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TheRealMafoo on 15 March 2009
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FaRmLaNd said:
TheRealMafoo said:
FaRmLaNd said:
I'm an Atheist. I have absolutely nothing against religion aslong as its decentralised and kept private. My beefs with religion are very rarely with the actual texts but with the actual formalised groups that practice it.

 

I have no problems with groups. Most do very good work.

The only bad rap, is all the death that's attributed to religion (like the crusades). Holy wars have very little to do with religion. Religion is just the mechanism powerful people use to get someone to fight to the death.

All wars are for power, not god. God is just a tool to drive a man to die for something.

If god goes away, leaders will use something else to motivate people, like pride in your country, or protecting your way of life.

 

 

I completely agree, humanity would find other reasons to justify conflict. But that doesn't discount the fact that a large amount of pain and suffering has been done in (insert deities name). Another issue doesn't discount the negatives of religious wars.

The problem with religion in this context is that it is one of the best if not the best form of control, which makes it easier to start and justify a war and will keep people fighting irrationally and unquestionably for longer. That is one of the reasons why large centralised religion is dangerous.

I dispise nationalism for similar reasons.

 

I agree with you that religion is the best way to motivate people. That's why they use it ;)

Not sure there would be less death without it however. As an Atheist, I feel the ability to kill and die for a religion is more a product of humanity, and not religion. If religion never existed, man would be just as capable of killing, and we would have had just as many wars.

it would have just been over race, government types, hair color, land, you name it. Just about anything can replace god when it comes to needing a reason for man to fight.

As for despising Nationalism, not sure what you mean there. Definition:

"As an ideology, nationalism holds that 'the people' in the doctrine of popular sovereignty is the nation".

So the US is an example of Nationalism. We have never had, nor will ever have, a holy war. We do however kill just as many people as the next country, we just do it to "Protect and spread out way of life", not our god. So it's a good example of how religion isn't really needed to make a great killing machine, and how nationalism is the best way to keep religion out of the equation.