"Religion causes more bad than good." Opinions?

i see posts like this and i think why bother writing anything if i cant articulate as well as thiss.. one day.

Obviously

sorry to be stupid but is that the twin towers?, well imagine a world withoiut religion, we would probably still have the twin towers and the people who died in it. Most wars and terrorist attacks are due to religion

Gorillas get along well without religion

Religion does not specifically trigger a lot of violence, aside from in some psychopaths, but it does provides ample justification for war, moreso than any other cause, that is very hard to logically question because those fighting in the name of a religion have abandoned all logic and believe that they are right in the eyes of the creator of the universe. And who can blame them - those who wield "divine authority" over their weak-minded religious thralls threaten them with eternal damnation if the work of "insert god's name here" is not done, so consequently they will fight to the death. Conveniently, god's work usually coincides with the personal ambitions of those who wield religious authority.

Without religion there would be one less justification for war in the world. At that, the least logically coherent, morally sound and purposeful justification. That can only be a good thing.

They also fight without religion. What's your point?

If there was no religion introduced in the long past do you seriously think humans today would be able to display acts of kindness and compassion as we see today?

It's easy for many of us to say yes.

Because we believe religion to be illogical and backward, and look down at those who follow it.

But think of all those people who don't even have basic survival needs.

Those 1 billion humans without access to clean water, all those children and people with no prospects, futures or hopes, no education, no support and no provision.

Religion is one of the few things they cling to, that gives meaning to their life and brings happiness, regardless of whether it is true or not.

Focussing on a few bad incidents some people interpret to be related to religion does not give one a good answer.

" I don't have much truck with the ' religion is the cause of most of our wars' school of thought because that is manifestly done by mad, manipulative and power-hungry men who cloak their ambition in God. " - Terry Pratchett.

sorry to be stupid but is that the twin towers?, well imagine a world withoiut religion, we would probably still have the twin towers and the people who died in it. Most wars and terrorist attacks are due to religion

"Me and my friend have different methods of eating oreos. Now he thinks that snapping them in half is correct where as I know to truly get the best from it one must dunk it in milk. We get fustrated that each other cannot come around to our perceived right methods of eating oreos. This escalates as we start vandalising each others property and culminates in me killing him, purely because I know I am right."

Conflict exists with any sort of divisive concept whether it be political ideology or ethnicity. I would say that the problem lies not with any of these things, rather humans themselves.

Also the car bomb, correct me if I am wrong, was about nationalist issues and not religion. This false association is true also of many of the worst atrocities in recent years that are lumped with "oh that damn religion". 9/11, whilst justified by the culprits through the word of Allah was motivated by American presence in Saudi Arabia. 7/7 was based on the perceived evil behaviour of occupying forces in the middle east. Whilst both can be related in some way to religion, to blame them on religion themselves whilst ignorimg the geo-political causes is just wrong.

Yesterday while I was at work the news was on the radio and the report was about the violent protests against the Koran burning pastor, and my boss said something like "damn religion, all it ever causes is confrontation and war. ever since religion has existed people have been fighting over it". And it got me thinking, would the world be better if there was no religion? I know this is completely hypothetical and will almost certainly never happen but just in theory, what do you guys think? Do the wars outweigh the good that religion inspires people to do?

Here's some links that are on the BBC front page as I type this (kinda emphasizing the point that its constantly causing problems)

NI car bomb against catholic police officer http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-12950933
Koran protests http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12949975
Suicide bomb in Pakistan against Muslim minority group http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12951923

Yes, but the difference is that eating Oreos doesn't bring with it the promise of eternal salvation, which actually means quite a lot to people-hence the problem with religion...

How is promising an enhanced level of spirituality a "problem"? The anology had nothing to do with the fact that they were eating oreas rather the fact that such conflict stems not from the concept of religion or eating oreas, rather a human egotistical problem. Every difference between us imaginable has been used to legitimize violence against those different, from skin colour right down to someone's postcode.

But then why instigate one more? And religion is different, because of what it offers and promises...