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Ban Religion?

clarsct said:
Elton John claims that we ough to ban religion altogether. Good idea or bad?
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Bad idea. That would only force the religious to form underground movements and become even more self-righteous over their persecution. It's bad enough when Christians complain about the removal of the ten commandments from government buildings as persecution. A ban could cause a civil war. Besides, you can't force enlightenment.

And, incidentally, do you think it contributes to making people hateful?
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Some use it to reinforce their prejudices (average fundamentalist) some for peace (average Quaker).
 
clarsct said:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/13/britain.eltonjohn.ap/index.html


Elton John claims that we ough to ban religion altogether. Good idea or bad?
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Bad idea for so many reasons. Religion must be outgrown, not banned.
We must not become the monsters we battle.

clarsct said:
And, incidentally, do you think it contributes to making people hateful?
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Religion systematically makes humanity subservient to dogma. Does it get much more hateful then that...?
 
Foster Zygote said:
Bad idea! I, and most of the atheists I've encountered value reason. I'd rather logically persuade a handful of people of the delusion of religion than unjustly force a great many people to abandon it against their will. If people were forced to abandon religion then reason would not be involved.
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You can't force people to abandon religion anymore than you can force them to abandon atheism. You cannot control the thoughts of other people (and many cannot even control their own thoughts. ) All you can do is drive it underground or suppress it.
 
Banning religion is a bad idea. Too many religious people say the only reason they are moral and don't run around killing and stealing is religion. Do we really want to take that reason away from so many crazy people?
 
Dogdoctor said:
You can't force people to abandon religion anymore than you can force them to abandon atheism. You cannot control the thoughts of other people (and many cannot even control their own thoughts. ) All you can do is drive it underground or suppress it.
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Yeah, I kept thinking about prohibition of alcohol or other drugs as I read the OP. After all, Christianity was banned at one point and it only grew.
 
Ausmerican said:
Banning religion is a bad idea. Too many religious people say the only reason they are moral and don't run around killing and stealing is religion. Do we really want to take that reason away from so many crazy people?
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Taking your bitter sarcastic tone out of this statement (not crazy) I would agree.
 
Hey! for some of us, bitterness and sarcasm is all we have left!!!;)



If religion went away, do you think there would be a drop in crime, sex crimes in particular?
 
clarsct said:
If religion went away, do you think there would be a drop in crime, sex crimes in particular?
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Well, isn't that just the $64 million dollar question.

I don't think banning of religion would achieve anything other than driving it underground, but let's say that somehow we totally disproved god tomorrow morning and the Pope, the Queen, Archbishop of Canterbury, the Mullahe, every one of them, went out on live tv and said, fair cop, there's no god, get on with your lives.

I'm interested why you ask whether sex crime might drop. Might it increase? Are there people whose emotions and actions are kept in check by the thought of big daddy god and his buddy Satan?

I just wonder whether we mightn't devolve into a fair kind of anarchy for a while as the deluded awoke and found themselves very angry. Some of that anger may be turned towards atheists as the people who asked the questions which led to the unpalatable answers.
 
Dogdoctor said:
Taking your bitter sarcastic tone out of this statement (not crazy) I would agree.
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Bitter & sarcastic? How is it NOT crazy to think that the only reason to be moral is to avoid punishment after you are dead from an invisible sky pixie?
 
Banning religion, would, in my opinion, make atheists just as bad as religions who want to ban us. Whether we like it or not, humans have the inherent right to think and believe whatever they want. No matter how weird, silly, outrageous or offensive that view is, they have the right to have it.

If we try to deny them that right, then we have no right to be called freethinkers of any sort.

Marc
 
clarsct said:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/13/britain.eltonjohn.ap/index.html


Elton John claims that we ough to ban religion altogether. Good idea or bad?

And, incidentally, do you think it contributes to making people hateful?
Click to expand...

Although one might make a logical case to ban portraying religion as real, against fraud, to try to do so would be the fastest way to a war and a 1000 year reversion of society.

In the US, judges started ruling it was OK for gay people to get married, suddenly discovering a constitutional guarantee that wasn't there for 200+ years. People did not like this end run around the Constitution. Now we're in a state of backlash where there might very well be an ammendment specifically banning gay marriages. If you push too hard, too fast, reality slaps you in the face.

Now imagine that with religion. It's taken it on the chin quite a bit in Europe but they're no where near for such a thing. Indeed, it seems to be going the other way with idiotic laws forbidding making fun of religions.

So I wouldn't hold my breath there, either. No, tackling religion is one of the things freedom of speech is designed for. So Europe should take the plank out of their own eye and let people mercilessly mock religion. Too much force going on in the world -- and people on "our side" are far too quick to start forcing people to live their way, which seems OK to disturbingly too many people even on "our side" for some reason when you're the one behind the gun.
 
clarsct said:
Hmmmmm. You make a good point.


Mormons:

Really?! Wow. I had no idea. Next mormon I see, I'll have to tell them 'No thanks, I hate Illinois Nazis."


Just Wow.
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To be absolutely fair -- the Morons, err, Mormons have recently received (actually 1978 when I checkGoogle) a new directive from God that somehow removes the mark of Cain and admits African-Americans into the Church.

Remember: Moroni ryhmes with bologna!
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
To be absolutely fair -- the Morons, err, Mormons have recently received (actually 1978 when I checkGoogle) a new directive from God that somehow removes the mark of Cain and admits African-Americans into the Church.

Remember: Moroni ryhmes with bologna!
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Thanks for that info, I didn't realize god repealed that law.
 
Indeed. Who can keep up with the various mythologies?


Beerina: Hmmmmmmmm. I said ban, not execute everyone who is religious. I'm not sure our current infrastructure could support a 90% drop in our population, for one.

Maybe if we phased it in slowly, over time?
 
Ausmerican said:
Bitter & sarcastic? How is it NOT crazy to think that the only reason to be moral is to avoid punishment after you are dead from an invisible sky pixie?
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These people are able to function within society without drugs to help their insanity. They function much better than grumpy atheists who sit around and make fun of religious people.
 
Dogdoctor said:
These people are able to function within society without drugs to help their insanity. They function much better than grumpy atheists who sit around and make fun of religious people.
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Without drugs yes, unless you include the 'opiate of the masses.' Also my point was about how well they would function within society if their own specific reason for funtioning well was taken away so how they function now is irrelevant.

I don't know if the last part was directed at me or not but I was not "making fun of religious people." I was talking about one specific subset of religious people and why banning those particular peoples religion could be a scary thing for society. Funnily enough I seem to remember you actually agreeing to that point. I prefer to make fun of religion than the religious.

And as for the sitting around part I feel I should point out that my membership predates yours and yet you have well over ten times the post count of me. I would therefore hazard a guess you do far more sitting around than I.
 
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