Toribash
Of course religion is contributing to the society, how could one say it isn't. Religion (mainly seems to be christianity in this discussion) is a force for both good and evil in the world. The more important question is which is it doing more; good or evil?

How I see it is very grim. I see religion as a source of so much evil compared to the good it brings that I've grown to hate almost all religions, especially Islam, being the most fundamental of the Judaisms. The acts of discrimination, violence and bigotry committed by people who justify their acts by their belief in the supernatural just makes me want to vomit. Now before someone comes and spouts out the greatest one liner of all time "It's the extremists! There are good 'insert religion here" I have to add, belief in something doesn't make you evil by default, but I can positively say that it influences oneself.

Putting it like this is pretty simple. All Nazis (yes, I just compared all religions to the Nazi party) weren't evil to the core. How could you say that all the people in Germany during WW2 were monsters? All tho I'm certain there were some "good" Nazis (What a sentence), nothing removes the horrible things they believed in. You can be a good muslim, but I will still hate what you believe in, you can be a awesome christian but I'll hate your religion just as much.

People do good and horrible things regardless of their religion. But I feel like religion enables the one sort of evil only "faith" can bring.

"Think of an evil act that a religious person committed that a nonbeliever couldn't do, easy. Now think of an evil act that a nonbeliever could do that a religious person couldn't, you can't"


Ps. If you are a person who believes in some vague form of god etc. go for it. This is geared towards the mainstream "book" religions that ask you to follow rules from two milleniums ago.
Last edited by cowmeat; Nov 9, 2015 at 12:15 AM.
Of fucking course religion contributes to society. Teaching prayer in schools, churches, etc. It's all around you. It gives people meaning for why they even exist. When no one exactly knows why. It's their way of life. Do I personally believe in a God, or any kind of religion? No, I can't come to believe that we were put here by some magical and powerful being. Is it possible? Of course it is. But I can't believe it.

Then there comes the counter to that:
"If you don't believe in god, do you think we just happened by chance and just appeared here?"

I have absolutely no idea. No one does. And I don't really care. We're here and that's all that is needed. Don't dig too deep. You won't be able to. Not in our life time. Or anytime in the near future.


Do I think Religion is a good thing? Of course. It helps people and gives them happiness. Just don't shove your religion down my throat and call me a "flying spaghetti monster loving ignorant prick". And we will be happy. I am quoting that from someone calling me that for not wanting their book of Christianity at a local church when I went with a friend.

"Dear reader, I hope this email finds you before I do."
Am I the only one surprised no-one read the topic as it is written; does Religion contribute to society?

Now, contribute means add if we go blunt about it, and in lay-mans-terms we can replace it with add in I'd say about 90% of all cases, and most often we associate it with something good, whereas contributing and having a negative impact through contribution is not contradictive as adding something negative still is adding to that part of something.

And yes, it's quite hard to deny that religion influences society..

But I guess that's not the question OP wanted to raise, as such, could a mod clarify the topic of this discussion?
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Alright, here's your direction then - Weigh the impacts of religion on society. To do so, you'll first need to establish the positive impacts of religion on society as well as the negative effects it had on society. You might also want to discuss the topic by specifying which societies had a net gain/loss from religion and when (i.e. religion probably had a greater positive impact on ancient Babylonian society than it does on modern Canadian society) OR you could treat the topic as religion's impact on human society as a whole.
Originally Posted by cowmeat View Post
Of course religion is contributing to the society, how could one say it isn't. Religion (mainly seems to be christianity in this discussion) is a force for both good and evil in the world. The more important question is which is it doing more; good or evil?

How I see it is very grim. I see religion as a source of so much evil compared to the good it brings that I've grown to hate almost all religions, especially Islam, being the most fundamental of the Judaisms. The acts of discrimination, violence and bigotry committed by people who justify their acts by their belief in the supernatural just makes me want to vomit. Now before someone comes and spouts out the greatest one liner of all time "It's the extremists! There are good 'insert religion here" I have to add, belief in something doesn't make you evil by default, but I can positively say that it influences oneself.

Putting it like this is pretty simple. All Nazis (yes, I just compared all religions to the Nazi party) weren't evil to the core. How could you say that all the people in Germany during WW2 were monsters? All tho I'm certain there were some "good" Nazis (What a sentence), nothing removes the horrible things they believed in. You can be a good muslim, but I will still hate what you believe in, you can be a awesome christian but I'll hate your religion just as much.

