nb194

Religion has slaughtered, tortured and mutilated more human beings than any other force on earth. Despite this, there are people who will argue that religion, even though it's not reality, serves a valuable purpose in society. That it teaches us to be a good person. People also argue that the lack of religion in modern society is responsible for our present social problems. But the facts contradict this view. In most countries where religion is widely practiced there are more social problems and more crime than in many other countries where religion is less practiced. Saying that being religious equals being a good person is a long way from being true. And by studying the facts of history we find it has never worked that way.

In the year 1095 Pope Urban II called for the first crusade and enlisted most of western Europe in his cause to rescue Jerusalem from Muslim control. It was the largest army in the history of the world. With the cry Deus vult! (God wills it), thousands took the cross. Some began by massacring Jews in the Rhine valley. Then in December of 1099, after a torturous march, the crusaders launched an all out assault on the holy city of Jerusalem. The carnage was so bad that there were accounts of men wading in blood up to their ankles. After the slaughter, the soldiers of Christ found an image of Jesus and wept for joy. Pope Urban had promised that those who fought would be granted total forgiveness for all their sins.

In 1209, Pope Innocent III called for a new crusade against the Cathars in southern France. The Cathars saw women as the equals of men. Women even preached the gospels. This was heresy so a massive army was assembled to weed out the heretics. When it reached the town, women and children fled to the church for sanctuary. The crusaders stormed the church with a rallying cry, "kill them all, God will know his own". The bloodthirsty crusaders then marched on to the next town. Those suspected of heresy were tied together on lines, their noses cut off, their eyes gouged out and led to the next town to warn the people of what was coming. In the massacre of the Cathars, ten times more Christians were killed than the total number martyred in the old Roman colosseum.

In the middle of the 14th century Europe was hit by the plague, or the black death. Many considered it God's retribution on a sinful world. People attacked their Jewish neighbors, accusing them of having poisoned the wells. Groups such as the flagellants blamed the Jews for the spread of the disease and wiped out entire Jewish populations. The flagellants were groups of Christians who subjected themselves to ritualized whipping as atonement for sin. The flagellants would assume the position of their worst sin. Then the leaders would beat them with a whip. This whip was a stick 2 or 3 feet long with leather thongs on the end of it and metal embedded in the thongs. Ironically this did more to spread the plague than to stop it because their bloody open wounds were prone to infection.

In 1486 Pope Innocent VIII authorized the "Malleum Maleficarum" or Hammer Against the Witches. It was a supplement to the scripture of Exodus 22:18; "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." It was a book intended to aid in identifying and destroying witches. This book had more printings than any other book with the exception of the Bible itself. It was distributed in half a dozen languages across Europe. The accused were often tortured until they confessed or accused others. The courtroom became a playground for the sexually suppressed Christian community. Since a mole or birthmark was proof enough the examiners were rarely disappointed. Proven guilty, the witch was executed by hanging or beheading. Then the corpse was burned at the stake. When Martin Luther and John Calvin split from the Catholic church they were just as relentless at persecuting witches. Prince Bishop Gregore II killed more than six hundred people. But instead of burning the corpses, he burned the accused alive. In the last legal witch trial, occurring in 1782, a Swiss woman was beheaded. In all, over one hundred thousand people(mostly women) were murdered in the name of God.

In the early stages, French Protestantism was largely inspired by Martin Luther. However, by 1550 the movement spread so rapidly it included one-fourth of all Frenchmen. After that date, the leadership of the movement was increasingly taken over by John Calvin. French Calvinists (Huguenots) were the targets of the "Wars of Religion". These religious and political civil wars were fought from 1562 to 1598 and were caused by opposing religious lines between members of the Huguenots with ties to nobility and two weak monarchs supporting Catholicism. The Huguenots formed a strong and often aggressive minority in their conflict with the Catholic crown. But on August 24, 1572, several thousand Huguenots were killed in the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre. The killing began in Paris and was extended to the provinces, continuing until October. It is estimated that tens of thousands were slaughtered.

