Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

pwned555 t1_j1e2twg wrote

Reply to comment by WillUmbrellaYou in Afghan Men Stand in Support of Women After Taliban College Ban by BlitzOrion

There's a saying, I'm not saying it's entirely true but there is probably some truth to it.

'With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion.' ~Steven Weinberg

I know a few people who I think are genuinely trying to be helpful, but are just hurtful because of religion. If they didn't have some institution telling them to have these feelings about certain issues I don't know if they would take the stance they are.

I do get your point that it's probably the people running these organizations that are bad more so than the religion, but at the same time the people following it are doing so in the name of religion. Also if you actually read the old testament, which a lot of people still follow, there's some fucked up shit in it (there's some fucked up shit in the new testament too just not as much).

Tbf, there are probably many people who do actually good and productive things solely because of religion as well.

39

WillUmbrellaYou t1_j1e3drz wrote

I guess there is some truth to that quote and I never really thought about it that way. Its a pretty interesting take. I personally have lived my entire life in a muslim country but I wasnt really religious. My actions certainly didnt show religion. It was after I got out of the muslim country and came to live in the west that I started to take my religion seriously. Take that as you will.

4

rickdeckard8 t1_j1f5d48 wrote

Probably because religion is one thing that unites people and you were more susceptible to that when you moved to a foreign society. We all need a safe base and that was yours.

3

WillUmbrellaYou t1_j1f6wbn wrote

That is actually a reason I have considered quite a lot. Faith is absolutely a reason for unity and that sense of unity is definitely scarce when abroad but I believe theres more to it.

3

rickdeckard8 t1_j1fdxvi wrote

Well, I’ve stayed in my safe area all my life and don’t need any religion now or before. Religion is good for uniting groups but is the biggest obstacle for different groups to come together. Just use probability. If there have been thousands of religions throughout mankind and there really is something more than what we can observe all but one religion must be just storytelling. Really not great odds for just one’s specific religion to be the correct one.

4

WillUmbrellaYou t1_j1fecpb wrote

If were gonna use probability. Theres a 50/50 chance God is real. If God isnt real and someone dies regardless of faith nothing should happen. Now if God is real, idk about you but id rather have died a believer.

−1

rickdeckard8 t1_j1gztpy wrote

I enjoy going to church because it’s a place for contemplation and it tries to bring out the best in people. But I don’t believe the “story” behind it. And having different religions in the same place is one of the largest reasons for poor integration in my country. So in my view, religion is good on a personal level but bad on a societal level.

1

rickdeckard8 t1_j1f50is wrote

Religion really doesn’t need to be a part of it.

Good intentions combined with lack of pragmatism and/or strong ideological beliefs can take down a society in no time. Most of the problems in Sweden right now are not caused by religious people, just good citizens trying to do good things not realizing they were doing things that turned out to be bad because they never worried about consequences. Only intentions mattered.

−2