Would society be better of without religion?
Discuss issues that have a social and cultural impact, including but not limited to issues such as racism, teenage pregnancies, the social impact of religion, and the state of the education system.
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?I already made a thread like this & the majority of TSR voted yes
EDIT: funny I got negged just for pointing out that there was already another thread like this with a poll added as well
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show....php?t=2064622Last edited by Multitalented me; 21-09-2012 at 16:05. -
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?Honestly, it depends which religion.
Look at Britain, it was a Christian country yet it progressed incredibly well. It worked. Would we have succeeded as a country if it were not for our religion?
Then you look at countries with religions like Islam and well, it's not going great is it?
I genuinely think that if Britain today was still a highly Christian country, then things would be so much better. It seems to me like since people dropped the religion, standards of society have dropped significantly. Christians are expected to be moral, well-mannered, respectful, have love, forgiveness, honesty - when people actually followed these rules, was society not a much friendlier, safer place to live?
Just my opinion of course. -
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?Not if the removal is a men in black style neuralizer job, advancement of society isn't just something we can instantly achieve by altering one aspect, if you removed religion from peoples minds then new ideologies would spring up to replace it. Women weren't given an equal right to vote just by a guy signing a bit of paper in 1928, the suffragette movement and the social development that led to that moment was vital and without that nothing would have been achieved. Point I'm getting at is if religion is every completely done away with by society it will be because people have consciously decided it is rubbish and they want nothing to do with it and as a lot of society don't take that view now then the hypothetical society that gets rid of religion would be extremely different to any society we have today. So i would say it would definitely be positive for the hypothetical society however probably would not change any current society as new things would be developed by humans to replace religion that would most likely be very similar.
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?I don't think so.
It may seem like it to an Atheist, but personally I know people that didnt' do alot of bad thing eccause of religion.
On another personal level one of the reasons i'm applying to medicine to become a doctor this year is religion, (to make a difference to other people)
Otherwise i probably would've just wanted to do whatever would give me the most money e.g banking etc -
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?Slavery, burning at the stake, bear baiting and children working 12 hours a day in factories are just a few examples of what went on when we had your perfect Christian society. Christianity has been the cause of some real atrocities and it does not have any particular ownership of the qualities you list.(Original post by lonelyknight)
I genuinely think that if Britain today was still a highly Christian country, then things would be so much better. It seems to me like since people dropped the religion, standards of society have dropped significantly. Christians are expected to be moral, well-mannered, respectful, have love, forgiveness, honesty - when people actually followed these rules, was society not a much friendlier, safer place to live?
Just my opinion of course.
Many people do good things because of their religious beliefs, equally many people do appalling things. If there were no religion then I suspect that people would go on doing good and/or appalling things but for some other reason.
Ultimately, it doesn't matter whether we are better off with or without religion as deciding one way or the other will not change the fact that people do - or do not - believe. Locally, I can see Christian groups doing socially useful things, it doesn't make me believe in something for which I can see no evidence. -
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?Are you actually trying to make the argument that the progress of Britain is due to Christianity and the current state of the middle east is a result of Islam?(Original post by lonelyknight)
Honestly, it depends which religion.
Look at Britain, it was a Christian country yet it progressed incredibly well. It worked. Would we have succeeded as a country if it were not for our religion?
Then you look at countries with religions like Islam and well, it's not going great is it?
I genuinely think that if Britain today was still a highly Christian country, then things would be so much better. It seems to me like since people dropped the religion, standards of society have dropped significantly. Christians are expected to be moral, well-mannered, respectful, have love, forgiveness, honesty - when people actually followed these rules, was society not a much friendlier, safer place to live?
Just my opinion of course.
Yes, clearly, there are absolutely NO other sociological, historical, cultural, political, etc. factors involved. No, of course not.
Have you never studied history?
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?(Original post by lonelyknight)
Honestly, it depends which religion.
Look at Britain, it was a Christian country yet it progressed incredibly well. It worked. Would we have succeeded as a country if it were not for our religion?
Then you look at countries with religions like Islam and well, it's not going great is it?
I genuinely think that if Britain today was still a highly Christian country, then things would be so much better. It seems to me like since people dropped the religion, standards of society have dropped significantly. Christians are expected to be moral, well-mannered, respectful, have love, forgiveness, honesty - when people actually followed these rules, was society not a much friendlier, safer place to live?
Just my opinion of course.
Ofcourse, Arab Muslims have never made any contribution to science have they? its not like they invented algebra ( Al-Jabr) or summink -
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?Religious countries (and states) are generally happier. For example, in the list of the top happiest countries in the world, they are mostly devoutly Catholic Latin American countries. The happiest state in the USA is Utah - the state dominated by highly religious Mormons.
By contrast, the countries with the highest suicide rates are secular irreligious countries such as Japan and northern European countries. -
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Re: Would society be better of without religion?In theory maybe but in reality I don't know, I think an easier question to answer would be "who in society would be better off without religion?". Certainly not the huge number of people who rely on religion as their operating system and can't see beyond it.
