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There is an age-old argument against religion, and it goes something like "I'm not religious, look how many wars it starts."
I hear it even today, and every time it’s said, I sigh. So I reply with this...
Religion doesn't start wars in the same way that other cultural differences don't start wars. People start wars. By human nature, when some people come up against something different to them, they won't do the obvious thing and try to understand it. They will immediately rebel against it and fight anything they don't understand or agree with.
99% of all religions in the world preach peace above all else. Look in the Quran, the Bible the Hindu Holy Books, they all say the same thing. But some people won't let that stop them. They've seen the 'loopholes' in the text that allows them to subvert their own holy texts and make people believe that their God has instructed them to kill in his/her/its name.
But then who is this God? Well, almost all monotheistic religions stem from the same source. In fact, Abrahamic religions (those that stem from the stories of Abraham and believe to some extent that they are descendents of his line) account for more than half of these. So really, every one of these religions believes in fundamentally the same God, they just don't agree on some of the small points that come later on.
If we then consider that all of the holy texts that all these religions take their instructions from were written by people a long time after the actual events depicted in them, it all starts making even less sense.
So, we know religions don't start wars, we know that people start wars over dis-agreements (and not only religion, but land, politics etc) and we know that any of those people who use the term 'our God' don't really have a clue what they're talking about anyway.
...and if I'm lucky, the person who has made that statement has either gone to sleep or walked away...
I hear it even today, and every time it’s said, I sigh. So I reply with this...
Religion doesn't start wars in the same way that other cultural differences don't start wars. People start wars. By human nature, when some people come up against something different to them, they won't do the obvious thing and try to understand it. They will immediately rebel against it and fight anything they don't understand or agree with.
99% of all religions in the world preach peace above all else. Look in the Quran, the Bible the Hindu Holy Books, they all say the same thing. But some people won't let that stop them. They've seen the 'loopholes' in the text that allows them to subvert their own holy texts and make people believe that their God has instructed them to kill in his/her/its name.
But then who is this God? Well, almost all monotheistic religions stem from the same source. In fact, Abrahamic religions (those that stem from the stories of Abraham and believe to some extent that they are descendents of his line) account for more than half of these. So really, every one of these religions believes in fundamentally the same God, they just don't agree on some of the small points that come later on.
If we then consider that all of the holy texts that all these religions take their instructions from were written by people a long time after the actual events depicted in them, it all starts making even less sense.
So, we know religions don't start wars, we know that people start wars over dis-agreements (and not only religion, but land, politics etc) and we know that any of those people who use the term 'our God' don't really have a clue what they're talking about anyway.
...and if I'm lucky, the person who has made that statement has either gone to sleep or walked away...
Machie wrote:
> What might be interesting to discuss, is that with more people
> dropping christianity and more immigrants coming into the
> country. Perhaps there will be a time where christianity isn't
> the major religion in the UK anymore.
This is a good point, but I think there are now as many people joining the church as leaving. But if Christianity doesn't remain the predominant religion, this would affect the state as a whole. Royalty and politics are both firmly based around a CofE background. Even though the house of commons would probably like to be seen as a multi-cultural one, it isn't yet. Christianity is a fundemental part of the British culture, but one that possibly could change in coming years. Other countries such as Italy and Spain have a far greater impact from Christianity (and Catholicism in particular), but even Spain has recently seen its main TV channel, TVE, being given a slap for dedicating 24 hours to the Pope's funeral. Something it wouldn't think twice about doing in the past.
What I believe should be happening is a coming together of the world's major religions, particularly in this country. It makes sense that, since many western religions come from the same source, they should evolve over time and become closer. Can't people see that essentially all these people are praying to the same God and only a few murky details of their respective religions keep them apart?
> What might be interesting to discuss, is that with more people
> dropping christianity and more immigrants coming into the
> country. Perhaps there will be a time where christianity isn't
> the major religion in the UK anymore.
This is a good point, but I think there are now as many people joining the church as leaving. But if Christianity doesn't remain the predominant religion, this would affect the state as a whole. Royalty and politics are both firmly based around a CofE background. Even though the house of commons would probably like to be seen as a multi-cultural one, it isn't yet. Christianity is a fundemental part of the British culture, but one that possibly could change in coming years. Other countries such as Italy and Spain have a far greater impact from Christianity (and Catholicism in particular), but even Spain has recently seen its main TV channel, TVE, being given a slap for dedicating 24 hours to the Pope's funeral. Something it wouldn't think twice about doing in the past.
What I believe should be happening is a coming together of the world's major religions, particularly in this country. It makes sense that, since many western religions come from the same source, they should evolve over time and become closer. Can't people see that essentially all these people are praying to the same God and only a few murky details of their respective religions keep them apart?
Who's to say, I mean religion hasn't always had a negative affect, perhaps there might have been more wars and fighting if there were no religions.
What might be interesting to discuss, is that with more people dropping christianity and more immigrants coming into the country. Perhaps there will be a time where christianity isn't the major religion in the UK anymore.
What might be interesting to discuss, is that with more people dropping christianity and more immigrants coming into the country. Perhaps there will be a time where christianity isn't the major religion in the UK anymore.
oh yeah forgot to tell you pb, you can change it yourself. One of the things they let us do now is change the title of our threads :) do you know what this means? No more teasing about spelling errors.
