My Question to you all: Should all religions be stopped so that no religions remain in the world? and What do you think about the petition below?


http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/AAR url of
the text from the petition asking to bring a stop to religion:






My personal opinion: I think that ya, maybe we should get rid of religion. Why? because I don't really see the need for it. If not that then there should be a true separation of church and state. Such as when we nominate a President or make laws: "Political candidates should not be endorsed or opposed by houses of worship." "Decisions about scientific and health policies should be based on the best available scientific data, not on religious doctrine." from http://firstfreedomfirst.org/

I know this is going to upset a lot of you... but i want to hear what you all think about this.

Note: I did not type up this petition i just stumbled upon while looking for info on religion.

I...I...don't really know how to respond to this. I mean...what the heck? If this person's an atheist they should leave people alone to worship (or not) as they please rather than try to "stop" religion.

But, definitely, there should be a separation of church and state.

As to religions being stopped...Hell no. First of all, that's against the Constitution here in the U.S. The only problem with religion are the fanatics who force it upon other people. And as some of the people in the comment section of the petition page have said, it's not the religion who hurt people, it's the people who take their beliefs too seriously.

In my opinion, anyone should be free to believe whatever the heck they want to. Scientology, Pastafarianism, Catholicism, Judaism, etc.,etc., sure, whatever chokes your chicken. Just leave me the Hell alone and keep your religion (and I'll leave mine) out of the government.

religion should not be stopped it helps a lot with peoples life and gives people a reason to follow rules so to speak what should be stopped is the people that think god wants them to become terrorists and the people that run cults making people belive torturing people that are not of there religion is ok

As an atheist, I think there are times where religion is acceptable and time where it is unacceptable. As mentioned in your post, I believe religion should be kept out of science and government at all costs- not everyone is religious, therefore things should not be mandated with such an expectation. Science is about facts and statistics, not religious theories that can't be proven, and therefore religion should be eradicated from the scientific profession as well. I'm not saying that scientists should be irreligious, because they have just as much right to their beliefs as anyone else does, but it shouldn't impact their work. Religion biases people (then again, everyone has a little bit of bias in them), and it's a problem, but I highly doubt that it's one we'll ever be able to solve.

However, everyone does and should have a right to practice their religion of choice, be it conventional like Christianity or considered somewhat heretical like Satanism. Just because I think most religions have crackpot, illogical theories doesn't mean that other people should stop practicing them, and just because they're controversial doesn't mean they should be wiped out.

Can you imagine the backlash such a decision would receive? A vast majority of the world is theistic (more than half of it), and the amount of angry theists who want their religion back would definitely outnumber the amount of cheering atheists. I do think that, had religion never been created, there might be a lot less dispute in this world, but some people need it. To me, religion is just an escape route, a way to create solutions to questions we as humans can't answer, but to some people it's a lot more.

I don't find religion necessary for myself or for society by any means, but I know that some do and they should be allowed to carry out their beliefs. Religion is part of what gets some people through life, and though I can't understand it, it's not my place to tell them what they can and cannot do. If you need your religion to survive, fine. Taking someone else's religion is to them what taking my writing is to me. Although religion may not seem like much to you or me, to some people it's everything, and it's not my place to take that from them, nor is it anyone else's.

No, I don't think religion should be eradicated. That is the exact same attitude I despise from religious people, but reversed: trying to force one's personal convictions and beliefs on someone else. Sure, religion has created conflicts, but think how much of it is actually fueled by other interests, such as money and other assets.
I'm somewhere between agnosticism and atheism, but I respect other people's beliefs. I know that religion plays an important role in others' lives and whether I believe in it or not, they should have the right to hold on to that.

There have been abuses carried out in the name of religion. Its fact, and only the ignorant would dispute that. However, Many of those that harp on religion because of these abuses, some having occurred 500 years ago, fail to recognize the positive impact religion has had.

They don't want to acknowledge that churches, through the offerings of their congregations, have donated billions of dollars and food to charity.

They don't want to recognize that families that attend regular religious services, whether its church, mass, temple, synagogue or mosque are statistically far more likely to remain intact...ie, religious families stay together a much higher percentage, which means less divorce, less single parents.

They don't want to acknowledge that in some cases, a religious conversion changes people's behavior to the better. How many criminals that find Christ, Allah, Buddha or whatever stop doing crimes because of their newfound faith? How many people don't commit crimes at all because of their faith?

The truth is, that while evil has been committed using some religion as an excuse, a vast more amount of good has been done.

Remove religion?

Over my dead, cold, decay, maggot infested, bullet riddled body. I'm not going to have someone come into my land and tell don't worship.

I'd kick him in the balls, after giving him a piece of my mind. Which would be "B*tch! I don't care what you think. Just cuz the Christians went all Crusade on us and then the Muslims were like Shalbakala doesn't mean we're all crazy MFers!"

Hear, hear, Barook. Couldn't have said it any better myself. This is one of the most hairbrained ideas that could ever be pitched in my mind. What all religions need to do is get their worst elements in check. It's only when the radical sects monopolize the visibility as is the case in both Christianity and Islam today that this kind of garbage can sound remotely reasonable to any thinking mind.

