Religion Endangers Humanity And Its Future

http://www.rationalresponders.com/religion_endangers_humanity_and_its_future

"Religion has been a factor for humans to deal with throughout history. The oldest written records contain evidence of religious belief. Genetic studies have recently been done that even suggest that religion evolved with humanity. Through all this time, religion has had its uses. It has a binding factor that allows subjugated people to band together against their oppressors (or against the forces of nature), and can be useful in distributing help to those who need it most. However, it currently hinders humanity more than it helps. Governments have replaced religious charity with social welfare, and democracy has eliminated the majority of the need to band together against an oppressor or nature. What is left for religion to do? The answer is a sad one: interfere with the progress of humanity, to the point where it endangers the future of humanity. Throughout history, religion has been the leading cause of slavery, subjugation, prejudice, war, and a negatively impactful force against the progress of education. For humanity to continue to survive, religion must be mitigated to have no control over vast swaths of people who simply don’t know any better.

Religion is the leading cause of subjugation in human history. The further back in time that is looked upon, the more of an impact religion had on the day. Until the end of the 1800's and the beginning of the 1900's, it was generally illegal for women to participate in the running of nations and religions(1). The root cause of this is the Christian and Moslem religions(to name but two of the culprits over the last thousand years) depicting women as one of two things: vile creatures that must be controlled to avoid hellfire and brimstone(2); or simply lesser creatures that must be cared for by males(3). At its most extreme, in North America in the 1800's, women were burned at the stake for merely the suggestion that they were witches who cast magics on unsuspecting and upstanding members of the community. Even now, the big religions generally bar women from participating at a managerial level(4); though women have to some extent penetrated the political barrier(5,6); and some religious institutions and breakaways from the central church authority now accept female participation at higher levels(7).

There is also a propensity for religion to cause or encourage discriminatory behaviours. If there is one thing that every religion has in common at its core, it is the idea that it is the one true religion, and that all others are lies at best. At worst, other religions are the manipulations of a super being of incredible evil that wishes to consume the world and all humanity. The Christians believe that only the Christians have the right idea, and the Moslems believe that only the Moslems have the right idea. This also incorporates the Jews, the Wiccans, the Mormons, the Jehova’s Witnesses, the Scientologists, and more(8). All of these religions share the idea that they are the one and only true religion (though some of these religions may have a few followers whom are less devoted to scripture and hold the belief that every God in every religion is the same God by a different name, those people are vastly outnumbered by those who follow their religion devoutly). The result of this is that religions constantly come into conflict with other religions. Wars have sprung up based upon who’s god is the real god. An excellent example is the Crusades: a multi-century war (1095-1272) between three of the largest religious groups on in history (the Christians, Jews, and Moslems). Wars like this have occurred throughout history, and happen even today: as exemplified by the conflict between the extremist group Al Qaeda and the extremist nation of The United States of America; a conflict which has grown to include a significant proportion of the rest of the world.

Worst of all for the human species, however, is that religion has been a very common perpetrator in excusing extraordinarily bad management of the Earth and our lack of knowledge of it. For one example, a significant number of religious institutions and persons don’t accept that climate change is occurring. There has even been a published article that suggests more than 17,000 scientists stand against the idea climate change can or is controlled by humans, never minding the fact that the vast majority of the so-called "scientists" are anything but(9). The idea that a super being can control the Earth and its inhabitants to the point where the inhabitants cannot control the Earth themselves propagates among religious institutions. And if that isn’t enough, think tanks supported by churches and mosques spread the idea that the science of evolution is in crisis. Despite the fact that without the proven reality of evolution, medical technology would be nowhere near what it is today(10). Centuries ago these institutions suggested that the dinosaurs were fabricated, since God would never let one of its species die, and that message continues to this day(11). Today the offspring of those institutions fights the proven concepts of evolution and do their best to ensure that the global debate on climate change is as muddy as it could possibly be. Some even go so far as to say that the Earth is flat, ignoring solid science gathered against the idea over the past twenty five hundred plus years(12). The inevitable result of these activities is a fundamentally flawed view of the Earth by a significant proportion of the population. Many people literally believe that humanity is incapable of altering the Earth, and so business should continue as usual; despite proven science to the contrary. Many more people disbelieve evolution to the extent that they try to have it removed from educational programs, denying current and future students a chance at true understanding of the Earth and its life forms. These groups and groups like them will likely continue falsifying information until the day the last human dies from pollution overdose. Which is not to mention the near infinite number of dangers provided by our solar system alone, against which only an education and a solid basis in reality can a defense be provided.

While religion can be said to accomplish good things such as charity, it is not religion itself that accomplishes these things. It is the individuals that make up that religion, and make choices themselves, that truly accomplishes good things. With that and everything else in mind, it is clear that religion today no longer has a beneficial aspect to our species, and should be mitigated as efficiently, morally, and quickly as possible so that future generations of humans can exist."

Mastering the obvious....why is it so easy for me?

Shalom

Please rethink!
Religion is anything a person believes in! As you have shown!
Religion has never been a creditable issue of blame, it has been the people and how they manipulate or miss-use any religion to their personal or for their particular goals.

ps. explain belief or truth of gravity!