"please visit my sight"
hehe
"please visit my sight"
hehe
I said "we wouldn't have so many wars". Obviously people would still find something to argue about, but if we had no religion then that'd be one less thing to argue about.
Well, no, because they'd have found something else to fight about (politics mostly).
BTW: Can someone change the title of this to Intelligent Discussion - Reigion starts wars.
Please?
BTW: Can someone change the title of this to Intelligent Discussion - Reigion starts wars.
Please?
Well, you could make the argument that if religion didn't exist then we wouldn't have so many wars because we wouldn't have religion to disagree over.
I use to think like that, and associate religion with war and bloodshed. But you're right it's not what religion teaches.
I was brought up a christian and was baptised, but I'm not anymore. I think some of my family are still religios. But with each generation the involvement with religion and our lives has declined. So I won't be bringing up my kids religious but I will tell them about each religion so they can learn to respect what other people believe. Not sure about Scientology though :/
I was brought up a christian and was baptised, but I'm not anymore. I think some of my family are still religios. But with each generation the involvement with religion and our lives has declined. So I won't be bringing up my kids religious but I will tell them about each religion so they can learn to respect what other people believe. Not sure about Scientology though :/
I can see what you mean... it's not Religion which is a problem, it's those who twist it around. I know it's an awful film, but at the beginning of Navy Seals, there's a voiceover about how most Muslims will respect Jews and Christians as worshippers of the same God, and it's a minority who cause trouble etc... at least that's how I remember it, but that's the depths you get to watching Danish TV whilst over there!
The Middle East: Big problem, and that's where a lot of this plays out, and it seems to me that no peace accord will ever work, because someone always disagrees. No one seems to be able to co-exist, which makes diplomacy so much more complex, with agreements over whose land Isreal is, etc... I barely understand it, I just wish something close to peace is achieved... which is harder with what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Peace in the Middle East? Looks like Pie in the sky to me. And what I've mentioned is probably only the tip of the iceberg...
The Middle East: Big problem, and that's where a lot of this plays out, and it seems to me that no peace accord will ever work, because someone always disagrees. No one seems to be able to co-exist, which makes diplomacy so much more complex, with agreements over whose land Isreal is, etc... I barely understand it, I just wish something close to peace is achieved... which is harder with what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan. Peace in the Middle East? Looks like Pie in the sky to me. And what I've mentioned is probably only the tip of the iceberg...
There is an age-old argument against religion, and it goes something like "I'm not religious, look how many wars it starts."
I hear it even today, and every time it’s said, I sigh. So I reply with this...
Religion doesn't start wars in the same way that other cultural differences don't start wars. People start wars. By human nature, when some people come up against something different to them, they won't do the obvious thing and try to understand it. They will immediately rebel against it and fight anything they don't understand or agree with.
99% of all religions in the world preach peace above all else. Look in the Quran, the Bible the Hindu Holy Books, they all say the same thing. But some people won't let that stop them. They've seen the 'loopholes' in the text that allows them to subvert their own holy texts and make people believe that their God has instructed them to kill in his/her/its name.
But then who is this God? Well, almost all monotheistic religions stem from the same source. In fact, Abrahamic religions (those that stem from the stories of Abraham and believe to some extent that they are descendents of his line) account for more than half of these. So really, every one of these religions believes in fundamentally the same God, they just don't agree on some of the small points that come later on.
If we then consider that all of the holy texts that all these religions take their instructions from were written by people a long time after the actual events depicted in them, it all starts making even less sense.
So, we know religions don't start wars, we know that people start wars over dis-agreements (and not only religion, but land, politics etc) and we know that any of those people who use the term 'our God' don't really have a clue what they're talking about anyway.
...and if I'm lucky, the person who has made that statement has either gone to sleep or walked away...
I hear it even today, and every time it’s said, I sigh. So I reply with this...
Religion doesn't start wars in the same way that other cultural differences don't start wars. People start wars. By human nature, when some people come up against something different to them, they won't do the obvious thing and try to understand it. They will immediately rebel against it and fight anything they don't understand or agree with.
99% of all religions in the world preach peace above all else. Look in the Quran, the Bible the Hindu Holy Books, they all say the same thing. But some people won't let that stop them. They've seen the 'loopholes' in the text that allows them to subvert their own holy texts and make people believe that their God has instructed them to kill in his/her/its name.
But then who is this God? Well, almost all monotheistic religions stem from the same source. In fact, Abrahamic religions (those that stem from the stories of Abraham and believe to some extent that they are descendents of his line) account for more than half of these. So really, every one of these religions believes in fundamentally the same God, they just don't agree on some of the small points that come later on.
If we then consider that all of the holy texts that all these religions take their instructions from were written by people a long time after the actual events depicted in them, it all starts making even less sense.
So, we know religions don't start wars, we know that people start wars over dis-agreements (and not only religion, but land, politics etc) and we know that any of those people who use the term 'our God' don't really have a clue what they're talking about anyway.
...and if I'm lucky, the person who has made that statement has either gone to sleep or walked away...