# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/61 "2014-07-04T18:26:52Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > 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. What? You realize that we have had all those bad things that you describe, in this world where religion DOES exist? Shit, quite often atrocities are done IN THE NAME OF religion. Regardless, religion is certainly not an effective barrier to genocide, murder, rape, or even charismatic levil eaders. Additionally, I reject the idea (as expressed by a few posters so far) that without a fear of eternal damnation, we would all sink into becoming thieves and murders. I don’t have a molecule of belief in an afterlife, or any fear of judgement by a god. And you know what, I haven’t killed, raped, injured, pillaged, or molested anyone!!! You know why? Not because I am afraid of the invisible man in the sky, but because I am a responsible member of society. Religion would vanish if I snapped my fingers? Snapping away over here. I truly think religion is more a burden and drag on the human race than it is a benefit. ---
**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, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/62 "2014-07-04T18:30:41Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > What? You realize that we have had all those bad things that you describe, in this world where religion DOES exist? Shit, quite often atrocities are done IN THE NAME OF religion. Regardless, religion is certainly not an effective barrier to genocide, murder, rape, or even charismatic levil eaders. > > Additionally, I reject the idea (as expressed by a few posters so far) that without a fear of eternal damnation, we would all sink into becoming thieves and murders. I don’t have a molecule of belief in an afterlife, or any fear of judgement by a god. And you know what, I haven’t killed, raped, injured, pillaged, or molested anyone!!! You know why? Not because I am afraid of the invisible man in the sky, but because I am a responsible member of society. > > Religion would vanish if I snapped my fingers? Snapping away over here. I truly think religion is more a burden and drag on the human race than it is a benefit. ``` You gave the answer in your response " You are a responsible memeber of society". That is a very weak mechanism for controlling behavior as the meaning of being responsible can easliy change depending on who the most convincing leader happens to be. ``` ---
**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, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/63 "2014-07-04T18:50:55Z")
You also have to remember that the faithful conduct themselves in society out of fear of eternal punishment for deeds proscribed in the scriptures, not out of any internal conscience. So if all these people (perhaps a majority) suddenly had no motive or incentive to be good and decent and tolerant and altruistic people, the whole fabric of civilization would crash immediately into lawless anarchy. If no higher order is there to command them to love thy neighbor, they sure as hall wouldn’t, if hating their neighbor was in their own best selfish interests. ---
**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, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/64 "2014-07-04T19:40:20Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > 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. How does that follow? Religion is an invention; a tool used by those hungry for power to control others, and for the rest a tool to provide answers to meaningless questions. These needs don’t go away with the finger click. If you did the same thing with airplanes, they would also be reinvented immediately, and likewise be really dangerous for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Raging\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Raging\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raging_Bull)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/65 "2014-07-04T19:47:34Z")
Wipe the thought of Religion of every human being on earth. And a soon as anyone has any sort of existential thoughts, poof, right back to where we started. ---
**Author:** ![Raging\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Raging\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raging_Bull)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/66 "2014-07-04T19:49:16Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > How does that follow? Religion is an invention; a tool used by those hungry for power to control others, and for the rest a tool to provide answers to meaningless questions. These needs don’t go away with the finger click. > > If you did the same thing with airplanes, they would also be reinvented immediately, and likewise be really dangerous for a while. Wouldnt say the question are meaningless, those questions by and large shape the way you live your life. ---
**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, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/67 "2014-07-04T20:12:48Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > 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. There’s whole vast schools of philosophy that manage to answer those sorts of questions just fine _without_ being in any way religious. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/68 "2014-07-04T20:22:59Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > No. As distasteful as I find religion, I think it arose to fulfill certain human needs. Yes - the need to con and cheat other humans. ---
**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, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/69 "2014-07-04T20:29:38Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > There’s whole vast schools of philosophy that manage to answer those sorts of questions just fine _without_ being in any way religious. But philosophy is not science, and those who find philosophy unfulfilling will return to religion. ---
**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, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/70 "2014-07-04T20:33:49Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > How does that follow? Religion is an invention; a tool used by those hungry for power to control others, and for the rest a tool to provide answers to meaningless questions. These needs don’t go away with the finger click. > > If you did the same thing with airplanes, they would also be reinvented immediately, and likewise be really dangerous for a while. > [@Clothahump](#): > > Yes - the need to con and cheat other humans. [Wrong.](http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/what-twins-reveal-about-god-gene) Religion was born because we are genetically inclined towards faith and giving reason and answers towards things we can’t understand. _“God was born from ignorance and knowledge will be the death of him.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/71 "2014-07-04T21:03:57Z")
Depends. As part of the magic spell or whatever, will the people who depend on it also either not need it anymore or have something less destructive take its place in their lives? You can’t eliminate crutches unless you fix legs too. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/72 "2014-07-04T21:33:29Z")
