Removing religion will bring about more world peace, satisfaction, and contentment among humanity, at least according to one person who took to an online forum to share their polarizing opinion on religion. The internet had varying responses.
Note: Some quotes in this piece have been lightly edited for grammar.
1: Make the World a Better Place
So, how exactly would the world be better off? The original poster explains that from their point of view, “Religion breeds fanatics and extremists.” They name war and other human-led atrocities that happen “in the name of religion.”
2: Imagine There’s No Heaven
Along with denying us earthly pleasures and free-thinking abilities, the poster claims religion is the root of many problems, past and present. “Without it, humanity would prosper. We wouldn’t be held back, and our capabilities would be undeniably limitless.” They claim nothing good comes inherently from religion. Instead, “it comes from good men and women doing what’s right.”
3: Don’t Blame Hate
One commenter argues that religion is not the culprit for hate. “Religions are just the fan club of thousands of years ago. They’re just named differently because we’re used to calling them that way.” From their point of view, as long as one’s religion doesn’t spread misinformation or cause physical harm, there’s nothing wrong with it.
4: Nothing Would Change
One commenter says the world wouldn’t change without religion. “Religion does not create humanity; humanity creates religion. Religion doesn’t create the flaws in humanity; the flaws in humanity create religion. All removing religion would do is remove the smoke screen and make the actual justification more obvious.”
5: Guidebook to Humanity
Another commenter argues that religion serves a positive role in the world. “It gives some people moral guidelines; people who without it might act heinously. While I believe morality should be based on empathy, not everyone does. There are people that are destitute without some written principle in which to follow (although blindly at that).”
6: Religion Is Easy
Despite one commenter’s beliefs, they can see how religion can help many through life. “Removing it can’t easily happen without a suitable replacement. The problem is that religion is easy. You don’t have to go into complex issues yourself.” From their perspective, “Many people simply don’t have the time, opportunity, resources, energy, drive, etc., to fight a difficult uphill battle against their peers to challenge their perspectives.”
7: More Money
Greed is an insurmountable obstacle in humanity, according to one commenter. “Getting rid of religion won’t change the fact that the people want power and money. If religion is not present, another vessel, such as politics, will be used for that.”
8: Gone Extinct
While we may be happier without religion, we’d also struggle to survive. One commenter says, “Religion has many downsides. That’s unquestionable. It’s also almost certain that were it not for religion, we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. The technological developments, facilitated by large-scale social cooperation, required to create computers and the internet would never have occurred in the first place.”
9: Domino Effect
One commenter gave a specific example of how large-scale civilizations wouldn’t exist without organized religion. “Without Christianity, Europe as we know it does not exist, period. Without Europe as we know it, America as we know it would also not exist. Religion isn’t a self-contained thing that can be removed from history; it’s deeply entwined with culture and has been for basically all of human history.”
10: No Easy Answer
One commenter agrees with the original poster on some things but not others. “Would it solve all the world’s major issues, as you claim? God, no. Why would it?” To them, people’s bad actions have nothing to do with religion and everything to do with being human. They believe that without religion, “People will still come up with motives/excuses to start wars and ravage nations.”
11: Stand Corrected
One commenter disputed this claim with straight facts. “The Catholic Church is the world’s largest non-governmental provider of healthcare…Lots of people, especially those in developing countries, will lose access to universal healthcare without the Church there to provide it.”
12: Agree to Disagree
Even atheist commenters can’t fully get behind the original poster’s claim. “Religion in itself is not necessarily bad. I could probably replace the word religion with nationalism in your post, and it would read the same. It is the way people interpret and apply religion and what they do in the name of religion that’s the problem.”
13: No Moral Compass
One person argues that without religion, there’s no way to distinguish right from wrong. “You have two options: either people make up morals as we go, or there is no such thing as moral and immoral. If you choose the latter path, you’re saying every human action is simply a human action. Drinking a glass of water and murdering a person are both human actions. What makes one of them immoral?”
14: Where There’s a Will
“If you remove religion, people would turn to other forms of ideas, thought, and belief systems to become just as fanatical and extremist as before,” one commenter says. They point out, “Just because each religion has a few bad actors does not mean the whole religion is invalidated.”
15: Building Community
One commenter who grew up in a Christian family kept it simple. “I’ve come to the realization that most people simply go into a religion (Christianity, for this case) because they feel a sense of loneliness within themselves or aren’t that happy at the current moment, and bringing yourself into a religion is what most people do simply because they want to find their community of people.”
Source: Reddit.
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