Religion isn't the only cause of problems. Many terrible things have been done by non-religious people as well. Take certain communist leaders for example... People need to start laying the blame where it belongs, at the feet of the individual, rather than using religiosity (or any particular group of people) as a scapegoat. Making assumptions about an entire group of people because of the actions of a few individuals seems akin to racism to me.

No, it should not be removed. Has it caused problems? Yes. But is it really the religion itself? Now, I don't believe that the Bible should be taken word for word - and I think that in some ways, the act of religion has caused problems when people believe that their religion is the correct one (obeying the commandment "Thou shalt worship no other gods before me") and they push that theory on people, then religion is causing the problem.

However, I think it's mostly the fanatics that take religion too far. Like terrorists who think that by killing others and sacrificing themselves, they are doing what God (or is it Allah? I apologize, I'm unfamiliar with that religion) wants them too. Or those who feel like it's somehow their duty to try to make gays and lesbians straight, or those who are so narrow-minded that they cannot see past the Bible that they clutch so tightly to their chest.

I know many people of different faiths - Hindu, Muslim, Shinto, Catholic, Buddhist and Christian, to name a few (and I am a believer myself, even though I don't really consider myself to be religious) and these friends of mine are good, wonderful people who respect each other and would never go to ridiculous lengths to prove that their religion is correct.

When I was 13, I got a lecture from a girl at school who was eating at our lunch table (we had mutual friends) who found out that I didn't believe in God (which I didn't, at the time). She begins to tell me what a horrible person I am and how I'm going to hell, then she finally left. I was relieved, thinking it was over. However, she brought back 3 or 4 of her Bible-thumping friends and all of them ganged up on me and began screaming about how I was evil and sinful and I was going to hell and how I was morally corrupt and all of this absolute garbage. I witnessed them do it to a friend of mine as well, who happens to be Hindu. It was absolutely disgusting, ridiculous, and not at all what religion is supposed to be about.

Those are the kinds of people that cause problems. Wiping out religion entirely is not the answer. Besides, how exactly would you do it? Make it illegal? People would still practice their religion in the privacy of their own homes, or they may gather friends and family in an informal church setting. It would be utterly impossible to try and wipe it all out.

Fundamentalism, I can support the removal of that. Also support keeping religion out of politics.

However eliminating all religion? Nope. Not worth it. Fighting it will only make it stronger.

Better just to ignore it, and keep up the education.

As the great Arthur C Clarke once said:

"Science can destroy religion by ignoring it as well as by disproving its tenets. No one ever demonstrated, so far as I am aware, the non-existence of Zeus or Thor— but they have few followers now."

I think that pretty much sums up whoever wrote that article. What a horrible, narrow-minded proposal.

Can't be done.

No country, alliance, etc can afford to stamp out religion. Some have tried, but none have succeeded completely. I really like how my Comparative Religions professor put it. (Not quite a direct quote, it's been a few years.) "There is no such thing as religion, there are religious people whom we categorize." Whether allowed to openly worship, etc these people will always feel a belief in something greater, and nothing humanely possible will stop that.

I also feel that it is very wrong to say religion, in general, has brought more bad than good. Much of the bad has been very visible, and much of the good has been through enrichment of everyday lives. Giving people hope, giving a reason to keep going, etc. And many times , especially as you go back through history, the atrocities committed in the name of religion were simply using religion as an excuse, if there hadn't been a way to twist the religion into a reason they would have used something else.


I am a highly religious person who cannot find a category I fit into. I do lean more towards nature oriented traditions such as Wicca or Shinto. (I also happen to know a follower of Thor.) I do support the idea that church and state should be kept truly separate.

I'm an atheist, and I think that petition is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen. Why should I have a problem with other people being religious? Sure, I hate it when someone gets in my face and screams at me about how I'm going to hell, but to me that's nothing to do with religion and everything to do with being a violent jerk.

I also don't see how it would be possible - faith is such a deeply personal thing. Tearing down church, temples, mosques, whatever, punishing people who voice or display their religion is not going to change what people believe.

As to evil things being done in the name of religion, Hitler claimed to be Christian (alas! I have Godwinned this thread *bashes head on desk*) but does that make Christianity responsible for his actions? Not in my book...

Oh, and what good is an internet petition anyway? Waste of cyberspace.

Religion should never be removed. I am a "christian" so to say. I dont have a specific name to call my self. i got o church every sunday and buy my kids nice movies so they dont see every person in the movie die. Now that being said. As was said before Religion isnt a thing that can be moved. It isnt a thing at all. It is more a state of mind. If people find peace there why shoud it be taken away. It can be aggervating. I personally dont like mormans coming to my door and telling me that I am wrong for everything I believe. It is frusterating. Back to my point. We have so many things like this on the internet. No matter how many people sign a pension saying that religion should go away, It wont. It never will. As long as their is people on this earth, they will believe in some king of God. I am agreeing with bluebox. This is a waste of cyberspace.

