Has religion been a net good or bad thing for humanity?

[MrDibble]

@Clothahump

I cannot think of a single thing invented by mankind that has been more damaging to mankind than religion.

That’s a bit much. I mean, I’m anti-religion, but I think that sexism did a lot more damage than religion ever did.

[mswas]

@MrDibble

That’s a bit much. I mean, I’m anti-religion, but I think that sexism did a lot more damage than religion ever did.

I blame evil. Evil is responsible for all the badness that has ever occurred.

[cosmosdan]

@mswas

I blame evil. Evil is responsible for all the badness that has ever occurred.

Or badness…it sure could be badness that is responsible for evil. I like niceness because badness is just so… bad.

Wait, you don’t mean Knievel do you? That would be goofy. Not the Disney character, the adjective.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

@cosmosdan

Or badness…it sure could be badness that is responsible for evil. I like niceness because badness is just so… bad.

Wait, you don’t mean Knievel do you? That would be goofy. Not the Disney character, the adjective.

He spelled his stage name “Evel” (real first name: Robert). Probably not the same guy.

[Icerigger]

More than just that. For example, many of the great early scientists (or “natural philosophers,” as they were known back them) were motivated by a desire to unravel the majesty of God’s creation. Sir Isaac Newton was famous for this, as was Johannes Kepler.

In some instances this can be bad. Kepler was so entranced by the mystical “perfect solids” harmonious circles that he almost missed the true motion of planetary orbits, as ellipses. He could not believe God would have an imperfect creation.

[Autolycus]

What is the point of this thread? If you think religion has been a net bad, will you then not believe? And the converse? Religion in some form is either true or not.

It has been an interesting thread though, albeit a dead horse.

[XT]

@Autolycus

What is the point of this thread? If you think religion has been a net bad, will you then not believe? And the converse? Religion in some form is either true or not.

Disagree…that’s not what the thread is about, and religion need not be true (or false, though being an agnostic I of course reserve judgment ) to have an impact on the human species.

The principals behind Communism and Nazism are false IMHO. However, whether good or bad (and I think they were bad), they had an impact on our species, albeit a lesser impact than religion has. Religion has molded and shaped us for literally tens or hundreds of thousands of years. This has nothing to do with it being true…simply has to do with it being a force in our collective history.

And that is the point of this thread. It’s actually a really interesting subject…it’s a shame that people let their emotions cloud their judgment on this subject.

@Autolycus

It has been an interesting thread though, albeit a dead horse.

You can lead a horse to water but you shouldn’t beat it to death in mid stream…

-XT

[Bryan_Ekers]

Having skimmed the last two pages, I’ll cheerfully stipulate that religion had a purpose in binding together human societies.

Nowadays we have constitutions and national borders and rule of law (at least in the civilized countries) so bye-bye religion; nice knowing ya.

[XT]

Agreed…though it probably won’t be that easy. Anything that has been with us as long as religion is going to take a bit of time to finally work it’s way out of our collective system. If it ever does. Somehow I’m not sanguine about that myself…

-XT