JusticeMachine

How would society look different with the yoke of religion remove?

What would be the positives and negatives of this?

Ojuice5001

Theology is the knowledge of the gods and how they relate to humanity and the world. So without theology, humans would have no awareness of the gods. Right now it is possible, in principle, to set up a state of pax deorum--peace with the gods. This is a sort of treaty where humans and gods agree to advance each other's interests. But without theology, humans would have as little awareness of the gods as a warm-blooded animal. Then the gods would not treat humans as partners in a contract; they would treat humans the way humans and gods alike treat warm-blooded animals. In other words, instead of using humans as they have agreed to be used, they would use humans however best served their ends, just as humans use warm-blooded animals however best serves their ends. The gods wouldn't be cruel to humans, just as humans aren't cruel to warm-blooded animals, but the relationship of god and human would be an I-It relationship.

Warm-blooded animals don't know how to make contracts with humans or gods, and so they don't. Now the same thing would happen if humans didn't know how to make a contract with the gods. That is why atheism must be prevented from gaining supremacy among the worldviews.

The Other Michael

This sounds like General Religious Discussion fodder to me, so I'm plucking the magic twanger.

cheers,
Michael
MF&P Moderator, First Class

ManM

I'm of the opinion it would be quite an oppressive society. The "yoke of religion" could not be removed by any other means.

Autonemesis

Nonsense. What you envision is not a society free of religion. A society free of religion would have to emerge on its own, without coercion, as a result of people realizing that they can discard belief in diety, and that doing so accrues a benefit to them.

The society you're picturing, ManM, is one where religion has been forced underground. That is quite a different thing than one that is free of religion.

Jamie_L

Well, I think an implication of the OP is assuming such a society magically existed - not assuming it was forced on the world. In other words, ignoring how you get from here to there, what would there look like?

In my opinion, not a lot different from the way things are today.

The fact is, most day-to-day life experiences don't require any thought about God. I know this, because that's the way I live my life. I'm not an active atheist. I literally live my life without a god, not against the concept of god.

People would still fight over and get fanatical about politics. There would still be plenty of people who would put blind faith in leaders and political systems and even various ethical systems. Oppressed people might still be willing to blow themselves up if they feel their lives are hopeless and they want to make a point.

At some level, I think things would be better. I think religion encourages a lack of critical thinking, and critical thinking does the world good. It might be harder to sway fanatics to violence without a promise of heavenly rewards. Or to steer politics with ideas that can't be questioned because they are handed down from God.

Yeah, I think things would be better. But we'd still be in a world crowded with humans, and humans are stupid, short-sighted, violent, dangerous beasts. Everyone but me, of course. (Or, maybe it's the other way around.)

Oh, and stores would be open at 9:00am on Sundays. That would be a great improvement.

Jamie

JusticeMachine

What key things have occurred, are occurring or need to occur for this to happen?

JusticeMachine

So, in your opinion, things will be very much the same: We will find new thing to fight and die for, there will still be descrimination and racism, there will still be all of the short commings that currently exist along side of and in religion?

Do you think being free of the belief in supernatural causes for things is the natural social evolution of society?

Jamie_L

That seems to be the way things are going. Few people on earth believe the sun is a god anymore or that sacrifices can bring about good weather and good harvests. We moved from gods for everything to monotheism. We moved from high levels of superstition to knowledge of the workings of the natural world. Industrialized nations tend to be more secular than those that are less advanced. The pattern seems to be there.

Don't get me wrong, I think things would be better without religion. But it's not the silver bullet to cure the ills of humanity. Not by a long shot.

Jamie

Eudaimonist

It all depends on everything.

I don't think one can answer such a question without specifying what sort of culture would take place of the old. There's no such thing as a single, specific 'atheist culture'. There are a multitude of cultures possible that are atheistic.

Are we talking about a culture that is American Secular-Liberal, European Social-Democrat, Objectivist, Existentialist, Nihilist, Trebaxian...?

Until this is answered, it is almost impossible to make predictions.