Whose religion?

[maryjane48]

well thank you for your opinion glacier , i just look at it from the point of view that as far as we can tell humans are the only life form , that a certain percentage , need not believe in the human condition and need to have a mystical being guide how they live.

[Thinktank]

Getting rid of religion would not mean suddenly the people all over the world
would stop killing each other. We'd probably be killing each other twice as fast.
The only thing that would happen - instead of spending $billlions on churches (or mosques)
and paying preachers to preach in those churches, we'd be building 'positive thinking facilities'
and paying 'experts' to teach in them. Same thing. And some experts would be saying they are the only 'truth'
and eventually one group of positive thinkers would be killing another group of positive thinkers.

[steven lloyd]

You sure have a positive outlook

(man, you must go through those Aspirins)

[Farmmaa]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irreligion_by_country

It is interesting to note that many of the non religious countries are also the most peaceful, have the lowest crime rates and are considered the best places to live.

Canada
UK
Sweden
Switzerland
Australia
Denmark
Finland
Austria
France
Netherland
Norway

All predominately non religious and none making headlines for crimes against humanity, wars, genocide, discrimination, racism, terrorism.

Pretty much answers the question.

[Thinktank]

^ Are you serious?

France, UK, USA and Canada just blew up Libya and killed Gadafy.
UK and USA are the two biggest warmongers on earth spending more
on wars than all other countries combined.

[Thinktank]

You sure have a positive outlook

You would have loved it in Russia/USSR when they were communists. There was no religion.
I think they managed to starve out 6 million Ukrainians and steal their land.

China is another country with no religion. Didn't China kill 20 million people or was it more?

[Bsuds]

Ever heard of Buddhism or the Russian Orthodox Church?

I think they have been around for awhile.

[Thinktank]

notice he's German. I always thought he was Jewish. I wonder what he really is?

[JLives]

There's no need to make laws about it. Religion is dying a natural death through memetic evolution. The death blow was the widespread use of the internet and free exchange of information. I'm a member on some atheist forums and there are people from all over the world including countries where they can be killed for their lack of belief. They are extremely grateful to find a safe haven to discuss their views on life. Every year, more and more come forward.

Religion will never completely go away completely. There will always be people who believe in one myth or another or maintain a sense of spirituality but there will be a point when it stops being taken seriously on a global level. It's just a matter of time.

[Thinktank]

so if some guy says he's a Buddhist and he believes being good
to people will result in good karma for him, and he always makes
sure to leave a good tip at restaurants because he wants good karma
does he have to stop being Buddhist?

Or some other person wants to say 100 'Hail Marys' because they think that works,
do they have to stop doing it?

Or if two people want to stand on the street with magazines with articles written by
some bozos in New York, and managed by eight old guys who call themselves the 'governing body'
does that mean those people can't stand on the street with magazines any more?

Or if some guy goes on tv and earns $1,000,0000 dollars each year, and lives in a $10 million mansion
and flies in his own plane because other people want to send him money because they think they'll get
back more money if they send him money to keep his show on tv, does that mean that guy who is good
at preaching has to stop - and lose $millions?

There's millions of different kinds of religious people. Do they all have to go atheist for the world to
be better?

[Poindexter]

If it isn't religion it's nationalism or racial cleansing - lots of ways to stir up a crowd. What it boils down to is humans are suckers for 'group think'. In groups we can achieve great things but unfortunately we also have a hard time saying no to some really bad ideas.

[Glacier]

There's no need to make laws about it. Religion is dying a natural death through memetic evolution.

The data says otherwise. Atheists were 2.5% of the world's population in 2000, and by 2007 they were 2.3%. Agnostics and other non-religious people were 12.7% of the world's population 2000 and 11.8% in 2007. By contrast, Muslims made up 19.6% of the world's population in 2000, and 21.0% in 2007.

Atheists are not alone. Buddhists, Christians, and Hindus have all seen their populations decline in terms of percentage of the world's population.

[Poindexter]

The data says otherwise. Atheists were 2.5% of the world's population in 2000, and by 2007 they were 2.3%.

Does this mean I can apply for minority grants?

[Bsuds]

notice he's German. I always thought he was Jewish. I wonder what he really is?

What, you can't be German and Jewish at the same time.

[Glacier]

It is interesting to note that many of the non religious countries are also the most peaceful, have the lowest crime rates and are considered the best places to live.

That is true, but correlation does not imply causation. Here is an opposite correlation that also does not imply causation...