Does the World Need Religion?

[phoenix31]

Power hungry people can take advantage of others and get away with things like murder and genocide as much as society allows them to.

Yeah.... and what did fucking god do to stop them?

I was trying to make the point that a sincere belief in divine consequences for actions, or a sincere belief that humans are worthy of dignity because God created them might deter more people from seeking power and taking advantage of others.

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I think 'god' is a pile of shit but I have never committed a crime.  The main reason is that I don't want to go to jail.  Has nothing to do with any fucking divine retribution.

Besides, in most of the bible god is nothing but a murdering fuckhead so who needs him?

But I'm not talking about you. I'm talking about people who might be deterred from stealing because it's wrong, or committing a crime because it's wrong, and is that beneficial? I'm contrasting that with the idea that someone who doesn't believe in God can easily say, "I don't care what you consider wrong, because I don't consider it wrong," and then do whatever he or she wants to do, which is not necessarily beneficial.

I'm not saying anything about the God of the Bible makes any sense. I'm just asking if believing that crap keeps people in line, is it beneficial to society.

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Religion is the most lucrative scam in history.

Yeah, you have a point there. I just wonder if there are worse scams that are more detrimental to society than religion. People tend to get annoyed bringing up Hitler, but that scam, for instance.

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wut ?

What don't you understand?