People do good and horrible things regardless of their religion. But I feel like religion enables the one sort of evil only "faith" can bring.

"Think of an evil act that a religious person committed that a nonbeliever couldn't do, easy. Now think of an evil act that a nonbeliever could do that a religious person couldn't, you can't"


Ps. If you are a person who believes in some vague form of god etc. go for it. This is geared towards the mainstream "book" religions that ask you to follow rules from two milleniums ago.

I like how you bring up Nazis, who rejected religion. Same thing with Stalin I think.

Give an example of an evil thing which religious people can commit (and which an atheist can't) which is worse than the holocaust please.
Good morning sweet princess
Each Crusade was pretty brutal, and there were a lot of torture devices back in the day and a lot of innocents who just believe in other things.

The holocaust had greatly contributed to Medicinal sciences and what not atleast.
We can talk about Stalin as well if you like. The purges were pretty horrific. I am not a historian and am very busy at the moment so I'm not going to try to argue either way, but I'm pretty sure the world wars had higher death counts than the crusades.
Good morning sweet princess
Originally Posted by cowmeat View Post
Of course religion is contributing to the society, how could one say it isn't. Religion (mainly seems to be christianity in this discussion) is a force for both good and evil in the world. The more important question is which is it doing more; good or evil?

How I see it is very grim. I see religion as a source of so much evil compared to the good it brings that I've grown to hate almost all religions, especially Islam, being the most fundamental of the Judaisms. The acts of discrimination, violence and bigotry committed by people who justify their acts by their belief in the supernatural just makes me want to vomit. Now before someone comes and spouts out the greatest one liner of all time "It's the extremists! There are good 'insert religion here" I have to add, belief in something doesn't make you evil by default, but I can positively say that it influences oneself.

Putting it like this is pretty simple. All Nazis (yes, I just compared all religions to the Nazi party) weren't evil to the core. How could you say that all the people in Germany during WW2 were monsters? All tho I'm certain there were some "good" Nazis (What a sentence), nothing removes the horrible things they believed in. You can be a good muslim, but I will still hate what you believe in, you can be a awesome christian but I'll hate your religion just as much.

People do good and horrible things regardless of their religion. But I feel like religion enables the one sort of evil only "faith" can bring.

"Think of an evil act that a religious person committed that a nonbeliever couldn't do, easy. Now think of an evil act that a nonbeliever could do that a religious person couldn't, you can't"


Ps. If you are a person who believes in some vague form of god etc. go for it. This is geared towards the mainstream "book" religions that ask you to follow rules from two milleniums ago.

Thank you, you are a man after my heart.
I have a very low regard for religion, not the members, but the corruption and appalling disgraces under the names of them. Red Cross only gave medicine to children in Africa if the Mother signed a form saying they would send their child to sunday school and raise him as a catholic. That sickens me, all loving God, the earthly religion of that God gives him a bad name.
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Originally Posted by Zelda View Post
I like how you bring up Nazis, who rejected religion. Same thing with Stalin I think.

Give an example of an evil thing which religious people can commit (and which an atheist can't) which is worse than the holocaust please.


seriously.... Nazis literally had 'GOD WITH US' engraved into SS belt buckles. Nazis ddnt reject religion, they embraced it.
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Originally Posted by Zelda View Post
We can talk about Stalin as well if you like. The purges were pretty horrific. I am not a historian and am very busy at the moment so I'm not going to try to argue either way, but I'm pretty sure the world wars had higher death counts than the crusades.


You are missing the point a bit now aren't you.... Stalin did not commit any crimes in the name, or because of atheism or non-theism. On the other hand, crusades were IN THE NAME, AND BECAUSE OF CHRISTIANITY AND FAITH.

If you cannot see that distinction it's going to be impossible for me to argue with you.
Last edited by cowmeat; Nov 9, 2015 at 11:07 PM. Reason: <24 hour edit/bump
There are Radical religious people and then there are people who actual listen to the bible. Christ said to love one another more than you love yourself, so if someone tells you your gonna burn in hell for not believing, hell is where he's gonna go.