(November 22, 2010 at 2:18 pm)Strongbad Wrote:(November 22, 2010 at 6:21 am)DANSURP Wrote: Its all about judgment in today's religon. If you anger the god(s) by being immoral, you will rot in the fiery pit of hell forever...The fear of this wrath is what keeps people following the rules... I went to church growing up and it was 3 hour never ending sermons. I am pretty sure they taught that living an unholy life leads to hell. I sure cared about how I acted for fear of going to hell.
Here's another counter to your theory that religion prevents crime out of fear of punishment in the "afterlife". In case you didn't hear when you went to church, the vast majority of religious people believe (at least here in the US, where the majority are Christian) that no matter how many crimes you commit, or how heinous the crimes are, you can still be "forgiven" and enter the heaven. All you have to do is "accept Jesus as your personal savior" and *POOF*, all of your murders, rapes, and other "sins" are erased, and you will live in God's glory for ever and ever.
So I would argue that religion actually encourages crime, because you really can get away with it!
Add to that all the wars and crusades that have been started in the name of religion. Using it's scripture and beliefs as excuses to do what people wanted and the whole theory of religion being a reason why people don't do bad is completely nonsensical.
