Yes, the world would be better without religion.

I write this as a response to the question Mikey posed in his post about a 15 month old boy who was starved to death in a religious cult for not saying the word “amen” after praying.

To completely circumvent logic in the place of religious belief is denying the very thing that makes you able to worship, your brain. I would bet that these retards had no idea that the word "Amen" simply means "Let it be so; truly"? It is not a secret utterance unique to their cult, it is not a word of praise and certainly it is not a word that would have meant anything to a 15 month old infant.

Unlike Mikey, I am an atheist who does not believe in religious tolerance. I believe (yes, I recognise the irony) that the burden of worth, truth and proof lies with the actual religion, not the individual. Most religions are a scourge; they breed nothing but ignorance and preach nothing but intolerance.

If this were not true, terrorists would not use Islam as a weapon, the KKK would not use Christianity as a weapon, Qi Gong practitioners would not need to give up their organs to wealthy Chinese, good Catholic boys would never be touched by their priests and 15 month old boys could have hope for the future.

Religion should never be given the benefit of the doubt. Just because it worships one god over another, claims past miracles or fulfilled prophecies and is exempt from taxation, does not mean that your one religion is more likely to purify your soul over another.

In so many ways, I feel so very sorry for any child that is not allowed the freedom of choice in their own spirituality. If religion truly were the individual pursuit for spiritual purification or perfection, it would be personal, not congregational, and no country or family or child would be labelled under it.

* Without religion women would be free from their idiotic repression in the Middle East.
* Without religion people would be more concerned with what they did with their lives, and what they avoided.
* Without religion the strongest and most divisive form of segregation would be dissolved and many wars and borders would become irrelevant.
* Without religion stem cell research could continue uninhibited and cure many debilitating diseases.
* Without religion the scourge of AIDS and other STDs would be controlled by a condom.
* Without religion, people wouldn't pray for peace, they would work towards it.

Don’t get me wrong here kids; I understand that going to church or mosque or synagogue has a positive influence on a great number of people. I suggest though that this has a lot more to do with there being a social congregation of like-minded people than there actually being any spiritual connection or closeness to one deity or another.

Answer this, apart from social interaction, what does your religion actually do for you that you couldn’t for yourself?

Anyone who thinks that the absence of religion would result in bad people deciding to stop doing bad things is horribly jaded. End of story.

True point, but you cant look past all the conflicts that started because of religion.
But we can never know if it would make a difference.

This is where the debate lies. I think that conflicts happen because of greed and lust for power. Religion, ethnicity, etc etc is always scapegoated in order to convert people to a radical way of thinking. The key to manipulating masses of people is to incite fear and hatred. You can make people afraid for their family and country with any convenient excuse. Why? Because people in large groups tend to be ignorant.

Since that's the case, I think ignorant people should be blamed-- not religion.

Ignorant people are in charge of some religions and makes religions though...

"* Without religion people would be more concerned with what they did with their lives, and what they avoided.
* Without religion the strongest and most divisive form of segregation would be dissolved and many wars and borders would become irrelevant."

Which coincides with:

Without religion people would not be so close-minded to same *** marriage.

There are many churches out there, for example the Episcopal/Anglican churches, that support marriage between homosexuals. I'm annoyed at people making religion seem like it's a "one size fits all" in terms of stereotypes. There are some religious bodies that look to control peoples' lives, but faith itself isn't there to control us..it's there to open us to love and understanding of each other.

Shane's an Atheist who's against *** marriage, so I really don't see the validity of that argument.

I think Religion should be banned but not Faith. I think religion and Faith are two entirely different things. Yes, Religion has started a very large amount of wars. Especially Christianity vs. Muslims.