"Were" Mooyak not "Where"... Gosh!

LMAO! I so sorry! xD

I think what it comes down to is that if you ban religion, you take away a basic fundamental right. You shouldn't be able to discriminate against someone because of their religion, just as you shouldn't be able to discriminate against someone because of their sexuality. Just because I have some problems with some of the major religions, and their views on homosexuality, doesn't mean that you should ban them. You shouldn't be able to take away their right to free speech and to express their views, just as they shouldn't be able to take away your's. What you can aim for is a secular state in which religion remains separate from government, schools, courts etc. and religious conviction doesn't influence government policy.

Not really, not if you could prove the establishment causes harm. That wouldn't be hard, even today.

People have the right to free thought, but establishments, that's another thing entirely. If it was proven a particular establishment was causing harm in the world; well, theoretically it could be torn down like the Berlin wall. People could continue to believe in their fairy tales, but the teachings of such stories will not be accepted in education and hopefully eventually, mainstream culture.

Then we'll become socialists, tear down our authoritarian government and live in a utopia happily ever after.......... Yeah, call me pessimistic

Umm.


It's a difficult question, whether to ban religion or not.


Certainly, organised religions have caused many, many problems throughout the world. (Although, I don't know of any othe religion outside the Judeo-Christian religion causing trouble. (And before people rage, that's Jews, Christians and Muslims.))

But while religions cause many problems, they also provide a kind of... I dunno support for people? A backdrop, a safe... feeling I guess.

My country of Northern Ireland saw great problems because of arguments between those calling themself 'Catholic' and those calling themself 'Protestant'. But even though many people were being killed because of their different beliefs of the same God, many, many people retained their faith, saying that it was all part of their great God's plan. Their faith helped them survive the trauma, the fear, the awful experience of the Troubles.

So while religion is the thing that causes a large amount of the worlds problems, it's also something that spreads joy and hope, and is a great fallback for hurt, lonely people.

I being from a Christian family, but not Christian myself, hold great respect for the vast amount of good that Christians do for the poor, homeless, ill, elderly, and youthful.

However, I also feel that some of the people who call themselves Christian severly misuse the name.

So, in short, I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion on religion.

Just to clear it up, Judeo-Christian is Jewish and Christian, mainly describing the old testament but it can be used to describe the two religions more generally. The term for these two AND Islam is Abrahamitic as all three stem from Abraham.

No we shouldn't ban religion.
True I dislike Christianity.
True I dislike Islam.

But you can't just make a law banning something...as the Amazing Atheist said you need to change societal attitudes and mindsets..if you make a law banning religion outright then your a fascist.

I might not be religious and i might believe in transcendental ego-like deity but that does not mean we should ban religion for whatever reasons we personally have against them.

religion encourages people to be moral when they might not have any other reason to be so - we might be reasonable, moral people - but most are uneducated and unable to see why moral goodness should be sought.

it answers questions that people might spend their whole life trying to answer, but to no avail. The kind of people who do this, are often nihilistic (look it up, ull see why its a bad thing). so religion saves people from a lot of higher meaning worries that we might otherwise have.

religion can give people purpose
religion can give people a clique

How would you exactly ban religion?
Why would you do things like ban prayers in restaurants? It does no harm to anyone around, it's just a private little ritual and I don't think that needs any further explanation. Heck, just to be fair, why not ban people from bringing same-sex boyfriends/girlfriends out to dinner, since people consider that to be harmful to children too you know?
Personally I think religion, especially Christianity, has been banned enough. People everywhere have already defamed God and many can't even express their faith in today's culture without being frowned upon. Just once, I would like someone to receive a tract without exclaiming "Are you trying to convert me?" If you don't want to be a Christian, just please kindly refuse. Some evangelicals just don't want people going to hell, seriously.

Yes, I understand there's extremists like the Phelps and all that who go around calling everyone fags, but some people have failed to acknowledge that not all baptists are the same. There have been several religious conflicts during history, but I don't ever recall the Bible commanding followers to kill each other to spread the Word (maybe the Qu'ran does, but oh well). These events were never caused by religion, it was caused by the people who chose to interpret them the way they did.

Also one thing I'm tired of is how people advocate religion with arguments such as "it upholds moral authority," "it gives people a sense of purpose," and blah blah other spiritual benefits. Atheists can do that too. I wish some people would view Christians as just humble servants of God rather than ignorant human beings who are just in it for the "feel good" part.

Bamboo wrote:

QUOTE:

Also one thing I'm tired of is how people advocate religion with arguments such as "it upholds moral authority," "it gives people a sense of purpose," and blah blah other spiritual benefits.

Is there anything wrong with spiritual benefits??? You haven't actually made an argument there

QUOTE:
Atheists can do that too.

That doesn't invalidate religion because anyone can be moral. Heck, Im an atheist and i consider myself moral, but most people in this screwed up class based society we have genuinely have no reason to be moral and religion, more so than atheism ever will - gives people purpose meaning and so on.

QUOTE:
I wish some people would view Christians as just humble servants of God

People do. But we are not talking about treatment of people, we are talking about treatment of religion - they are separate subjects.

QUOTE:
rather than ignorant human beings who are just in it for the "feel good" part.

I dont think anyone said that - and i dont think many people are in it for the feel good part consciously.