Religion is Harmful to Society

[Dystopia]

Religion is nothing more than a creation of older civilizations that is now obsolete and useless.  The only thing keeping religion alive today is that there are those who cling to their wishful thinking.

Instead of just repeating rhetoric other atheists keep saying you could make an original statement explaining why exactly you consider it useless (It is my firm belief that very few things in society are useless) - You can also tell that to the person who happened to the oncologist who witnessed an innocent child die of cancer and the only way he/she is going back to work is to believe in a higher force.

[Jericho]

Instead of just repeating rhetoric other atheists keep saying you could make an original statement explaining why exactly you consider it useless...

Why fix what isn't broken? Why should I go out of my way to say something that I have never heard before when my opinion on the matter coincides with that 'rhetoric' that has been stated by someone else? Just because it's been used and said by others doesn't meant I can't think the same way.

[Lek]

I can think of a few good things religion does but several more things that are harmful to people/society (particularly young people):

Good things:
Controls the masses (fear of God/sinning), gives terminally ill/elderly (false) hope, many volunteer/help the homeless/poor, there is some wisdom in some of the religious texts, but mostly BS

Bad things:
Radicalism, terrorism, gang like, brainwashes young people, false hope of afterlife, puts fear in people, religious institutions are tax-free businesses, people waste their time at religious institutions/reading about religion, religion makes us superior to animals and pits religions against each other (tribe like)

Please help me add to my list either good things or bad things about religion. Thank you.

Christians are superior to animals, but I understand why you would think that atheists are not.

[ignoramus]

He's correct, you know.
How many animals do you know that burn other animals at the stake!

[robvalue]

Of course humans are going to think humans are superior to animals, because humans are the one and only judge that we would listen to, and the criteria humans will use are things they consider themselves better at.

If you use a different set of criteria, humans could come off considerably worse than plenty of animals.

Who gets to say which criteria are the most important? Depends what the situation is, huh? Life is like the Street Fighter IV character select screen.

[Lek]

He's correct, you know.
How many animals do you know that burn other animals at the stake!

Yep. Also how many animals have established hospitals and great universities, and have fed and clothed countless needy people? How many animals have found cures for the diseases that plague them? As far as I know, apes and dolphins are still living pretty much as they were 2,000 years ago, foraging for their next meal.

[Tonus]

Humans are animals. Whether we're superior to other animals or not depends on what is being compared. Cheetahs are faster. Gorillas are stronger. Bacons are tastier. And so on.

As for the harm religion does to society, the greatest might be the time and effort lost to it that could have been spent on progress in various areas (particularly science and technology) and the time and effort spent slowing or blocking progress in other areas (gender equality, sex education, science and technology, etc). It's a lot like other forms of tribalism (racism, nationalism) in that it slows the general progress of society. But as social creatures, tribalism might have been the driving force behind the growth of civilization. So it's a price we pay, and the next stage in the growth of the species will hopefully be a refinement that wipes out the more harmful forms of tribalism.

[robvalue]

So I'm making animal top trumps. This is what I got so far. These are just rough guesses.


Human:

Physical strength: 30
Speed: 40
Can fly: No
Chance to destroy the planet: 85%

Lion:

Physical strength: 60
Speed: 70
Can fly: No
Chance to destroy the planet: 0%

Bird:

Physical strength: 10
Speed: 80
Can fly: Yes
Chance to destroy the planet: 0%

Atheist:

Physical strength: Lack of belief in strength
Speed: Sceptical about motion
Can fly: Yes. Ok, no.
Chance to destroy the planet: Lack of evidence

[Pyrrho]

Humans are animals.  Whether we're superior to other animals or not depends on what is being compared.  Cheetahs are faster.  Gorillas are stronger.  Bacons are tastier.  ...

Now wait a minute.  Are you telling us that you have compared human flesh, prepared in a manner similar to bacon, from a similar cut of human, to bacon from a pig?

If not, then you are not being fair at all.  You should try a human, of the proper cut and age, prepared in the right way, before you come to any such conclusions about which tastes better.  And you should do the test in a double blind way, to keep prejudice from deciding the matter.

My money is on humans tasting every bit as good as pigs, if killed young enough, and one properly prepares the right parts.

[Whateverist]

I'd like to throw my support behind those who recognize humans are animals, albeit the one most likely to render the planet inhospitable to all forms of life. I'd also like to recommend that our herd be thinned immediately. Let's start by sacrificing the idiots who think we need ever more humans.