Religion causes war or peace?

[Randy]

Is religion a source of conflict and war? Or is it a force for peace?

 

[Smiley]

Conflict and war, of course. All infidels must die, amirite?

 

[MamaFrankie]

Religion is the cause of most of the world's problems.

 

[Smiley]

All religious leaders claim all they want is peace, but then we have those little things like crusades. Come on, religious leaders, be honest. You don't want peace. You want your definition of peace.

In Star Wars, The Galactic Empire wanted peace too, so they eradicated the keepers of the peace, the Jedi Order, to achieve that goal. Aha.

 

[DrLeftover]

Neither.

 

[passenger]

Neither.

That's funny: (strange funny, not haha funny): I was going to say "Yes"

Is religion a source of conflict and war? Or is it a force for peace?

 

[DrLeftover]

That's funny: (strange funny, not haha funny): I was going to say "Yes"

That would also be a correct answer.

Violence, up to and including organized warfare, is not only part of the human condition, it is part of this world, to which you can examine ant invasions of the territory of other colonies, or the warfare between different bands of chimpanzees when you get time.

It has nothing to do with religion, except for those in need of an excuse to do what they want to do anyway. Witness the fiction made up after the fact by Putin for his most recent escapade.

 

[passenger]

That would also be a correct answer.

Violence, up to and including organized warfare, is not only part of the human condition, it is part of this world, to which you can examine ant invasions of the territory of other colonies, or the warfare between different bands of chimpanzees when you get time.

It has nothing to do with religion, except for those in need of an excuse to do what they want to do anyway. Witness the fiction made up after the fact by Putin for his most recent escapade.

Thank You!
(that's pretty heavy! )

 

[Webster]

Is religion a source of conflict and war? Or is it a force for peace?

Religion, irrespective of what you believe, has been both a source of peace and a source of war.

 

[Reddington]

Religion has and always will be a cause of conflict and war. Look at the states in the US who aim to hinder women's rights to abortion, all because their shitty religion says it's wrong. Look at third world countries where women are treated like garbage because their religion says it's normal. Religion offers nothing good in this world. It divides people.

 

[DrLeftover]

PEOPLE, divide, people.

Again, religion is used as an excuse.

For an example I'll use Female Circumcision (female genital mutilation) , has NOTHING to do with Islam, but that is used as an excuse to disfigure girls everywhere from Africa to Detroit, Michigan.

It is about CONTROL and POWER, not a divine power.

 

[Reddington]

PEOPLE, divide, people.

Again, religion is used as an excuse.

For an example I'll use Female Circumcision (female genital mutilation) , has NOTHING to do with Islam, but that is used as an excuse to disfigure girls everywhere from Africa to Detroit, Michigan.

It is about CONTROL and POWER, not a divine power.

Let me get this straight. If religion didn't exist, you still think there'd be people against LGBTQ? People who spend all their time being hateful towards gay and trans people? If religion didn't exist, you think there'd still be horrible treatment towards women in the middle east? That there'd still be grown ass men who give a shit about abortion? Religion and greed are the root of most evil. People read the garbage that religion spews and they believe every word of it. They live by it, feed off of it. My mother STILL, to this day, cries her eyes out trying to get me to convert to religion so that "we'll be together in heaven". She doesn't understand, no matter how often I tell her, why I don't believe. Religion brainwashes people.

That does not mean religion is the sole source of evil people. It's not. However, it is a HUGE factor in it. You cannot sit there and honestly, with a straight face, tell me religion is innocent and has no play what so ever in how people act.

 

[Scarlet Rose]

Let me get this straight. If religion didn't exist, you still think there'd be people against LGBTQ? People who spend all their time being hateful towards gay and trans people? If religion didn't exist, you think there'd still be horrible treatment towards women in the middle east? That there'd still be grown ass men who give a shit about abortion? Religion and greed are the root of most evil. People read the garbage that religion spews and they believe every word of it. They live by it, feed off of it. My mother STILL, to this day, cries her eyes out trying to get me to convert to religion so that "we'll be together in heaven". She doesn't understand, no matter how often I tell her, why I don't believe. Religion brainwashes people.

That does not mean religion is the sole source of evil people. It's not. However, it is a HUGE factor in it. You cannot sit there and honestly, with a straight face, tell me religion is innocent and has no play what so ever in how people act.

