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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:09 pm
What would it be like if we didn't have religion? Would it be better or worse? Would we be more technologically advanced or more primitive?(like certain ideas that at the time,where "going against the church".) Would there be a greater population on earth? (refering to the victims of religious wars.) Would there be less war, crime, or doers of good/evil?
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Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:56 pm
Peaceful, calm, tranquil, unexplored stuck in the ages long past.
As for all the bad its brought (war, destruction, chaos.) it has inspired the evolution and progression of man (Galileo wanted to stud the heavens, the Egyptians gave us ingenious architecture in the name of their gods, etc. etc.).
Saying that is like saying would you go back and kill Hitler as a child?
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:09 pm
There'd be fewer morals, if any.
A lot of people these days only act as nice as they do to get to heaven. No pyramids, churches do a lot of fundraisers too...
There's good and bad. But most of the good could not have happened without the bad.
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Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 5:52 pm
Better or worse?
Hard to tell, really.
Fewer morals. Much less artistic development (look at all the religious art and architecture throughout the millenia). Lower literacy rate, probably. Fewer preserved records from pre-Renaissance Europe. No religious defense (i.e. Quakers free slaves for religious purpose). No religious charities.
No religious persecution. No religious war.
From a cultural point of view, religion is very important.
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-Resurrected Writer- Crew
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 2:13 pm
I'd probably say that it would be a lot worse off. Religious hatred is really only an excuse for people to hate each other - it's been going on even before paganism, and as long as there are people who disagree with each other, there is going to be hatred.
Why worse? Because people who are religious find solace and comfort in their beliefs; churches, synagogues, mosques, and various other religious buildings are protected by international law as places of sanctuary. And as GilAskan said, many beautiful works of art *coughSistineChapelcough* would never have existed.
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Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 1:58 pm
It seems to me that religious beliefs are an intrinsic part of the human psyche. We have an inherent desire to explain the things around us and most of us also want to believe that things happen for a reason (however far beyond our comprehension that reason may be). Yes, there are people who question or reject religion, but they usually have another way of explaining the world around them (science, for example). And ironically, a lot of them are incredibly dogmatic people. Some nihilists base their whole lives around the belief that belief is useless, and postmodernsts get frothy as hell about the 'fact' that there are no facts.
If there were no religion in the world, it would be because the human mind worked differently. So who can say whether the world would be worse or better? There'd be no religious intolerance, but we might have something else to get into tiffs about. Religious morals wouldn't keep us in check, but maybe enlightened self-interest would keep us from acting badly. Maybe there'd be less development in art and literature... but then again, maybe art and literature would have been inspired by completely different things.
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Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 5:56 pm
Religion over the course of the years has started wars, the Crusades caused almost the same damage as the plague and people in the Middle East will sacrifice themselves for their 'god". People go crazy when they read something that someone has put in a book ad said that a divine spirit said it thus it must be so. I would figure that based on how much this has done, many things of what we as people would seems civilized would ulimately be due to religion and we might have had some but not a whole lot of progress both technilogically and socially. People naturally take what they want and so when there is no one "watching" them, they is no punishment, there is no worry so why not.
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:07 pm
XWraith_LordX What would it be like if we didn't have religion? Would it be better or worse? Would we be more technologically advanced or more primitive?(like certain ideas that at the time,where "going against the church".) Would there be a greater population on earth? (refering to the victims of religious wars.) Would there be less war, crime, or doers of good/evil? i think there would be definitly less violence about the subject but then people are always lokking for something to believe in so that i think world leaders would probably become some thing like gods... burning_eyes
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Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 10:31 pm
Our race as humans would have no history. it'd be vague, boring, and dull. If you think about it there'd be no ancient cultures seeing as they were primarily based off their gods, like the persians for example their rulers were "gods" to them so basically they wouldn't exist. There would have been no crusades nothing, all we would have is a bleak black and white world, sort of a failed utopia.
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Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 8:43 pm
Veruniel It seems to me that religious beliefs are an intrinsic part of the human psyche. We have an inherent desire to explain the things around us and most of us also want to believe that things happen for a reason (however far beyond our comprehension that reason may be). Yes, there are people who question or reject religion, but they usually have another way of explaining the world around them (science, for example). And ironically, a lot of them are incredibly dogmatic people. Some nihilists base their whole lives around the belief that belief is useless, and postmodernsts get frothy as hell about the 'fact' that there are no facts. If there were no religion in the world, it would be because the human mind worked differently. So who can say whether the world would be worse or better? There'd be no religious intolerance, but we might have something else to get into tiffs about. Religious morals wouldn't keep us in check, but maybe enlightened self-interest would keep us from acting badly. Maybe there'd be less development in art and literature... but then again, maybe art and literature would have been inspired by completely different things. Our culture may have been completely different....*goes off to think about what you said*
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Posted: Mon May 28, 2007 2:19 pm
"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" - Voltaire.
