JMich: Vikings were religious, but they had no moral qualms about raping and killing. The crusaders were also religious, but they also had no qualms about murdering and looting. The Inquisition was religious through and through, but they didn't mind causing pain and suffering (and killing, and maiming, and quite a bit more).
It's not religion that prevents us from acting on impulses, it's being part of a community, and following said community's rules. Being part of a religious community does mean following said community's rules, and most religions now do tend to follow society's rules as well.
Will take a look at the rest of your post tomorrow, but do tell me, were the crusaders not religious? Were the vikings atheists? Was the Inquisition agnostic? Or do humans behave as their society allows them to behave, and personal faith be damned?
ThoRn: I did say that many people claim to be Christian and not act on it properly didn't I? I said that many are using Christianity as a mask to do horrible things to others and believing they will be saved by God in the end by proxy. I suppose some feel that no sin is any lesser or greater than any other sin in the eyes of God, equating a curse word with murder for instance. I don't believe that. I feel that God judges based on the extremity of the sin committed and based on the person's sorrow for what they've done and showing a true willingness to want to be forgiven for it.
Without religion societies would have never been formed the way they are today. It's easy for you to sit here today and say that if everyone had remained atheists that the world would have evolved the same way except with less war, murder, rape, etc. But that's just hypothetical speculation on your part. Since the world didn't evolve that way, it's impossible to say for sure what life would have been like without religion. Therefore I can only speculate as well - And I do feel that life would have been much worse than it is with religion.
Like I said, a world without religion has no morals as to what's right and what's wrong. Sure, some people long ago could have gotten together and established "rules" as to what's right and what's wrong.... oh wait, they DID do that. It's called religion! LOL!
I think you just don't like the creator part they added in into the rulebook aka Bible. You basically want to play "the game" aka life without an overseer or referee to judge you. So what are you left when then? Just another man asserting himself as your king instead. And you would be fine with that? I don't think so. You show you can even handle having an immortal God ruling over you so I doubt you'd be fine with another mortal like yourself to rule over you. I think you'd be jealous and do all you could do to kill that other man who tried to assert himself as your king and ruler. Because you'd have no fear in doing so because you'd know that life is just primitive and there's no meaning to any of it and the last thing you'd do is allow another mortal to rule over you when you show you can't even handle an immortal ruling over you either.
So I insist, religion is the moral glue holding us together.
mari29: I enjoyed your link and will bookmark...Thanks, Marianne
ThoRn: Oh, you're perfectly welcome Marianne. Pretty name btw!
Such idiocy. Do you have an instinct to want your offspring to live? Of course, so does everyone else, thus everyone knows murder is wrong. Not religion, logic.
