Swoop

or put another way, could it be any worse?

OBKB

For better mental and cultural health, it's time we classified religious fundamentalism as a psychological disorder
George Dvorsky
Betterhumans Staff

http://www.betterhumans.com/Features...D=2002-12-15-2


Immortality: Liberty's Final Frontier

Grad Student Humanist

Would the world be better off without religion?

Probably.

Could religion be eradicated?

No. It would require forceful suppression which is likely to backfire anyway. The best one could hope for would be for a very, very gradual shift away from religion. Even then it wouldn't be eradicated completely.

atheist_in_foxhole

I'm tempted to say that the world would be a much better place without religion, but then again I've started to realize that for many people, their religion is the only thing that keeps them from going crazy. I know it's pathetic and sad, but it's true! And I've encountered lots of fundies who've told me that without the Hell threat they would be raping, killing, lying, stealing etc. for the "fun" of it.

I'm confident that humans will, for the most part, abandon religion, but it's going to take a long, long time.

themistocles

As religion served as a substitute for science in a time when some sort of rationalization of the world around us, I guess it was a historically necessary "crawl before you walk" worldview to help grasp any hope of preservation or advancement. Obviously, as an atheist, I feel pretty comfortable saying that I personally get by fine without religion, but I guess I can grant it as a cultural evolutionary necessity. Besides, while we can demonstrate the faults, shortcomings, and general crimes that religion may well be responsible for, it would be simple conjecture to wonder how dramatically different the world would've been absent religion in the broadest scopes of history.

SecularFuture

Jayjay,
Hunter gatherers? Through secular humanism our world would remain modern. Through secular humanism, we would be more critical and rational when trying to find solutions to our problems. Unlike theism / religion, we wouldn’t rely solely on magical concepts for explanation and comfort.

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Gregg,
I wish we could replace it ALL (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) with secular humanism.

As atheists, we need to become more outspoken. We need to write more, debate more, and advertise the benefits of a secular humanist worldview.
www.secularhumanism.org

We wouldn’t need to go that far. The key is to stay focused and visible. We, as secularists, are evolving, and the religionists are not. Why? - Because they are locked within the text of their “holy” scriptures. They can only interpret that text so many ways, and in due time we will find a way to outwit them, which will in turn cause a domino effect. Think about it. It’s totally possible. Secularism isn’t growing everyday for nothing. :-)

Transhumanism is a good alternative to Christianity, and theism in general, I think. The Christians want immortality, right? Well… the only realistic way to achieve immortality, or something close to it, would be through Transhumanism. Instead of trying to replace religion with nothing (atheism), we should at lease consider trying to replace it with Transhumanism.

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Aerik Von
AMEN!

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DigitalChicken
Good point. Well… lets try to be rid of theism them, and start over from there.

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philechat
If the religion is theistic, it’s a waste of time and energy.

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Grad Student Humanist,
So… you’re saying its impossible?

With our help, of course. This is why we need to work together and promote secular humanism, or Transhumanism, as an alternative to magical --religious-- thinking.

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atheist_in_foxhole,
Religion is making them crazy to begin with.

Secular humanism doesn’t condone such behavior. And the threat of a tougher prison system could be a good replacement for the mythological hell threat.

Sephiroth

Religion (including non-theistic ones like Buddhism)-I don't know.
Theism-Probably.
Monotheism-Absolutely.

wildernesse

What? Since this can't be using the biological usage, you mean that your ideas are constantly changing--altho change doesn't have to be positive.

"Religionists" do not all have holy texts that they adhere to literally or even as the basis of their belief. What about religions that don't even have holy texts? You're really limiting your definition of religion if it has to have a holy text. They are limited (as secular thinkers are also) by the limits of their thoughts/reasoning/imagination.

Human society would not be any different without religion or theism because humans wouldn't be any different. Humans are irrational beings and I'm sure they could find plenty of irrational positions to take in secular thought.

As for religion being a waste of energy--I can think of lots of things that I value besides my religious belief that others would think are a waste of time and energy. For instance, restoring old cars/motorcycles/machines is a ridiculous waste of time and energy for me--but other people might find great joy in it. I alsoe enjoy watching tv--but when I think about it, it's not essential and so a waste. Who sets the standard of what constitutes a waste of time and energy?

Even if you could structure the world the way you wanted it (which is really how I see this question), I think that would be unwise. Part of the interest of life and living to me is learning about other people's views--and thinking about how they are different from mine. That is a great joy in life--meeting new people and ideas, even if they are opposed from mine it is a discovery.

--tibac

Old Man

Humanism is belief in man as god. But which man?

There must always be a God, but what form ought God to take?

The French abolished God during the French Revolution. But then they reinstated him, after trust in man as god proved futile. The history of France after that date is not something to be proud of.

God was abolished in Sodom (in favor of man). Any one can abolish God (in favor of himself as god). But how does it increase happiness?

philechat

Quite a hopeless strawman with the examples. And the above statement made no sense, unless the God you meant are metaphorically, some sort of individual ideal. The problem is whether God (as indicated in the religions) really exists or not, and not whether humans need God or not. One cannot have God just by wishing His existence.

It is nothing more than Voltaire's "If there is no God, we must invent Him." And the humanists, realizing that the God of traditional religions does not exist, chose to find values for themselves using human standards. Whether the other people could swallow humanistic philosophy adequately or not would be another question.