Religion Causes No Harm

[chrisgel]

In discussions on R&S both here and elsewhere one often hears questions like
Why are you bothered?
Why don't you just let people believe what they want?
What harm does religion do?

This is one example of the harm religion can do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23729684

and it's one of the reasons atheists never shut up about religion.

[mibn2cweus]

Religion is a monumental waste of time and effort in an attempt to negotiate with or appease a reality that has no real stake in our success or failure, time and energy better spent in coming to a knowledge and understanding of its true nature and how best to integrate with and conform to it for the sake of what we stand to gain from the process.

We care (or at least we should) because we face an alternative of whether we continue to exist or not. Reality has nothing to gain or lose by virtue of our existence and no means of reason to care about or have an interest in the outcome. To the extent that we manage to defy the odds by virtue of our knowledge reason and understanding, we are our own saviour and our only means of salvation, wishful thinking non-withstanding.

[chrisgel]

Mibs - Bravo!

[jomifl]

Steg, religion doesn't exist without humanity, it is a product of humanity.

[steg]

exactly, and a bad tradesman blames his tools

[modeller]

It's not the believe in a God or any other imaginary entity but the man made religion/ fable to substantiate that belief that causes the problems.

[keyplus90]

Not every religion teaches that nor every person in any religion (in this case Christians) do that. Why don't you think about all of those hospitals built by religious people only because their religion tells them to save and help human beings? Why don't you think about all of that charity religious people give because their religion tells them to look after the humanity? But why would you think about that because that is not part of your mission.

[razza]

Religion causes no harm,thats a laugh,look back in history right up to the present day and religion is a major cause of conflicts around the globe,politics is another

[chrisgel]

Keyplus - //Why don't you think about all of those hospitals built by religious people only//

Because they aren't the problem are they?
Only a fool would use the good to justify the bad.

[naomi24]

Regardless of the less savoury practices of religion, it is at its most harmful when, encouraged by its apologists, it demands respect for its sensibilities and succeeds in silencing criticism emanating from rational observation.

Keyplus, strange that the religious need to be told. Who do you think tells all the non-religious organisations to do good works?

[jomifl]

Steg, it has been said that a blunt chisel does more harm than a sharp one, for what it is worth.

[keyplus90]

Ohhhhh, I am sorry, I did not understand that you were just doing the normal stuff. Picking the bones.

[vulcan42]

in other words keyplus you are incapable of answering naomi.

[jomifl]

keyplus, thanks to religion there is no shortage of bones, picked or unpicked.

[Octavius]

Chrisgel, by a very similar token you could say that more atheists commit suicide than theists, therefore atheism is harmful.

Of course, most right minded individuals would not conclude that as you have with your OP in terms of religion. People commit suicide for a variety of reasons, the point that some of them or more of them might be atheist is neither here nor there. Only the very insular would convey that they did it ‘because’ they were atheist. Similarly to you most religionists would conclude that the people in the OP espousing this are despicable and the people abiding gullible or very keen to meet their maker, and seemingly leads back to the excellent conclusions of Old Geezer and Pixie on page 1.

Most people on here seem to accept that religion is and can be harmfully used, so you are really preaching to the already informed.

[chrisgel]

Octavius - //Most people on here seem to accept that religion is and can be harmfully used, so you are really preaching to the already informed.//

Oh well, if you don't mind too much I'll carry on pointing out how loony some ideas believed by theists are on the off chance that someone doesn't agree and wants to discuss them.
Thanks for your concern but I have plenty of time and little else to do at the moment.

[Octavius]

You were hoping that someone would come along and say these pastors were doing the right thing? I wasn't concerned, but if the sum total of your spare time is only dedicated to waiting around for a religious person, then good luck with that!

Maybe goodlife might come along and speak up for them.

[emmie]

if religious people were good at looking after the sick and dying, why in so many parts of the world are the hospitals pitifully inadequate or in some places non existent. You could say it's because they are poor countries, yet some of their leaders are not poor, nor indeed do they refrain from buying arms over medicine.

[vulcan42]

Couldn't these pastors be prosecuted,isn't it tantamount to causing bodily harm?

[Octavius]

emmie, because these people - whether religiously afiliated or not - are operating in unsafe conditions.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23697275

[Khandro]

Implicit in the question is the threadbare, hackneyed view that if everyone would only shrug off religion we could enter a wonderful sunlit upland, where reasonable people would make reasonable decisions in a reasonable world. Do you mind if I smile at its naivety?