Is Religion Dangerous?

War And Religion

How many wars occured in the history of this world that can be linked to religion? What is the death toll? How many more will die in the "name of god?" Why is it that some people, "if" they believe, are labeled "people", while non-believers are labeled as "swine" or heathen, only because they do not share someone else's beliefs?

What do the scales say? when we try to find balance? Is the harmfulness heavier then the helpfulness? Does the good outweigh the bad, or the other way around? To the religious, it is a distorted scale, much like this image on the left. "Help" appears heavier, but the "harm" it causes is much greater when we remove religious delusion.

WARS Fought In The Name of Religion

World War II

Adoph Hitler was NOT an Atheist, many people claim and believe this falsehood.

Ever wonder exactly WHY Adoph Hitler hated the jews? Many christians and jewish people alike, like to claim that Adoph Hitler was an "atheist", and try to use him as an example of how “atheism can ruin society.” But this is simply not true at all. There are thousands of christians, and several christian LEADERS who try their very best to convince their followers that an athiest viewpoint was responsible for Hitler's actions. Adoph Hitler was in fact, not an atheist. In reality, it was his religious beliefs that inspired him to try to exterminate the jewish race and religion! Here is a quote from HITLER himself:

"The National Government regards the two Christian confessions (i.e. Catholicism and Protestantism) as factors essential to the soul of the German people. ... We hold the spiritual forces of Christianity to be indispensable elements in the moral uplift of most of the German people."

Here is a wiki on what hitler believed: Hilter's Religion. The next time someone tells you he was an atheist, show them that.

Adoph Hitler was born into catholicism, yet he gradually came to reject his parent’s denomination, and later he converted to -- drum roll -- you guessed it, christianity. He even joined a new sect of christianity called "Positive Christianity" (the link goes to a wiki explaining more) that he felt followed the bible closer than orthodox Christianity did. At various points in time during the Nazi regime, he had made several attempts to replace orthodox Christianity with his "positive" alternative, and many Nazi soldiers had "Gott Mit Uns" ("God With Us") on their uniforms. Hitler was trying to do what he thought was right in the name of god. Yes, granted there was desire for power and world domination, and many other greedy motivators, but belief in religion gave him the motivation and justification to do the horrible, hurtfull, vile things he was known for.

He USED his religion to JUSTIFY his own harmful agenda. He USED it to justfiy in his own mind, to reconcil guilt, so he could FREE his consious to follow the hateful ideas in his heart. Had there been no religion, he *might* not have been able to do what he did. Why? Not because he was not pyscho, he was, not because he had a "good guy" inside him, he didn't. He *might* not have done these things if he had no "method to self-justify". People CLEAR their consious of guilt, and move forward with their treachory *because* they have a religion to do it with.

Hitler took a personal vendetta toward the Jewish community because the biblical stories said they were the ones who turned their back on Jesus Christ. *without* this justification, without religion, WWII may not have even took place.

The Crusades

The crusades were one of the most religiously motivated (and justified by) wars in the history of mankind. "justified" by religious differences. Here is a wiki on "the crusades" in it you will see it effected two of the major religions. It was waged by christian "soldiers" from the year 1095 to 1291, and the whole thing was mostly sanctioned by the Pope in the name of christendom, to MAKE countries into christianity based territories.

The main goal was the reclaiming of Jerusalem and the "so called Holy Land" from Muslim rule, and was originally launched in response to a call from the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire for help against the expansion of the Muslim Seljuq dynasty into Anatolia. The crusades campaigned through the 16th century in territories outside the levant, and were usually against those that were considered by the catholic church to be heretics, a mixture of religious, economic, and political reasons.

As in other wars, it IS argued a LOT by religious people that religion is used as an "excuse" to "justify" anti-social actions. Well, consider that if there was no religion, what then could they use to "justify" such horrible, nasty, anti-social, wasting of human life? There really isn't anything else that comes to mind, which expains why "religion" is used more and more as a means to "justify and alleviate guilt". Why did so many PEOPLE have to be TORTURED and robbed of land and goods? What "god" did this serve? Where were these people's "god" when they needed to be saved from them?

In the age of the crusades they used swords as weapons. Hacking away at people, cross on their sheild and all, hacking away at people!, (don't miss that point) in the name of god and religion. Do you still think religion is not dangerous? No? Read on...

The Reconquista

The Reconquista was the seven and a half century long process (think about how LONG that is..750 YEARS.) by which the Christian kingdoms of northern Hispania (modern Portugal and Spain) conquered the Iberian peninsula from the Muslim and Moorish states of Al-Ándalus. The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, from the Visigoths, occurred during the early 8th century, and the reconquista is commonly considered to have begun almost immediately in 722, with the Battle of Covadonga, and completed in 1492 with the Conquest of Granada. Read the wiki for more details. It is linked that the beginning of this paragraph.

The Christian rulers widely proclaimed that they were re-conquering Christian territory previously lost to Muslim invaders. This ensured that Christian reinforcements would continue to arrive from other Christian realms, especially because the Papacy in Rome continued to support such efforts.

Again, it can be argued that religion was just an "excuse" to steal lands, or reclaim them, but it was a rallying point. Some religious authors claim only like 7% of all wars are religious based. I say, they pretty much ALL are. Why? because it is the favorite thing to use to "self justify". Soldiers and rulers alike use religion to motivate, and to keep a clear consious. How else can humans KILL people dead for self gain, without a way of reconciling it in their minds? The guilt and shame would stop them, or kill them without it.

We will do another article specifically on war and religion, there are far too many wars intertwined and influenced by religion to list in this one article.

RELIGION has be brainwashing the masses for years, even the children of the world are not spared this abuse. Below is a very interesting youtube on the dangers of religion.

If you are religious, I DARE you to have the courage to watch the following youtubes in their entirety. You have faith right? You are not being "tempted", these videos express solid, logical views on religion.

This first one starts with showing how some of the founding fathers of the USA feel about religion. It goes on to describe many of religion's dangers, and there is humor involved, as well as introspective thought.

How Religion Is Dangerous:

The next video will further elaborate the dangers of religion:

When viewing the above youtube, please do not be frightened off by the tagline "godisimaginary" it is simply the name of the website owned by the author. It is also a great site to visit! godisimaginary.com.

Though the above video focuses on christianity, the same holds true for most all religions.

This article is growing quite large, let us continue on the next page, there is just so much to talk about on this subject that it is likely to crash your browser trying to fit it all on one page! Let is continue, click the "next page" icon below: