Survival of Fittest ? Why not Survival of brotherhood and Peace ?

[Anomalocaris]

One group of people hating another most certainly predated any religion by millions of years, and if the blessedl day ever dawn when all religions had perished forever, rest assure one group of people will still be hating another long after that.

If one looks at the past two thousand years alone, religion is almost always the reason behind the violence done to humanity by one group or another. How many wars could have been avoided and how many people could have been saved had religion not been a factor in destroying that which was different? Religion gave them license to kill and be horrible psychopaths, because they believed that they had the righteousness of the bible and the word of their deity on their side.

The small outbreaks of violence in a religious-free society is worth the terror that religion itself heaps upon humanity.

Religion gives license for worst excesses, yes. But it is mostly a superflous license. Comparable excesses would have occurred without the license granted them by religion.

Of the most deadly wars in human history, majority were clearly fought over territorial and resource interests, without much pretense towards religious motivation. Even those with thick pretenses of religious motivation, underlying economic and territorial motivations are usually not hard at all to identify.

[bennyboy]

One group of people hating another most certainly predated any religion by millions of years, and if the blessedl day ever dawn when all religions had perished forever, rest assure one group of people will still be hating another long after that.

If one looks at the past two thousand years alone, religion is almost always the reason behind the violence done to humanity by one group or another. How many wars could have been avoided and how many people could have been saved had religion not been a factor in destroying that which was different? Religion gave them license to kill and be horrible psychopaths, because they believed that they had the righteousness of the bible and the word of their deity on their side.

The small outbreaks of violence in a religious-free society is worth the terror that religion itself heaps upon humanity.

I respectfully disagree with your thesis. Communism is officially non-religious, and it has been responsible for millions of deaths. America is officially secular, and has been responsible for many thousands of deaths.

What would I kill for? For family, for world view, and for the right to self-determination. As a Canadian, if America ever gets to be too much of a bully (for example when it finally completely wastes all its resources, has no more potable water, runs out of oil), I'd fight to the death to prevent America from taking ours.

My point is the Hive can form around any symbol or idea: God, Allah, Justice, Freedom, Brotherhood, Money, Flag.

[*Deidre*]

More research that is available to us shows that competition wasn't the driving or main factor for survival of large groups of certain species. It would stand to reason that a component of evolution has been altruism, which when practiced, actually helps to further a species. 'Survival of the fittest' can be interpreted different ways, but it isn't to be assumed that it is a cut throat, competitive concept, because evidence would be contrary to that.

It's not as bad as it sounds, just sayin

[tor]

As a matter of fact all the other hominid species died out because they couldn't stick together. Survival of the friendliest.
We can't make it on our own because we fail so hard in physical strength and so forth so relying on one another is the only way to survive for people who SUCK.
And in order to stick together language is needed which is why our brains got bigger.
We are smart and friendly because we SUCK at surviving alone. Our weaknesses made it possible for us to take over the world.