Shalom

some people are obsessed with religion

and some people are obsessed against religion

either way is still just an obsession

my good friend. there is no need for religion. you dont need a god to tell you right from wrong, you dont need a god for anything. god is only there as an excuse to explain things that we do not understand. for when that something is explained and we know how that certain thing works, then The idea of god is irrelevant. for example, Lighting. many of the most intelligent scholars believed that this came from god, simply because they couldnt understand why it happened. same thing with how plants grow, why does it rain so forth and so on.

Now we understand how all of that works. we advance, we learn, its in the human nature to do all of those things. so the idea that god was the one doing it is out of mind because its not some god, we understand how it works.

also, keep in mind all of the different religions. if you step back and think about it. put yourself in all other religions, you would see that according to everysingle religion, everyone is going to hell. so if you are islamic and I am christian, we both are going to hell in each others eyes, so therefore it cancels out it self, and NEITHER religion can be true. Ideas cannot be killed but they can become irrelevant

and also, do me a favor,

look at this

www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
the first movie is movie on the right. the second one on the left. it shows you a better understanding. when you watch it reply and tell me wha tyou think.

old news



References to "Zeitgeist: The Movie" in the mainstream media are relatively few and mostly negative. "Zeitgeist Addendum" has mostly been ignored. As far as "the Movie", commonly the film’s factual accuracy has been challenged. A review in the Irish Times entitled “Zeitgeist: the Nonsense” wrote that “these are surreal perversions of genuine issues and debates, and they tarnish all criticism of faith, the Bush administration and globalization—there are more than enough factual injustices in this world to be going around without having to invent fictional ones."[22] Skeptic magazine's Tim Callahan criticizes the first part of the film on the origins of Christianity:

Some of what it asserts is true. Unfortunately, this material is liberally—and sloppily—mixed with material that is only partially true and much that is plainly and simply bogus. […] Zeitgeist is The Da Vinci Code on steroids.[23]

Other reviews assert that it is "conspiracy crap",[24] “based solely on anecdotal evidence” and “fiction couched in a few facts”,[25] or disparaging reference is made to its part in "the 9/11 truth movement.[14]

Academic coverage of Zeitgeist has also been sparse, mainly lumping the movie in with other conspiracy movies, although at least one academic has made a more detailed (and highly critical) analysis of the scholarship (see below). Again, the coverage has been largely negative, and typically treated as part of a contemporary phenomenon of “truth” movies. According to Scientific American

“The postmodernist belief in the relativism of truth, coupled to the clicker culture of mass media where attention spans are measured in New York minutes, leaves us with a bewildering array of truth claims packaged in infotainment units. It must be true—I saw it on television, at the movies, on the Internet, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, That's Incredible, The Sixth Sense, Poltergeist, Loose Change, Zeitgeist the Movie.”[26]

A more severe overall treatment is given by Jane Chapman, a film producer and reader in media studies at the University of Lincoln, who analyzes Zeitgeist (“A fast-paced assemblage of agitprop”) as an example of unethical film-making.[27] She accuses Joseph of deceit through the use of unsourced and unreferenced assertions, and standard film-making propaganda techniques. While parts of the film are, she says, “comically” self-defeating, the nature of “twisted evidence” and the false attribution of Madrid bomb footage as being in London (which she calls a “lie”) amount to ethical abuse in sourcing (in later versions of the movie, a subtitle is added to this footage identifying it as from the Madrid bombings). She finishes her analysis with the comment:

Thus legitimate questions about what happened on 9/11, and about corruption in religious and financial organizations, are all undermined by the film’s determined effort to maximize an emotional response at the expense of reasoned argument.

Dr Chris Forbes, Senior lecturer in Ancient History of Macquarie University and member of the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney, has severely criticized Part I of the movie as having no basis in serious scholarship or ancient sources, relying on amateur sources that "borrow ideas from each other, and who recycle the same silly stuff" and "not a single serious source" can be found in official reference lists attached to the movie.[28] Of the film he says "It is extraordinary how many claims it makes which are simply not true."[28]

Forbes claims there is no evidence in Egyptian sources saying that Horus' mother Isis was a virgin. Similarly, neither Krishna (the eighth son), Dionysus (whose mother had slept with Zeus) nor Attis were ever supposed born of virgins. He points out that "son" and "sun" are not homophonic words in either Latin, Ancient Egyptian, or Greek, and therefore no such misunderstanding would occur; that the December 25 birth is not part of any of the myths—including that of Jesus, for whom Christmas Day was appointed as a festival day in open knowledge that the real date was not known.

Dr. Forbes also criticizes the movie's use of Roman sources to suggest that Jesus didn't exist, noting that a long list flashed across the screen of supposed contemporary historians that did not mention Jesus is actually comprised of geographers, gardening writers, poets and philosophers, who should not be expected to mention him. The allegation that Josephus' mention of Jesus was added later is criticized as misleading. Josephus actually mentions Jesus twice, with only one reference believed by scholars to have been doctored in the Middle Ages but to change an already existing mention of him. He also argues that the film misrepresents Constantine when it presents him as making Christianity compulsory (when he only legalized it) and inventing the historical Jesus (when early church records show that the historicity of Jesus had been a key element of faith from early on).