Both Judaism and Christianity historically have viewed homosexuality as sinful. Leviticus 20:13; "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." This religious condemnation was put into written law. As a result, homosexual activity became a crime, for which the penalty in early courts was death. The Fleta, 1290AD, is the first mention of criminal punishment for homosexual behavior in the English common law tradition. It prescribed that sodomites were to be buried alive, but may not have been adopted. The Britton, 1300, prescribes that sodomites are to be burned alive, but there is little indication that this was carried out in England at this time. However, such executions are known to have taken place on the continent where their sanction derived from an enactment of Justinian and served to link sodomites to heretics. The Buggery Act, 1533, defines it as a felony punishable by hanging until dead. The number of executions for buggery in Britain increased at the end of the eighteenth century and into the second decade of the nineteenth century. The death penalty for buggery was not formally abolished in England and Wales until 1861.

These horrifying events unquestionably stand out in history. And religious leaders would like us to forget that they ever happened. Obviously we have forgotten them. Because today nothing has changed. Arabs and Jews continue to kill each other throughout the Middle East. Catholics and Protestants murder each other on the streets of Northern Ireland. Hindus and Muslims kill each other in India and Pakistan. Christians and Muslims murder each other in Beirut. American religious cults often end in mass suicide. White supremacists quote the Bible to justify their crimes of hatred. Christians quote the scriptures in defense of their often bloody war against abortion and homosexuality. On September 11, 2001, Muslims clearly demonstrated that a belief in religion and the reward of an afterlife encourages a devaluation of this life. To justify these irrational acts one must only subscribe to the fantasy of religion. Clearly there is a danger not being in touch with reality.

So, after reading that do you still think religion is good? Why?

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"People are crazy and times are strange, I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range,
I used to care, but things have changed..."

fayt lingod

religion isn't bad, fanatacism is. as long as we don't take it too far its fine.

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HolderOfTheDarkChalice

its true that where relgion is there is also controversy and
violence and the like ,but you have to remember that the relgion was
young and still a new idea for most,and people feard change yea i know
they did it for god but it was the fear that made them do those horroble act's
you gave sevral good examples of this fear and ignorance.
so i would say in my opiinon it isnt the religoin that is bad but those who
use it out of fear like the with trial of old salem here in the us
puritans were hypocrits that thought god was behind there burning
of innocnet when they were acuused with no proof and thy still died.
fear does alot of thing to people relgion is just something they use becasuse
thwy cant admit it that they fear change.

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White_Mage88

So many people have died over religon some fighting because they believe in a different religion which was usually about the same as what the people whom they were fighting believed, or by something the church did like the witch hunts. Religion has hurt people's lives. They always came up with stupid laws and rules and made people follow them. I myself really don't have a religion, but I don't think religion it's self is bad. Some of the people who have been in charge of different religions have been corrupt, and some of the people following them don't think things through. It's more the people's fault for letting things like that happend then the religion it's self.

Spymonk

Religion

Example....
If u as a person say u are a christian and u go and murder someone because of something or over something is that right just because it is a religious matter.
Nope it is not u cannot do that because by killing that other person u take away his right to change and ability to reghabilitate.Everybody in this world is born with sin that is what the Bible says. I believe that because there is so many examples of ppl doing whatever the lawless will do if u give them the chance.
So what is it when u fail at your task as Religious person did religion fail or U.Ok so we knopw u failed but in the end the religion gets the bad rap that is why there is a need for such a question.

Religion is a set of rules from each religion that makes the religion up.We as humans have the problem we don't serve well what i mean is we cannot have masters on this earth and that is sometimes the start to the rebels in us, we wanna do it on our own not be ordered to do stuff.
In the older days especialy in Japanese and Chinese countries the followers was huge but ppl wised up - ok not everybody yet.
There is so many ppl worshipping on earth that i don't know if it is good or bad.For me i am a christian and i serve God and the slides is long and wide and if i don't find the way back to right path everytime i will most definitely be lost [Some would say free from the burden] .I beg to differ because if u have stability in your life u have a master maybe not from this earth but surely there is one that calms u down and keeps u focused so yeah whatever it may be there is something.
I also disagree with some and most religions but is does not mean i go around killing ppl because i feel my religion is superior to other although i feel My God is the only God No offence intended.

