1) “The world would be a better place without religion.” Do you agree?

The world without religion may seem chaotic and unpleasant to the religious majority but is that really the case? Religion may have been integrated with our lives but it does not mean it is beneficial to us. The world is a better place without religion as it imposes many archaic restrictions on us but it is still somewhat important as it imparts crucial moral values and a social-binding force.

Religion impedes human progress in many ways. Religion is the things that we believe in without any proof or evidence and is also synonymous with the word faith. Two centuries of science and technology has brought about more progress than a millennia of theology. The standard of living of the world has improved drastically with the advancement of science. Religions often comes into conflict with science as they are irreconcilable subjects. One requires faith, while the other requires evidence. The scientific method includes postulating hypotheses and running them through the gamut with experiments. Faith however, is the blind belief with no absolute proof. It is not surprising that both will clash and has been documented with row over Galileo Galilei and the Roman Catholic Church. Galileo theorized that the universe was heliocentric and as opposed to geocentrism which was what the Church believed. He was then damned as a heretic and was then placed under house arrest. Even now, as Bush has a religious slant, the Bush administration has placed a blanket ban over cloning, be it therapeutic or reproductive. Thus we can see that religious institutions and individuals may use their power and block scientific progress as they deem it incorrect according to their faith. As a result, progress is hindered and thus religion should be placed with lesser importance.

Another reason why religions should be dissolved is that it is often inaccurate regarding history and events. Abrahamic religions is littered with personalities that lived more than 2 centuries old. It is an impossible feat by any standards. Labeling all these acts of God does not license it to be the truth as the truth must be something that can be proved. One of the absurdities that the creationists still believe is that Man walked together with dinosaurs. Carbon dating and examining the age of the fossils according to the layers refutes them. A certain Middle-eastern country still decrees that the earth is flat. Another point to note is in the New Testament where contradictions at Christ’s resurrection were abound among the Gospels. If the Holy Bible is truly the “Word of God” why is it contradictory when “God” is supposed to be omniscient? Thus religion imparts the wrong values and misinformation to the masses. The Church’s dogmatic approach to its believers make it all much worse. The masses are blinded from the truth and their minds filled with fallacies. How is world a better place unless we remove these detrimental influences?

Religion is also used as a cause of war and violence. The Salem Witch trials, the many Crusades, and even the rise of terrorism now are linked to it. All that were done in the name of religion and the atrocities people do under religious convictions are horrifying. They use their God’s name to prove that what they were doing was correct and just. These acts of violence should not be tolerated at all. In order to prevent such people from committing similar acts again we have to remove the cause, which is religion.

One says that religion has a positive impact on our morals and enable to discern what is right and wrong. But is it really the case? Pre-catholic Rome was the most advanced civilization of its time and its people led a rather comfortable lives compared to their peers. It was considered the cultured civilization where through philosophy and logic, people are able to lead moral lives. Must morality be derived from religion or can it also be from other sources. Thus it is viable to abolish religion as we are able to cope without it.

Religion is seen by many as a social cohesive force that is able to make people of different creed join together. But more often than not, it causes fragmentation within the society. The Northern Ireland conflict and the struggle of the LTTE in Sri Lanka are both caused by the fragmentisation due to religion. Most religions are unable to assimilate into one another as they often claim superiority over others. As people are unable to come to terms with another, they do not understand each other and it breeds mistrust among them. When all this occur, tension will ensue and thus it is better if religion did not exist to separate the global population.

Religion is like a crutch that Man has relied on for far too long. We had use it in our past to relate to the world when our understanding was limited. It is now time to cast away this crutch so that we can stand tall with our own strength and march towards progress. Religion is after all, an over-rated father–figure.
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