats been nagging at me for quite some time now and even after a number of long, and at times intense debates internally ( I split my self into two context dependent personalities, one for and one against and argue it out) and with other people, I still haven't come close to being any where near a satisfying answer.

To the question (finally!)... A lot of you have heard this one before but its very important to me so please indulge me. WOULD THE WORLD BE A BETTER PLACE WITHOUT RELIGION? for some of you the answer may be fairly simple..an over whelming YES! since a lot of conflict and strife in the world's past and present has been and is a consequence of while for some others it may be no, arguing that it serves as a moral and emotional support/compass etc in life whose benefits cannot be argued.

What I have been finding very difficult to predict is whether the benefits of an absence of the obvious problems caused by religion would actually outweigh those of believing in a higher power (whether it exists or not is irrelevant to this topic) and having a set of guiding principles that help navigate the intricacies/difficulties of life. For most of us agnostics here, the lack of religion is not a problem, and has even enriched our lives to an extent. But without a doubt we are an extremely small minority . What about the rest of the world's people for whom the need for a faith is an integral part of their existence. Could most people cope with their lives and the world without a religion or would society just break down into chaos making even the worst evils caused by its presence look like a small blip. Which is the lesser of the two evils? Please let me know your opinions.

P.S To some the answer might seem obvious, but hypothesizing on this scale is not to be taken lightly in my opinion which is why i'm hoping some of your thoughts will be helpful.

romansh

Interesting question.
Do you believe in good and evil?
If not ... the answer pops out easily.

It would have been different.

__________________
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

Phaseolus

What do you mean? Is that even relevant? Please explain.

romansh

WOULD THE WORLD BE A BETTER PLACE WITHOUT RELIGION?
Is the world bad now?
We put a value judgement on say death and destruction, disease, global warming, religion etc. These values are purely societal in nature.
When an ant colony attacks and kills a termite colony, killing the queen termite and take the larvae. That's just is .... not good, not bad .... could it have been better?

__________________
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

Phaseolus

Ah! You know I never thought of things in that way..very interesting (A new line of though that could be fun to explore).. What your saying is that all this is a normal factor in the equation of our species and that there is no absolute good or evil (this i believe too and dont you think these societal values define our lives a little better..who cares if they are right or not in the cosmic scale). Well may be it is and may be there isnt. But just for arguments sake, what would your answer be to my question?

romansh

Answering from a societal point of view??? hmmn

I suspect not.

I think people (I'm just starting to learn) are capable of screwing up philosophy, sociology, psychology (etc) as much theology.

ps ... it's not just about our species .... it's about the universe.

__________________
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

Phaseolus

Yeah i get what u meant , i edited my previous post. By the way I think all this about no absolute right/wrong, relativity, universe etc etc mumbo jumbo however interesting and true in the end doesnt really help in any way or does it?

I mean what choice do we have but do define our selves in our own way in accordance with our own limits in a place thats so difficult to understand..

romansh

Helps me ... not necessarily on a moment by moment basis, but in the important things in life, relationships and deciding whether the US should invade China or not. ...

Phaseolus ... where abouts in Europe are you?

__________________
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams

Phaseolus

Amsterdam..SINCITY!..great place to be an atheist..^_^

romansh

I presume that explains the quality of your English. It's good.
I like Holland visited Billington and Budel ... great trains very flat.
Never went to Amsterdam ... Schipol does not count.

tot siens

__________________
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. ........... Douglas Adams