# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/41 "2014-07-04T11:39:52Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Finally, if all the existing religions disappeared along with everyone’s memory of them, new religions would surely spring up overnight to replace them. I’m not so sure - I mean, we nowadays have Science to answer a lot of the questions religions used to. So\* without the example of other religions\*, why would people start new ones? > [@](#): > > These religions would likely be even crazier than the ones we’ve got, and would be unrestrained by any body of tradition. I don’t feel bodies of tradition do much restraining of the crazy in any current religions. Quite the opposite, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/42 "2014-07-04T12:02:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I’m not so sure - I mean, we nowadays have Science to answer a lot of the questions religions used to. So\* without the example of other religions\*, why would people start new ones? To explain the things science can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/43 "2014-07-04T12:10:40Z")
Sure, why not? What little good they do through charity is dwarfed by the gargantuan amounts of strife and misery they cause. Some French guy, I think, said we’d never be free til the last king is strangled with the guts of the last priest. I expect he was right. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/44 "2014-07-04T12:12:07Z")
> [@scoots](#): > > To be honest, I voted yes but I reckon we’d be worshipping the sun within a week. You reminded me—Margaret Atwood’s novel _Oryx and Crake_ is about a mad scientist who genetically engineers a designer version of the human race that runs off of purely animalistic instincts, and he specifically engineers them to eliminate all religion programming. Then he wipes out the entire human race (himself included), accidentally leaving only one survivor of original humanity, who leads the genetically engineered humanoids out of their artificial environment into the wild. Then he goes away on a trip. Comes back a month later only to find the replacement people had built an effigy of _him_ and were praying to it. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/45 "2014-07-04T12:38:31Z")
Boy, I donno. Probably. What scares me is the question that the religious ask the rest of us. Basically “What keeps you from doing harm, killing your neighbor, raping and pillaging”? “Umm. Good manners”? Their fear of God is what keeps them in ‘check’? That scares me. Crazyness. But, but ,but… the number of people killed in the name of religion is in the tens of millions. It goes on at a personal singular level, and a genocide level. And they say that religion is keeping them ‘good’? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/46 "2014-07-04T12:39:37Z")
In a perfect world - yes; in this world - what’s the point? As soon as that void is created, some other whack-job will fill it. Cults of personality would just evolve into religions anyway – like that _Oryx and Crake_ thing. Within a hundred years we’d be well on our way to right back where we started. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/47 "2014-07-04T13:04:58Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > To explain the things science can’t. What questions would people suddenly start asking, _now_, absent religion, that Science doesn’t have answers for? Concrete examples, I mean. I’m struggling to think of what sort of thing you mean. Remembering that there wouldn’t even be _the concept_ of a soul, as that’s religious, what would cause anyone to come up with one out of whole cloth? And without the concept of a soul, what kind of questions are going to be asked, that Science can’t explain (not explain _correctly_, you understand. Just explain.) Science _can_ explain Love, the origin of the Universe, what happens when we die, all the big stuff. So what, exactly, do you mean. ---
**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, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/48 "2014-07-04T13:40:20Z")
> [@Absinthe\_Anecdote](#): > > I fail to see how we would suddenly become cartoonish villains who wreck havoc upon each other at a rate any greater or less for that matter. > > Assuming we still had the construct of social behavior and the order of law, we’d be no different. > > People would probably still deviate from the social norm at the same rate. People still try to make decisions for the betterment of others, regardless of god and his mysterious plan. > > **However, the OP is just a preposterously large hunk of troll bait.** We’d better quit nibbling at it or we might bite into a big ole fish hook. **Absinthe** , I know you’re new here and I’m not trying to junior mod, but just as a head’s up… we’re not allowed to throw out accusations of trolling in any forum but the Pit. Just so you know. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/49 "2014-07-04T13:57:32Z")
I think the big danger would be that a well spoken charismatic leader would come along on a regular basis and be able to convice the masses that his logic and his methods were best for mankind. Most humans who have a strong faith in a higher power have limits to the amount of faith they will put in another human. ---
**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, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/50 "2014-07-04T14:09:03Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > **Absinthe** , I know you’re new here and I’m not trying to junior mod, but just as a head’s up… we’re not allowed to throw out accusations of trolling in any forum but the Pit. Just so you know. Don’t worry about feeling like a junior mod; I appreciate the heads up. 🙂 My apologies to the OP, I’m sure they aren’t intentionally setting troll bait, but IMHO, that question begs people to attack religion and prompts others to defend it. While I do sometimes enjoy discussing the merits and pitfalls of both theism and atheism, these conversation usually lead nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/51 "2014-07-04T14:55:01Z")
It depends on your definition of “religion”. Do I get to eliminate communism and PETA also? If so, I would be strongly tempted. If not, I would probably leave the theists alone. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/52 "2014-07-04T14:58:29Z")
No. I don’t have the right. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/53 "2014-07-04T15:04:40Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > What questions would people suddenly start asking, _now_, absent religion, that Science doesn’t have answers for? Concrete examples, I mean. I’m struggling to think of what sort of thing you mean. Why are we here? Why am I unhappy? Why did my loved one die? Why is there evil? Is there a meaning or purpose to life? What happens when I die? There are millions more questions that are beyond the scope of science. You may have your own answers, but they may be unsatisfying to others, who will continue to ask until they come up with the foma that make them brave and kind and healthy and happy. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/54 "2014-07-04T15:12:44Z")
To rid the world of religion by a simple click of my fingers would be nothing more than magic. If we have to resort to magic, rather than reasoning discourse, then we’re no better than the most mystical of theists. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/55 "2014-07-04T15:17:29Z")
I said no. Because new religions are being created every day, all crazier than the old ones. Imagine if all the new nuts had no established faiths to compete with. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/56 "2014-07-04T16:32:18Z")
I’d do it without a seconds hesitation, rid the world of the horrible parasite that is religion? In a heartbeat ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/57 "2014-07-04T17:34:34Z")
Of course I would eliminate religion at once. Because _I_ know what’s best for humanity, and anyone with a shred of intelligence will realize that I am _right_ – so of course anyone who disagrees is too stupid for their opinions to matter! ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/58 "2014-07-04T18:04:16Z")
No, because how exactly would this be any different than Christians (or anyone else) telling you that you are required to believe what they believe and trying to dictate, through force of law or otherwise, your life to you? It’s presumptuous and an exercise in lording power over someone. There’s a reason why I believe proselytizing is immoral. It doesn’t matter which belief system you’re proselytizing for. No one can possibly know “what’s best” for someone they’ve never even met. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/59 "2014-07-04T18:09:35Z")
I don’t believe that it would be a matter of good or bad or even morality as much as it would just having faith that things happen for a reason, some decisions are just too big and the consequences to far reaching for man to make. If we deny we have a spirit it is a small step to say all animals and bugs are on the same level. When a group of bugs gets on our nerves how do we handle it? I can easily envision a society where genocide could be considered a management tool. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/60 "2014-07-04T18:18:21Z")
I took the OP to mean the whole idea of religion itself would be a foreign concept. Therefore, no new religions popping up after said finger clicking. And there would be no memory or history of religion as well because the idea never occurred to us in the first place. Which is why I voted yes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310.md?page=4)