RE: Would the world be better off if all theists became atheists.
June 2, 2011 at 9:28 am
(This post was last modified: June 2, 2011 at 9:30 am by Skipper.)
(June 2, 2011 at 12:36 am)Sciencerob Wrote: I'm probably in a minority but I think that a large population would be in despair. For instance many Christians and Muslims are poor and find solace in religion. Many people do not commit crimes because of the thought of hell. Perhaps I just don't have much faith in humanity, but I just don't see it as being better off.
I think your first point is valid, a lot of poorer and vulnerable people do find some comfort in religion, which is one of it's redeeming features (one it also takes advantage of by exploiting the poor and vulnerable for it's own financial and political means). However, your second point is completely unfounded. I don't think the world would be any more crime ridden than it is already. People commit crimes if they are religious or not, and in fact a higher percentage of religious people occupy the prison population than they do in the wider world.
(June 1, 2011 at 7:50 pm)Eternity Wrote: Is Atheism going to stop all the people dying in the world? All the murders? They'll still be disputes between nations. Nothing would change is what I say.
Religion has had a while (thousands of years) to stop all the people dying in the world and all the murders, and it doesn't seem to have had much of an effect. In fact, it just adds to it. It would be one less thing to fight over if you ask me, no doubt there would still be conflicts but a lot of the current conflicts in the world would at the very least be much easier to solve if you removed religion.
