The Pope

[ninebob]

Or shall we get the governments of the world to ban all religions?

Personally, although I know it will never happen, I would love to see this.

What are the main causes of war?
1. Money
2. Religion

"So I blew up lots of your people - Allah made me do it"
And Christianity is no better, morality behind the Crusades?? Violence etc in the name of what?

 

[Richardp]

Or shall we get the governments of the world to ban all religions?

Personally, although I know it will never happen, I would love to see this.

What are the main causes of war?
1. Money
2. Religion

"So I blew up lots of your people - Allah made me do it"
And Christianity is no better, morality behind the Crusades?? Violence etc in the name of what?

for forgot "oil"

 

[masona]

Can anyone tell me why we have religion?

What does it do, does it make you feel better, if so, why do we have war?

 

[kendor]

We have religion because there are still a lot of people who need direction in their lives and therefore subscribe to one of the faiths.
It is the extremeists or radicals or whatever else you wish to call them that force their political views on others in the name of religion these atre the ones that give it a bad name.

 

[AdamW]

If you get rid of religion, why not get rid of fairytales, Father Christmas and the tooth fairy? We know they are all rubbish, what is the point in teaching children about such things when we could just teach them science and mathematics from day 1?

It is rather bigoted of you to think that because YOU think it is all bo**ox, no-one else should be allowed to believe it. If someone wants to pray to a god (or many gods) you should respect that. If you want to be an atheist they should respect that by not ringing your doorbell at 9am on a Sunday.

Religion is only an excuse for conflict, if you get rid of it people will just come up with another one. The reasons behind Islamic fundamentalism are usually rooted in money and politics: I am yet to hear of an Islamic terrorist planning an attack on the Vatican or a cathedral. If they are just pi**ed off at Christianity, THAT is where they would attack. And let's face it, churches are not the best guarded of places, are they! South America has a lot of practicing Christians, I don't recall Osama Bin Laden denouncing Rio de Janeiro.

Think McFly, think!

 

[felix]

Masona wrote this:

Can anyone tell me why we have religion?

What does it do, does it make you feel better, if so, why do we have war?

A good question.

I've no doubt that religion does make quite a lot of people feel better and in the not so distant past it was far more important than it is now. I think we can assume that in the very distant past proto humans realized that they weren't going to live until their luck ran out. )As an aside, I wonder if anybody knows what chimps think?)

It wasn't just death they now had to worry about either. They would also have started asking awkward questions like "Will the sun come up tomorrow?" or even "What's behind this cave wall and will it come out and get me while I'm asleep?"

Now it's easy for us with our 21st century knowledge to laugh off such stupid questions. Of course no monster is going to emerge from solid rock and the Earth will not stop turning overnight. But while those early humans were (probably) just as intelligent as us they lacked the knowledge to answer their own questions. They had a big problem which religion solved nicely. You concoct a supernatural entity - or maybe several of them - and hope that if you behave yourself 'the gods' will look after you.

So far so good but now they had a new problem and it was entirely man made. Some of the less desirable members of our new species must soon have realized that religion was power. If you could convince the plebs that you had a direct line to 'the gods' you had virtually unlimited political clout, the kind of clout that's worth starting wars over. This is a problem we haven't entirely shaken off. Yes, people also start wars over money - and oil which is just liquid money - but surely that's because money is also power.

The cure for all this could be a long way off but I'm sure it will arrive eventually. My optimism is based on the gradual rejection of religion that has happened in the last few centuries; I would say since the renaissance if I could spell it! I suppose the new religions are sex and consumerism. Consumerism has of course led to a new kind of war fought with new weapons, like special offers (good) and phone scams (not so good), but I call that an improvement.

And sex? Well that's a definite improvement - but who's going to tell the pope?

 

[AdamW]

Felix, you have summed it up eloquently. Religion was invented to answer the difficult questions until proven answers could be found.

But, I don't think religion offers any problems, provided there is the separation of Church and state.

The Founding Fathers in the US knew this in the 18th century. They insisted on such a separation. The whole "One nation under God" line wasn't added until much later.

However, national anthems are a difficult one... "God save the Queen" doesn't really work. I suppose you could change it to "Long live the Queen", but then you get two "Long live the Queen"s in a row.

 

[masona]

Good point felix, I'm not a religious person, I don't know if I should say this but I do think most of the religious people are either brainwashed with some of the religious cult out there or feeling vulnerable at the lowest point of their life, if it help them so be it. I mean how do you become religious as I don't feel I need to or am'I selfish & don't understand?

Yes, people also start wars over money - and oil which is just liquid money - but surely that's because money is also power.

I'm afraid money is the root of all evil.

 

[felix]

I'm afraid money is the root of all evil.

I believe the correct saying is "Love of money is the root of all evil" but in any case I'm not convinced. Love of money may be the root of a lot of evil but did Hitler invade Poland for money? And what about Napoleon or Sadam or ozzy binloader wazname - or that Serb scumbag whose name I won't even attempt to spell? I'm drawn to the inevitable conclusion that love of power is the root of most evil.

 

[AdamW]

Logically it follows that anyone running to be PM or President is therefore evil, and should be locked up.

Thus, no-one would run to be leader, and we would have no leader. We would have anarchy.

So, love of power is the root of all evil, conversely anarchy is love.

I love logic.

 

[ninebob]

However, national anthems are a difficult one... "God save the Queen" doesn't really work. I suppose you could change it to "Long live the Queen", but then you get two "Long live the Queen"s in a row.

Eddie Izzard famously said in one of his sketches -

But in Britain we don’t win many gold medals at the Olympics - because we’ve chosen not to! It’s a political statement! Because we hate our national anthem. Because it’s God Save the Queen, you see. God Save the Queen. Now the Queen lives in a very big house, she has barbed wire outside, and people with guns in front of that. That’s one saved f**king queen, I’ll tell you. That’s the problem. She’s overly saved! She has no idea of the struggle of human existence. We have to work for a living, raise a family - we don’t have nannies all running around the place. It’s - it’s what you’ve got to do in your life. You know. So it’s “God Save the Queen.” No! It’s too saved. It’s “God Attack the Queen,” that’s what it should be! “God attack the Queen, send big dogs after her that bite her bum. Let them chase after her and let them?” That’d be fantastic! Then she’d have to fight the crazy dog with a - with a handbag with a brick inside of it. “Crazy dog! Crazy dog!” “Arrgghh, kill the Queen!” “No - crazy dog!” And maybe she’d kill the crazy dog and everyone in - in Britain would go, “Hell, fair play with the queen - killed the crazy dog.” And the Queen would go - have - she would have self-respect for the first time in her life! Yes. It would work. It’d be fan-tab-u-lous.