Will religion be the reason humans will become extinct?
 

Just wondering what some of you keyboard experts think about it.

if it did come down to that it would be sad on many levels, especially since religion is a crutch for the weak and poor.

Religion, greed, selfishness, and general feeling of "fuck yours, mine is more important."

I would not place religion at the top. Believe it or not, a lot of people follow the message of peace that their religions teach. How leaders and radical groups act is a completely different matter, and it usually has nothing to do with religion at all.

I would put sex at the top.

It's a likely possibility. Also a contender: greed for natural resources such as water, oil, and food.

I think, as a species, we're too diverse and adaptable to become extinct from most conceivable things.... whether it be asteroids, viruses, or even religion. :)

I think we'll eventually become extinct the same way that our bloodline has become extinct since the dawn of time - genetic drift.

Only difference between past and present, imho, is maybe this time we'll be directly affecting the drift in our own gene pool (via technology), and hastening the extinction of Homo sapien into the next evolutionary stage.

:thumbsup

It's as good a reason as any...

Either that or allergies.

There's too many other reasons we could.

I think the world has existed with religion long enough. On a micro scale tribes fought over rituals. The world fights religion globally. There will always be war because of religion. I don't think it will end the world or our species. General social decay and dumbing down of society could be a nice start though.

Confusing question... it's really making me think. I'll come back to it.

Religion is vital to society. Without it there would be chaos. The 10 commandments are the foundation of every major law in the entire world. If religion breaks down, so do the laws.

Don't be blinded by the small segment of very vocal fanatics. The average Christian, Jew and even Muslim doesn't fall into that. I think a lot who are extremely vocal are just uneducated about certain topics anyway, rather than having an ulterior motive for what they preach.

And really what it boils down to is this.... Think back over your entire life. In what ways, specifically, has religion had a negative effect? What very specific moments of your life were ruined as a result of religion alone? Can anybody answer this?

All those crazy Mormons with their white shirts and backpacks seriously fuck up my day every time, and I would say qualifies as a negative effect. :1orglaugh

I am in the process of reading The God Delusion. Anyone interested in the flip side of religion (atheism) should check it out.

On a related note I get my kindle tomorrow! I Can't wait.

EDIT: PS great post I quoted. I just couldn't resist making a silly joke.

How long between order and delivery of a Kindle? I am debating one now.

Two days according to amazon. Free shipping as well.

Reliwhat?

Relusion!

stupidity and ignorence like poeple thinking that religion will become the end of the world is a far more dangerous threat.

Real good book. If you like Hawkins, you should also check out The Selfish Gene. Probably his best work. It's older but has aged well.

Religion is actually only people exploiting basic human need to turn a buck. This is the honest truth on how and why they all start and so the answer to this posted topic question in my humble opinion is no ... Not religion but the almighty dollar, peso , pound or whatever you term as money!. Money = power to those very few. The rest of us mean nothing to these very sick people. I hope they are happy beating off when the rest of us are gone.

And to the one who asked if there was ever anything in life that I could directly relate religion to that was a bad thing... OMG and YES absolutely. But just like everything else... there is good things too. If there is a bad - there is a good.

Even with a counterfit $20 bill. It looks real doesn't it? Just because it looks good doesn't make it worth $20 bucks though.

no socialism will

I meant Dawkins.

This forum will probably play a big part of it.

Violence and religion go hand in hand all through human history for a reason.

People today probably just think it's a fairy tale that back in the dark ages, people were tortured and mutilated and murdered at the direction of the church. If they would not renounce their belief's and join the church and all it's teachings, woe betide them. It's not a monty python skit, it's history.

How would you like to be placed naked on a pyramid with the point sticking up your anus or vagina, while someone every so often would come tighten it up until you split in half? How about being hung upside down while two men used a saw to saw your genitals in half and saw YOU in half? How about the timid thumbscrew? No biggy, just torture in the name of the Lord. How about the skull cap which was tightened down until your head split open like a coconut? Think your family might join the church after watching your brain splash on the floor like so much oatmeal? Does this sound like an organization you'd choose to join willingly? Before he died, Jerry Falwell said in an interview "Blow them away in the name of the Lord" in response to a question about dealing with conflicts with Muslims. My how far we've come huh? Christ must be spinning in his grave.. I mean.... oop.. nm.

The amount of human suffering and death that can be directly attributed to religions and organized church groups is staggering all through history. Yeah, it'll be why humans kill each other if they dont start questioning the premise.

Going door to door is just something they do in their free time. It's really considered a last resort because the denial rate is so high. If they are bothering you so much, then it's usually because you are not giving them a direct "no" answer. If you debate with them or tell them you don't have time right now, they will make a note that you might be open to hearing them another time.

They also offer to do yard work and whatnot when they are out. My aunt living alone in another state away from family hurt her leg and couldn't finish painting her house. Then one day the Mormons came by asking if she needed any yard work done, and she mentioned how the house needed finishing. So some guys came back out the next day and finished it. NO OTHER GROUP goes door to door offering to do this sort of thing for free.

This missionary work is difficult. They go on the road for long periods of time and are transfered all over the country. They live on a very small allowance. So small in fact that they get food from a food pantry and rely on getting invited over to people's houses for a good meal. They give up A LOT to do this work, and you should always show them respect.

So explain yourself. Let's have something really specific.