Like having a country with no rules the strongest survive will u be one of the stronger ones to survive and for how long.
Haha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Religion is one of the cornerstone of society take it away and society falls i bet on that.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skurei

If you look at most religions they are very similiar, even have the same stories and characters, just renamed. I consider myself a Buddhist/Christian, but Buddhism isn't realy a religion like the others it's a way of life.

It can't really be a question about wrether religion is bad or not, because it has, and will always be around. As long as we ask; where did we come from?, why are we here?, and where are we going? religion will always be there to try to answer those questions. If you take religion away all you have is science, and science hasn't yet explained why we are here or where we're going. I'm not with the Christians when it comes to how we came to be, it's a proven fact that neanderthals lived at the same time as humans, so there were two races of beings on earth, but the bible says nothing about the neanderthals. Plus if there were only a man and a women in the beginning, then we would all be inbread and mentally handicaped.

People have always waged war in the name of religion, the Crusades lasted hundreds of years, the Catholic preists invinted pergatory in order to get payment for their services, "Pay us and we'll take away all your sins." If someone didn't or couldn't pay they were tortured.

If you have morals, you don't really need religon. Don't kill, don't steal, don't cheat, don't hurt others physically or emotionally. Have those and you're set.

You shouldn't blame religion itself, it's the people who are at fault. If you get a group of people together with the same beliefs and then get another group with different beliefs, someone is bound to get angry and violent towards the other party, then each group contracts a mob mentality and won't listen to what the other has to say.

BlueFox1

I guess it's how you look at religion! The was very well written, but back to your question isn't religion a choice given to people. You don't have to any denomination unless you choose. So in that particular instance religion might have been a bad thing, but as long as everyone conicides peacefully I don't see a problem with it.

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zeroenix

I don't believe that society would fall without religion... But I do know that there would be a lot of fanatical religious people that would probably commit suicide. But it's those people that cause the destruction not religion. Religion is used as an excuse for doing things like sloughtering people. It is used as an excuse for a lot of things... I don't know. I'm not relgious. That doesn't make me a better person. But it doesn't make me a bad one either. But as easily as I could kill someone and blame it on christianity, I could blame it on rap music lyrics. So this question was easily answered by all of us. Next!

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Spymonk

Fanatics is the basis of the big problems with anything we do or let me say overdo.Too much of a good thing becomes bad either for the person or society so yeah what does it boils down too.

Controll who has and who don't.
Can u control your desire and channel it positively or negatively.

If u grew up in the city and had a education and i grew up in the Bush with the wild as my teacher who would hesitate to kill someone who is hostile me or U ...... Zeroenix
If u can answer that then u know what the impact rules have on your life.... may it come from religion/education/goverment.

So yeah i say u would hesitate the educated one.

Sincere

Religion itself isn't bad, but what it leads to most times is. I myself believe in God and all that stuff, and think about it, but I don't go to church and be around those people. Around here, those people are no more innocent than the rest of us, but suddenly change their attitudes when they walk through the church doors. After that, they don't care. Some are controlling too, telling you how to be in too many ways and everything. At our youth group one night, I remember we were told that we weren't worth the ground we walk on. We're nothing and we basically suck. The next day, they taught that we were absolutely perfect because God made us. I ended up with the conclusion that I'm better off without someone confusing me, I'll believe what I want. I think when religion is pushed and forced and when people's lives are taken, it is bad. Taking lives is not a religion, it is a hobby that bad people have.

I think that when God asked people to follow his ways, he did not mean for them to become controlling about it.

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Miroku4444

Warning the first instance of flaming, and this gets closed. Lets keep it civil, good job so far.

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