Is Religion The Source Of Most Conflicts?

[LazyGun]

We have had questions and debates on this issue before on AB. I thought it might be worth revisiting given a recent article in the Guardian. Some interesting views expressed, from writers with a range of personal beliefs. All of whom are contributors to a forthcoming book "For Gods Sake", which sounds like it might be worth a read.

Have a read, see what you think :)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/02/religion-wars-conflict

Interesting comment from one of the contributors;

"terrorism occurs when you combine a sense of military and economic inferiority with a sense of moral superiority. Religion is very good at conferring a sense of moral superiority on its followers."

[emmie]

most of the worlds great artists were inspired by religion, the Madonna, Christ, The Last Supper, Michelangelo, one of the greatest who ever lived, at his heart was religion, his works are a testimony to that,

[beso]

their subjects were religious because religion was the dominant paradigm of their day.

Without religion they would have painted something else.

[beso]

Too bad religion stifled their creativity.

[emmie]

the only way it did perhaps was the rich patrons they had, who wanted them to paint for them, their families, i am not defending any religion, but i do think that many artists, composers were inspired by their respective religion, it didn't make them stupid. They may have painted, composed something else, but they didn't..

[beso]

// I am not entirely convinced of that either,

http://www.deism.com/davinci.htm//

Just more religious diatribe by fools trying to justify their irrational beliefs.

[chrisgel]

http://www.deism.com/davinci

[emmie]

you have to admit that Leonardo was one of the greatest artists, thinkers of him time, and indeed in almost any time, so did he have a belief that stopped him in any way, no.

[Canary42]

The worlds great artists post is deliberately narrow.

Picasso for example, with Guernica, was inspired by man"s inhumanity to man.

[emmie]

we have all posted the same link. ?

[jim360]

Can you really say that religion has held science back all the time? I think it's dangerously revisionist to say that. Perhaps it might not have much much difference to Science, but ... to art and culture it certainly has. Without religion there would be no mythology, no need to dedicate wonderful buildings to the Glory of God, etc. To pretend that such culture would have existed anyway is to... pretend.

[beso]

Religion has made a difference to architecture. Vast resources have been committed to gold plated intricate opulence on grand scales. Meanwhile people lived in poverty as the church demanded they hand over the means to glorify their oligarchy.

[emmie]

mostly agree with the fact on architecture, mind you i would have paid a few groats towards any number of our magnificent cathedrals. I like them for their architectural splendour as opposed to their religious significance.

[beso]

Would you have paid if it meant your family starved?

[Octavius]

Poverty casued by:

Unfair distribution of money, food and resources.
Population explosion.
Avoidable problems, e.g. dirty water, lack of basic medicines, etc..
War (disease, famine and refugees).

Of course tithes were paid to the church, and this also went towards the church providing welfare to the poor, hospitals, and hospitality to poor travellers and the distribution of alms. But I think blaming religion for all the ills of the world, past and present is rather naive. The world is full of beastly greedy men.

[LazyGun]

@Jim " to art and culture it certainly has. Without religion there would be no mythology, no need to dedicate wonderful buildings to the Glory of God, etc. To pretend that such culture would have existed anyway is to... pretend"

I think you might have that slightly backwards Jim. Religion arises out of the myths created to satisfy humanities primate need to explain the ineffable, or the terrible, or the unknown. It is a human construct.

And as for art and culture inspired by religion - yes, you can find examples.Cathedrals, for instance. Took generations to build some of them - Lincoln Cathedral springs to mind. Some great art was inspired by religious themes.

Does not mean our art or culture would have been bereft of such inspiring or illumination works had religion not existed though. That our cultural life would have become an artistic wasteland.

And for every cathedral I can think of equally inspiring buildings =like the Burj in Dubai, or The Shard in London, for example. Equally majestic, equally awe-inspiring, and most definitely not built for the glory of god - mammon perhaps, or just man :)

Personally, I think history tells us that religion has acted as an anchor on humanities development, rather than a spur, and continues to be one now, dragging its feet over equal rights, in a muddle over its attitudes towards sexuality,presuming its pre-eminence as the lodestone of human morality when it is patently evident that within its own ranks are venal or in denial about their own sexuality or who abuse their position to abuse the innocent for their own gratification.

Difficult, if not downright impossible to prove, I know, but personally I think humanity would be further advanced scientifically, artistically an culturally had religion not existed.....

[Booldawg]

I dont think religion is any more to blame than ideology, land disputes, political differences or anything else.

[jim360]

@Lazygun -- I think it's too hard to say one way or another, because of course religion has always been there and really you would need to run history again without it to see what the difference would have been. At least there would have been a different culture, with different motivations, and who knows what that would have been like?

Despite all this I do feel that some people are trying to rewrite history if they are implying that religion has been a drag on human development. At times it might have hindered it, but always? It may depend on your perspective.

The biggest reason, in my opinion, that religion has held us back is that it's wrong...

[jim360]

Oh and beso:

"...Vast resources have been committed to gold plated intricate opulence on grand scales. Meanwhile people lived in poverty as the church demanded they hand over the means to glorify their oligarchy."

Never really thought of it that way before, so thanks -- will think about that for a while.

[naomi24]

Jim, religion is still hindering human development. I won't go into all the ancient foibles that Islam still holds dear, but according to a recent poll, 46% of Americans hold the view that God created humans in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/hold-creationist-view-human-origins.aspx

[emmie]

of course not, however one may have starved had no churches, cathedrals been built, it was a system of nobility, and those who owned the land, controlled the land, and the people who worked on it.