This isn't really a personal attack on you, but more like a general rant. Everytime I hear people say that religion is useless and not needed in this day and age, I get really peevd off. Sure it may not satisfy everybody's tastes, lifestyles and needs, but that doesn't mean to say that it isn't needed in many people's lives. When my mother got divorced from my father, what seems like decades ago now (:P) she needed the Christian faith. It made her feel alive again and that she had a purpose. Something to live for. And for somebody to turn around and say that religion isn't needed? I often wish they knew how horrible it felt for my mother at that time, and that I have the obligation to tell them her story, and then ask them once again if 'she didn't need Christianity'. I doubt anybody could say that to my face again after hearing it. Because the truth is, some people do.
And you know, I can think of several things that aren't necessarily needed in this world - alcohol, makeup, computer games (like The Sims 2), heck, even libraries aren't needed today. But I don't turn around and say that they should no longer exist because we don't need them. I know they are lame examples, but I hope you see my point.



Why, why, why all this 'separation of Church and State' probing? What has it done to you personally? Have you suffered to no end because a Christian was in power? Have they directly insulted you, taken away your freedom, murdered your family, banished science in the school curriculum, forced you to be a Christian? Why do people view it as such a danger when a Christian decides that they have a passion for science and politics? Because they might 'thank God' in a public speech? Because they may 'thank God' when they save somebody's life in the operating room? Because they give thanks to their Lord when they make a new scientific discovery? This hysteria that circulates around the myth that religion and science don't work is something that I've never really agreed with. My father is an avid Christian and he practices medicine under the NHS. Oh no, he's a Christian, I hear you say? Does that automatically make him a bad doctor because he holds Christian values and beliefs? Do you honestly think that because he is a Christian, he doesn't understand the science of the human body and how to properly treat it? That because he reads the Bible everyday he doesn't know how to inject a syringe into somebody's bloodstream, or help to innovate new medicine that improves people's lives on a daily basis? I don't know an example of when a decision regarding health policies has been made in favour of a particular religion. From what I know, the governments of today try to best serve the entire population, even if they have a faith. I'd really like to know if a good willed, morally balanced Christian has ever done a great public disservice due to his religion.

well said jacki. I agree with you 100 percent.

Religious extremists want to bring a stop to all religions that aren't theirs. To me, this petition is nothing more than the daft equivalent for an extreme atheist. Sickening if you ask me.

(PS: I'm an atheist in case you wonder)

i think thats it's fine if u do or don't belive in a higher power or divinity. and if u think about it atheisim is in a way it's own religion.
I was raised christian but i never really bought any of it, i belive in a god or higher power but not religion.
Religion, belief and god(s) i think are different things.

Religion: are rules and regulations made by ppl with authority and influential power... mere mortals who claim they know how to govern over the world, and religion is flawed in that sense because it can be ultered and manipulated.

Belief: can be believing in a god or not a god, as human animals we crave order thats y we "need" leaders because well thats just like any animal in a herd or family. Deiaties are something greater we've invented to explain what we see and how the world works cultures have always belived in high powers because we don't know how to explain many things. but in believing in gods we created cultures. so if u kill religion u kill part of human history.

God: still figureing that one out

It's ok to not belive in god and no one should be persicuted for it, and vise versa pasing a law to stop religion is just as bad as forcing everyone to go to church.

You understand more than you give yourself credit for and with that much understanding the only reason that God is a question mark (?) for you is due to the contradiction that shows itself in “outward religion”. You now have to believe/trust what is now being presented to you even though it do not look or sound christian or religious. There is also a difference between christian/christianity and religion.

I think that's a bit of a drastic measure to completely remove religion. This country (the U.S., that is) is based on religion and would be against the Constitution. I believe anyone should be able to practice whatever religion they want or still have that option to not practice anything at all. I also believe that religion should stay out of science and politics because not everyone is religious...like what someone has already stated here earlier.

I think even thinking of trying to eliminate all religions is stupid. How are they going to do that??? Certainly not with a petition, that's for sure. And since humans have always(as long as we can trace) believed in some thing or another that science can't explain, trying to get them to stop will prove as useful as trying to get them to stop eating.
And if all rcurrent religions would go, there would quickly be others to replace them.

I'd just like to say whoever created the petition is as much of a fundamentalist as the people who religions they are trying to destroy.... its people like that who give us Atheists a bad name.

And honestly IF and I say IF there is no place in modern society for religion, then it will disappear over time, lots of things break down when they have no use look at the major part of the communist world... it served a purpose and broke down.... religion is some peoples safety blanket

Personally I find the idea of death being the end kinda soothing... if i had to live for eternity i'd probably want to die to get away from the eternal life.... (Yay i created a paradox...)

So I guess what I'm saying is that the ptition is stupid, the person who started it hasn't thought it through, if there is no longer any reason for religion it'll break down over time... oh and go eternal death i guess.....

Absolutley pathetic. What right does he have to say that? That is possibly the largest blanket racist statement I've ever heard. The day religion will no longer exist, is the day George W. will make a half decent decision