Still waiting for someone to come up with something.

Almost every war in history was caused in whole or in part by religion.

Fuck them, they deserve no respect. If I want an apple I go get one, I want a book I go get one, If I want to see a movie I go and see it, no one comes to my house knocks on my door, litters my porch with pamphlets telling me I need an apple, a book or a movie, why is it that these worthless fucks think they need to bring religion to me, if I wanted it, I would go get it. They need to respect the fact that people can think for themselves and don't need them telling them how to think.

Wars are fought over the protection or control of natural resources and nothing else. Every single war comes down to this. To say that all wars are over religion is just ridiculous.

Really, so when George Bush said "God told me to attack Iraq", you're factoring out Religion in that? Last time I checked, God only exists in Religion.

You also obviously know absolutely nothing about history, I am not even going to take the time to list all the religious wars, look yourself, maybe you'll learn something.

No. All my relatives are pretty religious and some even know what I do for living. None have a problem with it and all of them are good people. One of my best friends is very religious, goes to church every Sunday, goes down to a different country in South America for 2 week every summer to do missionary work(burns his works vacation) He likes to drink beer, shoot the shit just like all of my other friends. He is probably the most honest person I have ever met. Most religious people are everyday people that you see on the street. Just like in all other facets of life, the oddballs stick out. In this case religious fanatics seem to make a bad name for a very large % of the earths population...

You sound like the type of guy they should definitely be leaving alone. If it means so much to you, then just tell them and they should update their records.

But if all you are complaining about is pamphlets being left, well you can add that to the junk mail, email spam and telemarketers. :upsidedow

You do what you do. They do what they do. You need to learn to coexist with everyone. The door to door aluminum siding guy shows up, that pisses me off. He could be doing other effective methods of marketing. The Mormons, I recognize what that work means to them as people so I don't think anything of it.

Yes but they do it because they choose to. Nobody is forcing them.

You sound like the type of guy who goes door to door trying to tell people how to think and what to believe.

He said that cuz he's an idiot and he knows plenty of other idiots in the US would support such a ridiculous statement. Just another example of how religion can be used as a pretense to go to war and to sucker in the less intelligent to die for a cuase (lie).

Take the crusades for example. If you look at the real motives behind those invasions, religion had nothing to do with them.

What exactly do you think religion is? All it is is a tool used to make people think or believe a certain thing or action is the right thing or action to do. So, yes, religion had everything to do with it.

I dont believe religion is only that. Of course there are plenty of people who use it for ill purposed, and there are much more who are so weak-minded that they allow themselves to be used as tools. But there are also positive sides to religon, and religious leaders/mentors who are not doing what they do for money or power.

The exact quote was:

"I feel God's words coming to me: 'Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.' And by God, I'm gonna do it."

Okay, there is a lot of religious rhetoric there, but it's wrapped around completely non-religious reasons for going to war. Palestinians their own state, security for Israel and peace in the region. Even the most hardcore atheist wants that, right?

You stated that ALL wars were fought over religion. Now if you want to go back to the dark ages, which is where I am sure you are looking, we find the well known Crusades that left millions dead. While people tend to envision them as Christians killing everyone except their own kind, it's a bit more complicated than that. This was ultimately a power grab by the more armed segment of society, and not simply Christians killing Muslims. The actual cause: Each side wanted to control land, which as I say above, is the cause of every war.

no an asteroid will be

LOL, did you use my thread to make your avatar?

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh
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Greetings from The Humungus! The Lord Humungus! The Warrior of the Wasteland! The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla!

Which thread we talking about here? :)

I'm going to ask my mentor, Benny Hinn, about this.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5lvU-DislkI

You must be some kind of idiot to quote only part of what I said. You have reading difficulties or something?

I think the mole people will be the reason we become extinct.

They deserve nothing but the lowest contempt. Or at the very most the sympathy you'd give to the victim of brainwashing. They're perhaps second on the list of most ridiculous religions started by thieves and charlatans... right under Scientology. It's a choice they've made (after being brainwashed, normally by parents) to live like this and sell their Amway god.

You must be some kind of idiot who doesn't realize I am laughing because there is no such fucking thing as what I quoted... sorry it was too hard for someone of your superior intellect to grasp the concept. I'll try to make it more clear so you can stay in the box with your thinking.

That said.. Not all wars are religious wars, although it's often the lubrication used. But I guess I could imagine one scenarios where religion *might* bring us to the point of extinction and that would be if man made global warming is a reality, that the idea that god is "looking out for us" and "answering our prayers" and will take care of believers allows enough people to delay changing their lifestyles.. Or forms part of the back bone of significant voting blocs that become politicised with the green movement seen as leftist and "atheistic with nature as a replacement for religion" (kinda like now, but continuing in the face of any further evidence over the following years) which might allow much larger issues to continue such as a religious right backed future repub government allowing seabed methane mining etc.
And if we weren't able to geo-engineer solutions.. and if things went Permian in a couple of centuries.. then maybe you could say religion caused it.
Lot of ifs though. I don't think there are many ways we could kill ourselves off through even unconventional warfare.. with 6 billion of us we should be able to withstand genetically engineered virii... maybe.

Oh I just made a stupid thread about gas prices and teens, and posted that exact same photo. Just thought maybe you used it to make your avatar.

Yeah that makes perfect sense.

No


"a" Religion Will