-wiki

not ness. the majority of religious people are conditioned into religion. so nothing really happens in someones life makes them know religion. Religion is something that is taught, just like adults teaches their children how to be nice, or how to love, religion falls right into that category.

I was rasied in a christian family, but I never caught on believing in something that isnt there. if there was a god that loved his children, he would speak to everyone not just one person, and plus a lot more. I learned that many years ago, the ancients didnt know what a god was. They worshiped the sun, trees, gave thanks to nature. but back to the subject, religion was taught. But in reality as a person grows, they learn, you learn to be rational and logical and you realize this cant be right. none of what was said to you makes sense. thats when you grasp the understanding of how something works, you begin to see lies everywhere then you see the reason why religion was created.
its a obsession to believe in religion, its a awareness to not believe in religion. but like i said its all a understanding of knowing how things operate


remember, a person is accepted into church for what he believes but is turned out for what he knows.

blaming religion for atrocities committed is the same as blaming the Y chromosome for it. Stalin committed atrocities...what was his excuse?

i see the point here, but just because he hasnt found any doesnt mean that its not true. I actually researched it and found many things in the movie to be true. and even so, its pretty obvious that he didnt just make the things up. he had to get the information from somewhere. I found everything that I was looking up and have the evidence for it. I can provide the links and everything.

and I always tell people about "self preservation" meaning you cant go to the bible to prove that things were true. its made to self preserve itself.
there is no prove that states jesuses existance. None what so ever. Any one that wrote about jesus Never met him. plus not even using the zeitgeist for back up, but if you look it up, there are many gods that were or came before jesus and many of the attributes are the same.

he was crazy.

Those that can make you believe absurbities can make you comit attrocities. most religions are make to manipulate.

These criticisms of the film are as lame as they say the film is. Most of them don't get specific at all about what is untrue and why they think so. They'll have to do better than that.

ok...so he is excused but the reasons for others can ONLY be because of religion????? It's ok for Stalin but not others?

The Y chromosome argument is just as valid as blaming religion, especially since not all who are religious do these things either.

Can you tell me that Atheists can't be extremists too?????

Maybe it's not the person's beliefs that make them do it, but instead they hide behind it as an excuse

i look at it like this.

if there is a designer, he must take credit for the flaws in his creation. flaws in the creation directly reflect flaws in the creator. if there is a flaw in the creator then he cannot be all powerful.

athesists can be extremists oh heavens yes. that was what the :dark ages: was all about.

but moral certaninty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. the more uncivilized the person, the surer they are that they know precisely what is right and what is wrong.

i dont belive in good or bad, I believe in making ethical decisions, and thinking logically.

which is your belief....I have no problem with that.

But just as Christians have a right to their beliefs (and I don't believe in pushing it down people's throats) others have the right to their own beliefs (without pushing it down people's throats.

I see people doing the same things that they complain about.

I can respect someone for their beliefs and I actually enjoy discussing different beliefs....but just as you don't like to be told you (as in general people) are wrong....others don't like to be told they are wrong for their beliefs either.


all of this...I'm right and you are wrong is crazy to me and that goes for all sides that do it.


ok....off my soap box now


But is the argument of being a man just as equally as valid as blaming religion? Maybe the Y chromosome is really evil....who knows

lol I dont believe in making people believe stuff either. I dont like when smart people believing in talking snakes or talking bushes. but hey to each their own.

Stalin like Hitler both entered into the seminary

Stalin was Atheist when he did these things. There are people that enter the seminary that don't commit atrocities too.

I wouldn't blame Atheism for Stalin's behavior because there are many Atheists that wouldn't dream of doing things to hurt people

but i think religion has a lot to do with it. because, religion keeps people from doing things. advancing. from the quote Gods will.
every religious person perterprets this different. so because of this Gods will is Wide spread. And I am sure you know that or heard someone say, oh, its in gods will for this to not happen or for this to happen. its limiting that person or preventing something from happening.

religion or well christianity in general has no bearing of wars nor is to blame. We are taught to turn the other cheek, not destroy other people. Yes the bible has reference of wars, but that is of history and to know our backgrounds. Christianity in NO WAY promotes war of any sort. Just because someone claims to be a christian and starts a war and may even say God told them to does not meen it really is as it's appearing to be. God is all loving and forgiveing and expects us to be the same.

frank2bad,

but who is to say God told people to do these atrocities and that they weren't just wanting to hurt people and blaming religion?

I was brought up in the church and it was always my choice to go or stay or whatever I felt. I brought my son up the same way...to decide for himself what is best for him. So the argument of brainwashing or whatever doesn't hold water either since not all people that believe in a religion commit these things.

I, personally, don't like extremists because they don't tend to want to respect other's beliefs. And that goes for all beliefs (including Atheists)

you and I could probably have a great discussion about what we each believe, but if one of us crossing into the "I'm right and you are wrong" "My belief is better than your belief"....kinda silly isn't it?