# If you could click your fingers and make all religions instantly disappear, would you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 4, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310 "2014-07-04T00:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scoots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@scoots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scoots)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/1 "2014-07-04T00:48:46Z")
I was watching [The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7IHU28aR2E) in which Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris discuss religion and one of the questions raised was whether, if they could, they would make all religions vanish with a click of the fingers. Hitchens is the only one who says he wouldn’t. His argument, as far as I can make out, seems to be that he likes having someone to argue with. Anyway I did a search and it doesn’t seem like this question has been asked before so here it is, with a poll. We’re talking the disappearance of all religions, memories and artifacts etc so we’re forced to start afresh. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/2 "2014-07-04T00:56:33Z")
No. As distasteful as I find religion, I think it arose to fulfill certain human needs. Religions would therefore reappear in short order, but without the thousands of years they’ve had to evolve into something not completely insane. Imagine if every current religious person instead belonged to an outright cult like Scientology–that’s what I foresee a reboot would look like. Humanity needs to leave religion on its own if the change is going to stick. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/3 "2014-07-04T00:58:54Z")
Scientology is no worse than the rest. It’s just newer so it seems weirder. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/4 "2014-07-04T00:59:00Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/5 "2014-07-04T01:04:19Z")
On the whole, I don’t think I would. A large part of that is humility. I’m not religious but that’s my choice. I don’t feel I should impose my choice on everyone else. Beyond that, I can see many people do take solace from religion. Even if I feel that’s false solace, I would hesitate to take it away. As for the negative effects of religion, I won’t deny they exist. But I question whether those negative effects would disappear with religion. More likely, people that are currently fighting over their religions would just switch to fighting over some other issue like ethnicity or ideology. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/6 "2014-07-04T01:05:34Z")
Unfortunately, eliminating the need for humans to have to answer to a higher power in order to do the right thing would also have to be part of the finger click. There are an alarming number of people out there who just can’t do the right thing without the threat of going to hell and burning for an eternity if they don’t. So my answer would be yes if all the underlying reasons for religion developing in the first place also disappear. The answer is no if religion just went poof but with no fixing the magical thinking behind it - as **Dr.** above states, something similar would just take its place. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/7 "2014-07-04T01:06:04Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > Scientology is no worse than the rest. It’s just newer so it seems weirder. I would say the opposite. The beliefs are no weirder, but the mind control that they (and other cults) impose on members is far worse than older religions. It is much more difficult to leave a cult than other religions. In part this is is because cults _need_ to retain strong membership to survive, while large religions are more comfortable in their existence and don’t have to try so hard. For instance, it’s easy to see the trajectory Mormonism is taking, starting with a clear cult and progressing to the present day as almost-not-a-cult. In another couple of centuries it will seem totally normal. ---
**Author:** ![scoots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@scoots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scoots)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/8 "2014-07-04T01:14:53Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > people that are currently fighting over their religions would just switch to fighting over some other issue like ethnicity or ideology. But wouldn’t it be one less thing to fight about? And at least things like ethnicity, land, oil are real things - not just inside peoples heads. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/9 "2014-07-04T01:16:20Z")
You bet I would. Religion is one of the worst inventions ever. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/10 "2014-07-04T01:19:07Z")
No. Just because I don’t need religion to keep me sane, that doesn’t mean it’s true for everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/11 "2014-07-04T01:22:22Z")
I would, as part of fighting ignorance. You can acknowledge some benefits of religion for some, but you can’t deny it’s all based on a falsehood (or many falsehoods). So even if the world would not be any better without religion, at least it would be more honest. (By religion, I mean a “god based” belief system. If your religion is community, fellowship and roses, that’s a different matter) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/12 "2014-07-04T01:23:00Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![scoots](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@scoots](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scoots)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/13 "2014-07-04T01:25:50Z")
To be honest, I voted yes but I reckon we’d be worshipping the sun within a week. As regards keeping people sane and giving solace - if religion had never existed so people didn’t know about it then wouldn’t they just find solace and sanity in other things? They wouldn’t miss religion because they never had it. ---
**Author:** ![Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absinthe_Anecdote)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/14 "2014-07-04T01:44:13Z")
Yes, but only if we could replace religion with the complete works of Dr Seuss as the reported source of society’s morals and ethics. However, you can rest assured, within a week people would be practicing strange dietary restrictions because of Green Eggs and Ham; teaching the Tweetle Beetle Battle as history, and using The Lorax to justify instituting a carbon credit tax. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/15 "2014-07-04T01:59:45Z")
Yes. I think people trying to find some sort if spiritual center on their own would be a million times better than following codified dogma that can hurt entire groups of people, mostly disenfranchised in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/16 "2014-07-04T02:20:42Z")
I’d miss Buddhism. How much Reggae would we lose? ---
**Author:** ![Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absinthe_Anecdote)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/17 "2014-07-04T02:29:30Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > How much Reggae would we lose? After you get past the college-reggae-phase, you’d be ok.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/18 "2014-07-04T02:37:00Z")
Religion dilutes and causes conflict with the prime responsibility of the individual to the state. So yes, I would, and eagerly so. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/19 "2014-07-04T02:37:45Z")
> [@scoots](#): > > But wouldn’t it be one less thing to fight about? And at least things like ethnicity, land, oil are real things - not just inside peoples heads. Probably, but I think there’s a max-out effect. If two people have five other reasons to want to kill each other, what practical difference is removing a sixth reason going to have? ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/20 "2014-07-04T02:49:26Z")
In a second. It’s time we started taking responsibility for ourselves. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310.md?page=2)