Religion has caused more

PJfanFORlife

death than any other concept in human history. Thoughts on this?

Commy

PJfanFORlife wrote:

death than any other concept in human history. Thoughts on this?

I think nationalism has religion beat by quite a bit.

PJfanFORlife

Commy wrote:

I think nationalism has religion beat by quite a bit.

but aren't some of nationalist beleifs stemed from religion?

Commy

PJfanFORlife wrote:

but aren't some of nationalist beleifs stemed from religion?

Yeah, and relifgion is responsible for some pretty terrible things...but nationalism by itself is a dangerous idea. Europeans used it for centuries to kill eachother off, then they turned their attention to India and Africa and so on. Before that it was the Romans expanding, and so on. Today its the US spreading an empire...and millions are killed ever year thanks to this idea someone had to divide the world up into arbitrary little sections and fight over them.

There's plenty of resources on this planet to feed and clothe everybody...its when nationalist ideas come in that the few have much and the many have little.

And remember Hitler and Pol Pot and every US president since WWII, not to mention the world wars themsleves. All of these were done with nationlist ideology driving the instigators and players.

Carlos D

If you follow religion you are strictly told not to kill anyone but if you follow your country you are asked to kill people.Yet people call religion evil...

PJfanFORlife

Carlos D wrote:

If you follow religion you are strictly told not to kill anyone but if you follow your country you are asked to kill people.Yet people call religion evil...

yeah but people have killed in the name of religion for centuries, the crusades, mulsim wars, the genocide against the native americans of this country, etc

butters

PJfanFORlife wrote:

yeah but people have killed in the name of religion for centuries, the crusades, mulsim wars, the genocide against the native americans of this country, etc

people also freed slaves and marched for civil rights in the name of religion... don't forget that.

keeponrockin

Religion has certainly caused more damage than music. Some things the religious groups trying to censor music fail to see.

know1

PJfanFORlife wrote:

death than any other concept in human history. Thoughts on this?

I think it's a crock for several reasons.

First of all, religion never caused anything. People cause things. If there weren't religion, they would have found something else to fight over.

Secondly, here's a unique concept for you - EVERYONE DIES. Religion did not cause them to die. They were going to die anyway.

decides2dream

any concept that humanity chooses to adopt that is devisive...be it naotionalism, religion, etc....has caused death. it is the idea of there only being 'one right way'...that oftentimes has caused ruination. also, humans simply being greedy fuckers, deciding they like this land over here...and if you're on it...well, we'll push you out of the way anyway....not even based on any grand 'concept' at all.......but more base, animalistic nature...brute force of taking over the more desirable territory. nature has done a fine job of elimating our #s too...plagues and disease.......so while it's terrible that humans have chosen time and again to extinguish others for selfish reasons....i would not lay blame soley at the feet of religion.

brain of c

god is on too many sides.

chopitdown

know1 wrote:

here's a unique concept for you - EVERYONE DIES. Religion did not cause them to die. They were going to die anyway.

my thoughts exactly.

OutOfBreath

I'd say ownership is a concept that has caused the most death throughout history. But religion and nationalism are up there on the list as well.

Peace
Dan

Abuskedti

religion and guns don't kill, people do.

Have to make sure the safety is on.

DeLukin

GREED has caused more death than anything else in human history. It can take many forms (religious, nationalistic, political, etc) but at the core it's all about the Green Disease...

chopitdown

Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
Mariah Carey.

even mariah carey gets it

Laz

If religion is "a set of beliefs concerning the nature and purpose of the universe" (random house dictionary) then yes it has caused more deaths. More people died in the 20th Century than any previous one as a result of some people's "set of beliefs..."

I think the following people's (Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot and the other luminaries.) set of beliefs caused quite a bit of deaths.

IndianSummer

know1 wrote:

Secondly, here's a unique concept for you - EVERYONE DIES. Religion did not cause them to die. They were going to die anyway.

which dont make it justified to cause them to die sooner than they otherwise would have. by your logic 9/11 is all cool, cos the people would have died in a few decades in any case.


the bigest cause for deaths are

1) colonisation (the only good native is a dead native and all that)

2) wars between nations

3) religion based killings, fights and genocides

id rocks

Religion is too easy of a scapegoat. It's a numbers game. Most people who fought wars were religious, so it must be religion's fault, right? I don't think so. I think you have to look deeper at the true cause of evil, which is simply greed, whether for power, money, whatever. In most cases, religion was along for the ride while people perpetrated these evils.

Pearl Jam and toast

true. the most destructive thing in human history,.. but it's ironic that's it's also yielded some of the most amazing things in history (architecture, art, armies - doubly ironic )

VictoryGin

id rocks wrote:

Religion is too easy of a scapegoat. It's a numbers game. Most people who fought wars were religious, so it must be religion's fault, right? I don't think so. I think you have to look deeper at the true cause of evil, which is simply greed, whether for power, money, whatever. In most cases, religion was along for the ride while people perpetrated these evils.

Religion isn't always just 'along for the ride'. People already mentioned the Crusades. And a lot of colonization involves spreading Christianity.

Anyway, I'd like to give a shout to the bubonic plague, most notably Black Death.