If you had a religion-erasing wand...

[Slimething]

I wouldn't use it although I don't like religion. If the wand did not also erase the need for religion in most folks, it would be right back again in no time, maybe even worse. It'd the devil you know.

 

[Slimething]

Ooo ... tempting! I'd love to do away with religion, but I've yet to see a clear-cut definition of "Religion" that everyone could agree on.

For instance, the behavior some folks exhibit during playoff season is as obsessively fanatical as any Hallelujah revival. Should we go by their behavior and call sports fanaticism religion?

Or what about the fact that religion and faith are two different things?

- Faith is the belief in things unprovable.
- Religion is the socio-political expression (politics) of that faith.

Delete the expression of unprovable belief, and most sales/marketing people would be out of jobs; not to mention lawyers, lobbyists, and the people who print cards for Valentine's Day.

Deleting religion would do no more than prevent the open expression of someone's faith; it would not prevent them from believing in things they could not prove.

Obtuse post. First, religion undefined then later defined incorrectly and ad absurdum. Religion does have a definition. I'd post it but you really should educate yourself.

 

[joobz]

I would pull out my "fight the hypothetical" and secretly turn the wand into the religion-multiplication wand. Bwa ha ha ha ha.

 

[Piggy]

To further define the effect of the wand, I'm talking of every single present and future human being on this planet having his or her belief in supernatural beings and afterlife vanish completely, instantly, and permanently. In short, it removes religion from the world forever.

I'd have to ask: How?

Seems to me, the predisposition to religious thinking is an embedded side-effect of our brain structure.

So, to remove it, we'd have to make ourselves something other than what we are.

You can't just remove religious thought and keep everything else intact.

Would the wand accomplish its ends by turning us into slugs or begonias?

 

[ImaginalDisc]

I'd have to ask: How?

Seems to me, the predisposition to religious thinking is an embedded side-effect of our brain structure.

So, to remove it, we'd have to make ourselves something other than what we are.

You can't just remove religious thought and keep everything else intact.

Would the wand accomplish its ends by turning us into slugs or begonias?

Magic.

Wand.

Hypothetical.

Situation.

 

[Complexity]

I would not use the wand.

People need to avoid/escape religion on their own, or doing so has no value. The process is more important than the outcome.

 

[Puppycow]

I wouldn't use the wand, only because it would violate the prime directive.

I'm not allowed to alter the development of this alien planet.

Good call. May you live long and prosper.

I would not use the wand.

People need to avoid/escape religion on their own, or doing so has no value. The process is more important than the outcome.

That, too.
I'm against religion because I'm against brainwashing, and this would be the ultimate totalitarian solution. Too utopian.

Besides, then I would no longer be able to kvetch about religion and feel smugly superior. Boooring.

 

[Puppycow]

I don't believe in magic wands, so I would use it in an attempt to find out if magic wands exist or not.

Not to mention that if a Magic Wand actually existed, it would imply that the supernatural is real, so the scientific worldview would be flawed. God might actually exist. So we might need religion after all.

 

[Complexity]

Another reason that I wouldn't use the wand is that I regard my mind quite fallible and my thinking as suspect.

 

[Puppycow]

Another reason that I wouldn't use the wand is that I regard my mind quite fallible and my thinking as suspect.

A good thing, too. We should all be wary of hubris.

In fact, the first thing I would have to do is throw out my whole worldveiw and start over from scratch, because I don't believe in magic wands.

 

[Piggy]

Magic.

Wand.

Hypothetical.

Situation.

Yeah

I

know

but

what

I'm

saying

is

that

one

can't

even

imagine

removing

religous

thinking

while

leaving

all

else

the

same

even

hypothetically

 

[ImaginalDisc]

Yeah

I

know

but

what

I'm

saying

is

that

one

can't

even

imagine

removing

religous

thinking

while

leaving

all

else

the

same

even

hypothetically

You

are

fighting

the

premise

rather

than

making

a

choice.


It's

called

"fighting

the

hypo"

which

kinda

reminds

me

of

that

homo

erotic

Star

Trek

episode

where

Kirk

and

Spock

fight

after

McCoy

injects

Kirk

with

a

hypospray

but,

that

is

neither

here

nor

there.

 

[Undesired Walrus]

I fail to see the problem of Mrs Dotty from Yorkshire and her friends going to worship something that I don't think is there every Sunday.

Get a grip.

 

[Gurdur]

I'd go a step further, and remove the religious impulse. That way, you don't have people creating a new cult based on a different set of irrational beliefs, like the Soviets and the Republicans have done.

No, instead you can have thought control, exactly like the Soviets attempted. Congratulations?

 

[tsg]

Ooo ... tempting! I'd love to do away with religion, but I've yet to see a clear-cut definition of "Religion" that everyone could agree on.

"The subset of beliefs it is not permitted to criticize or question." Everything else I can handle without a magic wand.

 

[tsg]

I fail to see the problem of Mrs Dotty from Yorkshire and her friends going to worship something that I don't think is there every Sunday.

Get a grip.

If that's all the religious did, you might have a point. As it isn't, you don't.

 

[TX50]

It's all ideomotor reaction. Religion-erasing wands have never been shown to
work in controlled tests.

Me, I'd wave it so hard it'd probably melt!

 

[Fnord]

I fail to see the problem of Mrs Dotty from Yorkshire and her friends going to worship something that I don't think is there every Sunday.

Get a grip.

But ... but ... they're throwing their pension money into a collections basket, instead of spending it on YOU at the pub!

It's an outrage, but be thankful that there is still such a thing as a strongly-worded letter to the editor of the Times!

 

[slingblade]

Personally, I'd not use the wand. While you have the obvious benefit of religious nut jobs from the Pope to Usama vanishing, lots of ordinary moderates rely on the teachings and stories of mythology for comfort and guidance, and taking this away could do a lot of damage.

In your opinion it could do damage. In my opinon, we can still use those same stories. Everyone in them can be human, and the occurences can be valid ones within perceived reality. There's no need to have magic wishes in a story to teach the value of thinking about what you ask for, before you ask.

What your wand does is put an end to all fantasy, including religion. However, I'm quite able to enjoy a fantasy story without having to believe in the fantasy. Thus, my wand wouldn't do that.

My wand would enable people to enjoy and use their imaginations, yet still be able to firmly discern between the real and the unreal. I don't have to believe flying horses are real in order to enjoy the story of Pegasus.

 

[Reinhard]

I would probably wave the wand... now to attempt to explain why!

A lot of people have talked about it being an obstruction to a person's right to make their own decision, and this makes me think, because people should be free to choose what they think is best. The trouble for me is that I don't think religion does this. You can't choose to be religious or to have faith; you just do. I would personally remove that impulse. Religion may provide comfort, but it also provides evil, and it's my opinion that evil is more powerful than good.

So... yeah. Poofity poof.