I wouldn’t. I oppose forcible mind control, except in perhaps the most extreme cases (ie, insanity to such an extent the victim can no longer make judgements of informed consent). I do think the result would be a significant moral and intellectual improvement in humanity, though. > [@panache45](#): > > 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. Not if it works. It actually working would put it in an entirely different category than religion. It would only be like religion if you clicked your fingers and nothing happened, and then you kept clicking your fingers over and over again for the rest of your life, _sure_ that it’s going to work sooner or later. Or you click your fingers, nothing happens and you convince yourself that it worked and that everyone else is just lying about still being religious. ---
**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, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/73 "2014-07-04T22:09:08Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > But philosophy is not science, and those who find philosophy unfulfilling will return to religion. Why would they find it unfulfilling? Especially if they have no concept of an alternative? This line of objection _only_ works if you believe there’s some underlying truth to religion that mankind can’t achieve any other way, and that they will always yearn for even without knowing why or what they yearn for… IMO, utter bunk. ---
**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, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/74 "2014-07-04T22:10:08Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I wouldn’t. I oppose forcible mind control I didn’t read the OP as mind control, only the equivalent of jumping to an alternate universe, basically. ---
**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, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/75 "2014-07-04T22:47:55Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I didn’t read the OP as mind control, only the equivalent of jumping to an alternate universe, basically. One where religion has never existed or one where religion coincidentally happened to vanish at the same moment you jumped into it? ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/76 "2014-07-04T23:04:21Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > You gave the answer in your response " You are a responsible member of society". That is a very weak mechanism for controlling behavior as the meaning of being responsible can easliy change depending on who the most convincing leader happens to be. The idea that we need religion to keep us from being barbarians, I completely reject. I’ll trust the reality that most people are at their core good people over the premise that an abstract threat of an afterlife punishment is all that keeps people in line. Look around the world today. The charismatic leaders? Yep, using religion to control the masses. The overwhelming majority of wars currently raging in the world? Yep, religious in nature. Terrorism? Yep, religious in nature. I am a responsible member of society, not because of the ability of society to control me, it’s because of who I am as a person. I think to refer to that as a “weak mechanism” shows a general fear of other people. YMMV, but I think most people at their core want to do the right thing. ---
**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, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/77 "2014-07-04T23:22:10Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Why would they find it unfulfilling? Because it is subjective and non-falsifiable. That’s why many philosophies contradict each other. ---
**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, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/78 "2014-07-04T23:45:38Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Religion was born because we are genetically inclined towards faith and giving reason and answers towards things we can’t understand. That’s what I meant by “answers to meaningless questions”. But even if that weren’t the case, power-hungry individuals would invent religion as a means of control. > [@Raging\_Bull](#): > > Wouldnt say the question are meaningless, those questions by and large shape the way you live your life. Questions like “what is my purpose?” can’t possibly have satisfying answers, and hence aren’t legitimate. Religion tries to answer them anyway. People can be self-directed without these things. If you want to help people, or make a lot of money, or find inner peace, or whatever, you can do these things without inventing someone to judge you. But it’s difficult, and religion provides easy almost-answers. ---
**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 5, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/79 "2014-07-05T02:48:37Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > 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. That is a noble sentiment! There are plenty of examples of religious figures resisting an unjust power structure. Sadly, the history of religions across the ages is made up of so many contrary examples, where massive injustice, ordered by the leaders, is sanctioned by religious authority. So much so that it forms a major, if not the principal, indictment against religion posed by atheists and agnostics. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310/80 "2014-07-05T05:11:42Z")
If all religion disappeared overnight people would find different ways to cope and fill the void it would leave. Perhaps Muslims would take five tea breaks every day to reflect on how things are going. Christians may take an hour every Sunday morning to get together and sing old songs. And atheist might find solace in buying Madagascar hissing cockroaches to shove up their rear ends so they can argue about who has the biggest or most vicious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-click-your-fingers-and-make-all-religions-instantly-disappear-would-you/692310.md?page=5)