My understanding of what they are saying is that religion is the medium through which societal evils are being advanced but not the cause of them per say. If I am understanding them correctly then that is a viewpoint which I would agree with myself. The role that any religion plays is going to be influenced by social and historical factors. I am an atheist so I came at this from a perspective that religion is cultural. Albeit it can be quite a compelling cultural force given the right circumstances. There is not really a given for how it is going to play out however. Taking Islam for instance, Islamic or Muslim feminists have asserted in the past that the Quran was the first feminist text. They have also identified a bigger form of evil being that of imperialism or colonialism.

As for whether religion is a cause of war or peace, there have been too many religions and they have varied too much too give a concrete answer. Even the same religion when looked at between different societies has shown different values regarding the question. As social, historical and cultural elements determine how a religion is perceived and interpreted. Here in New Zealand Christianity has both been a colonizing force and an anti colonizing force. The same dynamics played out in the States where it could be a force for racism in same spaces but also a force for anti racism in others.

 

[Smiley]

This is true. Religion is just an excuse, a tool if you will, through which humans who have somehow risen to power try to push their agenda. Some might even be deluded enough to actually believe their own BS, but I suspect most of them are just putting up a charade, smoke and mirrors for their followers to buy into and unquestionably follow.

Anyone here watched Stargate SG-1? Remember the Ori, the Priors and the book of Origin?

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Ideology has killed more people in the 20 century than some country claiming religion has throughout history.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Let me get this straight. If religion didn't exist, you still think there'd be people against LGBTQ?

There would be people against everything still. And most religious people aren’t against your right to be that, they are against very specific things that the agenda is trying to push within that community. Big and distinct difference.

People who spend all their time being hateful towards gay and trans people?

People hate of all colors and sexual preferences on each other all the time religious or not.

If religion didn't exist, you think there'd still be horrible treatment towards women in the middle east?

Yes.

That there'd still be grown ass men who give a shit about abortion?

Women and men and I hope so and I’m a atheist.

Religion and greed are the root of most evil.

Ideology beats it by a million miles. And the 20th century proves it.

People read the garbage that religion spews and they believe every word of it.

People read a lot of things that make people bad or good.

They live by it, feed off of it.

Just like a ideology.

My mother STILL, to this day, cries her eyes out trying to get me to convert to religion so that "we'll be together in heaven".

Not sure how this is bad when she loves you instead of not caring at all. My aunt when I was a kid taught orphans and helped countless kids to go on to their dreams as a nun. She was a lovely woman who would send me cards and rosary beads every year saying it’s not to late to be saved. I wasn’t going to change but as I get older I appreciate this and miss it because she cared and a lot of people lacking in the care department these days.

She doesn't understand,

But you should be the better person and understand her and accept she won’t understand because she is your mother.

no matter how often I tell her, why I don't believe. Religion brainwashes people.

A lot of things brainwashes people, doesn’t make them all bad.

That does not mean religion is the sole source of evil people. It's not. However, it is a HUGE factor in it.

Religion in itself is not bad it’s bad people interpreted in a way too benefit themselves.

You cannot sit there and honestly, with a straight face, tell me religion is innocent and has no play what so ever in how people act.

Nope, but it’s also created some of the best people humanity has ever seen.

 

[MamaFrankie]

I have no problem with religion, just the way people interpret it.

 

[Webster]

Ideology has killed more people in the 20 century than some country claiming religion has throughout history.

Religion, irrespective of what you believe, has been both a source of peace and a source of war.

He's right but you cannot ignore the role religion has played in those deaths (particularly when the Roman church was in charge of most all of the Western world prior to (and even after) the Protestant Reformation....

Let me get this straight. If religion didn't exist, you still think there'd be people against LGBTQ?

Yes; anything can be used by the powers-that-be to denigrate and attack others. Religion just happens to be the cudgel used at times to do so; if not, why then do ostensibly atheistic governments attack LGBTQ individuals?

 

[DrLeftover]

You cannot sit there and honestly, with a straight face, tell me religion is innocent and has no play what so ever in how people act.

I didn't say that.

You did.

 

[Webster]

Religion in itself is not bad it’s bad people interpreted in a way too benefit themselves.