Ranking the world's worst religions

[Nihilist Virus]

I originally considered having two qualifying categories to quantify which religion is worse than another: which religion is more obviously false, and which religion is more harmful. But then I quickly foresaw everyone here saying that they're all equally moronic and obviously false; also, harm is quantifiable. By "harm" I refer to a combination of harm to the self, to society, and to technological progress.

Another thing I'd like to say is that some would consider, say, Mormonism to be part of Christianity, while others (mostly Christians) resist this. I will consider them as separate because I think that Mormonism is a particularly harmful version of Christianity. Conversely, Buddhism is a spin-off religion but is far less harmful than its parent religion or perhaps any other religion on earth.

So you can include as many religions as you like. No need to make it a top 5, or top 10, or to include all. I'm just interested in seeing everyone's general opinion.

Here's my list:

1. Islam (by far)

2. Catholicism

3. Mormonism (probably would be #1 if spread worldwide)

4. Hinduism

5. Quakers (Quakerism?)

[vorlon13]

Quakers over Jehovah's Witnesses ?

[Minimalist]

1. islam

2.  fundie xtians

2.  catholicks

4.  mormons

5.  trumpism

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I tend to rank religions by how likely they are to come round to my house (uninvited, natch) and introduce me to their particular brand of spiritual bile.  Thus, the 'worst' five would be:

1.  Jehovah's Witnesses

2. Mormons

3.  Scientologists

4.  Catholics

5.  Neo-Druids (only happened once, but still)

The BEST five are:

1.  Wiccans

2.  LaVey Satanists

3.  Unitarians

4.  Vodou-ists

5.  All of the rest of the world's religions who haven't yet figured out where I live.

Boru

[vulcanlogician]

5. Quakers (Quakerism?)

LOL. Why are quakers even on the list? I can think of twenty religions that are worse than they are. You can even be an atheist quaker. Unless you're pullin' my chain I don't get it.

[Nihilist Virus]

Quakers over Jehovah's Witnesses ?

Aside from being annoying, how do the Jovies cripple society?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Quakers over Jehovah's Witnesses ?

Aside from being annoying, how do the Jovies cripple society?

Can you point to ANY religion that has crippled society?

Boru

[Anomalocaris]

I tend to rank religion by how much they hamper human progress in general.

Religions that may be vicious but also seem to be lacking in the ability to gain in scale don’t hamper human progress very much.

Religions that tend to hold sway only in areas that are backward and primitive is less dangerous to general state of human progress than religions which are likely to gain political power where institutions of human progress are concentrated and thus can apply their malevolent influence more directly upon engines of human progress.

So I have to say Christianity ranks far and away as the worst and most dangerous, even if it at the moment doesn’t seem to be quite as vicious as Islam.

[brewer]

I'd rather rank the worst people/worst actions in specific religions rather than the religions themselves. The religions all basically suck. It's more about what individuals do with the religion.

For the most part the religions/religious around me are simply annoying.

[Nihilist Virus]

Aside from being annoying, how do the Jovies cripple society?

Can you point to ANY religion that has crippled society?

Boru

Jislam

How much $$$ would it take for you to live a full year in any Islamic nation of my choosing?

How much $$$ if you also must be an open atheist?

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5. Quakers (Quakerism?)

LOL. Why are quakers even on the list? I can think of twenty religions that are worse than they are. You can even be an atheist quaker. Unless you're pullin' my chain I don't get it.

They hinder technological progress. If everyone was like them, where would we be?