I think if we lived in a society without religion, someone would "invent" it pretty quickly. Unless, as Veruniel said, our minds were completely different, and no one ever even briefly entertained the idea of what happens to us when we die, or where the universe came from. Or even, had an experience they couldn't explain - as simply as a sense of the numinous or as complex as witnessing a 'miracle' or paranormal event.
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Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 2:10 pm
to answer thsi question you must first separate spirituality from religion, and furthermore monotheistic religion from polytheistic religion.
now, spirituality is simply the acknowledgement of the existance of a god or gods, and the connection with the spiritual world. unfortunately, a real and true connection to spirits is not found in most monotheistic religions.
Monothesitic religion includes all religions following only one deity. this includes but is not limited to: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, also perhaps Hinduism, but that one is arguable, seeing as hindus believe in multiple incarnations of a single god, which could be interpreted as multiple gods.
Polytheistic religion includes multiple deities. This includes but is not limited to: Celtic religion(no, not druidism. the druids are the intellectual caste of celtic society), assorted native american/canadian religions, romanism, shintoist and taoist buddhism, greek religion(not sure of the name of it)Odenism(norse religion, norsemen being better known as the vikings, who were the warrior class)and assorted neopagan religions including celtic shamanism, wicca, etc.
Now, the interesting thing about monotheism is that it almost consistently preaches that mankind is the highest and greatest species on this planet, a highly arrogant and foolish view. this simple statement is probably part of what has led mankind to feel the need to tame the earth to it's will, rather than to maintain a balance, which is what most polytheistic mindsets are. the greeks had a concept that originated in Athens, called Arrete(probably misspelt it, but it's pronounced 'a-rett-ay'), which was basically the balance of knowledge and spirituality, which included physical strength, for example. I'd rahter not turn this into a long ramble, so i'll stop there.
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L3ts S3t Th3 Stag3 OnF1re
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:00 pm
OMFG! it would be hell without a gothic religion x] I, a moderator, am hijacking this post. All white text is me. Don't reply to this if you can't without flamming. I'm just keeping this post for comic relief
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Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:45 pm
DR490N to answer thsi question you must first separate spirituality from religion, and furthermore monotheistic religion from polytheistic religion. now, spirituality is simply the acknowledgement of the existance of a god or gods, and the connection with the spiritual world. unfortunately, a real and true connection to spirits is not found in most monotheistic religions. Monothesitic religion includes all religions following only one deity. this includes but is not limited to: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, also perhaps Hinduism, but that one is arguable, seeing as hindus believe in multiple incarnations of a single god, which could be interpreted as multiple gods. Polytheistic religion includes multiple deities. This includes but is not limited to: Celtic religion(no, not druidism. the druids are the intellectual caste of celtic society), assorted native american/canadian religions, romanism, shintoist and taoist buddhism, greek religion(not sure of the name of it)Odenism(norse religion, norsemen being better known as the vikings, who were the warrior class)and assorted neopagan religions including celtic shamanism, wicca, etc. Now, the interesting thing about monotheism is that it almost consistently preaches that mankind is the highest and greatest species on this planet, a highly arrogant and foolish view. this simple statement is probably part of what has led mankind to feel the need to tame the earth to it's will, rather than to maintain a balance, which is what most polytheistic mindsets are. the greeks had a concept that originated in Athens, called Arrete(probably misspelt it, but it's pronounced 'a-rett-ay'), which was basically the balance of knowledge and spirituality, which included physical strength, for example. I'd rahter not turn this into a long ramble, so i'll stop there. Would the word you are looking for be arĂȘte, or aretai (respectively; singular and plural)? I'm more used to hearing the term in reference to the Greek virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance, piety and justice.
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-Resurrected Writer- Crew
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Posted: Sat Jun 23, 2007 12:05 am
L3ts S3t Th3 Stag3 OnF1re OMFG! it would be hell without a gothic religion x] I, a moderator, am hijacking this post. All white text is me. Don't reply to this if you can't without flamming. I'm just keeping this post for comic reliefFo' rll. That would almost be as bad as a mod filling your post with white text.
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