Your views on religion at home...

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

People don't need religion or fear in order to do the right things. All of my family isn't religious and doesn't fear any God but they're still good and do the right things.

We know what is right, even when no one is looking we will keep doing right things because we have good morals. Just because no one is looking and we don't believe in any religion doesn't mean we will start doing wrong things.

Religion is NOT needed for a person to do the right things, nor is fear.

I guess no religious people will understand this post as they have been indoctrinated into believing religion is needed for a human to be good which is not true. Many religious people have this really bad image of non-religious people thinking that they are evil and stuff because their religion teaches them that unfortunately.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

According to Islam I should be killed because I'm an apostate, but is this moral? Definitely not. This is sick, and inhumane. There are many other immoral concepts not only in Islam but all other religions as well.

This is an authentic Hadith in Sahih Hadith Bukhari Volume 4, Book 52, Number 260 (and there are other Hadith's as well saying apostates should be killed):
"Prophet said, 'If somebody (a Muslim) discards his religion, kill him."

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

I think you did not read above posts of mine carefully.
Same can be said for irreligious people that they can never understand the importance of religion since they have a set mind of hating religion and think ALL problems can be solved by being irreligious.

That may be off topic, but saying religion teaches people to do evil, that is just a stretch. Define evil first and then explain what 'evil' religions teach?

There is no question (BOTH irreligious and) 'seemingly religious' individulas do commit crimes, but *blaming religion for it is simply wrong. *

A major part of religion IS humanity and morality.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Different topic, discussed to death before many times elsewhere.

Talk about the concept first, then come with specifics.

Do you or do you not agree, that the concept of afterlife is beneficial? I gave example above of how fear can be beneficial.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Yes, if followed correctly most religions are beneficial. But the problem is, they are all mixed with politics and are used to manipulate people to do terrible things. So in a sense, religion is the root of all evil.

Every religion also has aspects of it that are disturbing and frankly, are outdated. I think the point about delusions was a good one. The human mind can make people believe many things (placebo effect etc). If a child was told the story of Cinderella and also a religious one, do you really think they would be able to tell which one was "true"? People who are involved in religious conflicts are convinced they are right but they have no proof. Faith, is belief without proof. So how can someone who is religious be certain about the afterlife and God? I think the only rational answer about the meaning of life, God and the afterlife is "I don't know". Yet, religious people are hell bent on fighting other religions, and imposing their beliefs on others.

I think there can be a place for religion but when you let it dominate your life, you're headed for trouble. That's why the West was able to advance past the Middle East and Asia. They still had religion but they also used common sense. When America was founded, they were a lot less religious than today. Now, we have Bush starting wars against Islam, Zionists killing Palestinians, and Americans voting for Bush because he's "strong in his faith". Really?

It's the letter of the law vs the spirit of the law. If someone believes in God and lives morally but is unsure about religion (honestly if you have never had any questions about religion and God, you're being delusional), then aren't they living their lives the way God intended? So what if they don't pray five times a day or go to church on Sunday? I know plenty of religious people who have done terrible things yet follow all the rituals. Who's worse?

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Being a parent, let me share my point of view. When the friend in my first post mentioned this to me, I was thinking about how the concept of God has actually helped me shape my kids thought process.

Today my 2 little children have immense love and fear of God in their heart. You'll see my little one telling the older one, "don't use bad words because Allah mian will be sad." You ask her why Allah will be sad and she says because Allah told us not to hurt people's feelings.

It is easier to guide and instruct a child when there is a reference of a supreme being, someone even greater then the parent. This is just a small example.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Personally, I'm conflicted. I honestly don't know how I feel about religion. What if your kids became atheist or agnostic, or simply turned away from religion after growing up? How would you react?

I don't know how religious you are but most people are Muslims or Christians in name only. They don't really follow the religion properly. And the ones I know who do follow it properly will turn into irrational people the minute religion or their beliefs are criticized or even questioned.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

As a parent I can only provide a solid foundation for my children and set the right example for them. I am by no means "religious" but I try to perform my basic religious obligations with a happy heart.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

You have raised many points in one post.

Bad and good people belong to any group, and for sure, religion is not the reason for problems.

Laws are broken everyday everywhere, so, should laws be abolished or condemened for people breaking laws?

Your bold sentences are contradictory. :)

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Not exactly. I said IF followed correctly religion is beneficial BUT people don't follow it correctly so it's harmful. So, despite what the religion is intended for, the end result is that it causes harm. That's not up for debate. The biggest conflicts in the world today are because of religion.

Laws can be changed. Religion can't. See my point? If a Muslim wants to leave Islam, they will be killed. Christians don't know their religion and will deny it but the punishment is the same for Christianity.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Agreed with Unos.. the "scare" is not required for people to behave themselves and not kill and rape as they wish.

Diwana - I am not grabbing your concept at all. I totally disagree with it. I just wanted you to admit that religion is intentionally scaring people and imparting delusion on them in an effort to have them behave themselves.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Also.. there is no need to mention "you cannot blame religion for all your problems.. religion is not the roof of all evil"... that much is obvious brother.. only some lunatic atheists would believe that..

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

I suggest you read above posts carefully. Thanks. :)
.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Again, there isn't a contradiction. People are not flawless and do not follow religion properly and that's been the case for the last two thousand years. Time and time again there have been conflicts which are religious in nature. So, in theory religion can be helpful, in reality it isn't because the world isn't perfect. That's not a contradiction.

I'm not arguing that religion, IN THEORY, can be good. It's like having a personal code. But IN REALITY, there are always enough people who don't follow religion correctly and that causes conflicts.

And the point about apostasy is not irrelevant it illustrates the point about religion causing problems perfectly. If you raise your child as a Muslim, and somewhere down the line they turn their back on religion, the punishment for them is death. Why? Because someone told you it is. To me that's ridiculous. On the one hand Islam preaches peace and tolerance, even to those who aren't Muslim, but if someone is Muslim and they decide to leave, they should be killed. That's a contradiction. If your child told you that they are no longer Muslim, would you kill them? They would still have the morals you taught them, they would be the same person, but you would have to kill them.

To sit there and pretend that there hasn't been man's interference in religion is naive. Religion was the most powerful way to control the masses. Today it's rivaled only by the media. The Pope convinced thousands to attack Jerusalem and slaughter thousands of innocents because of religion. Religion has always been mixed with politics which causes problems.

Now, it might be fair to say that politics is the root of all evil but I'm not interested in a philosophical debate, but the facts. And the fact is that religion causes conflict all around the world. And since people can agree that morality can exist outside of religion, then a case can be made that a world without religion might be a better place.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

I have a friend who has similar beliefs, She values all the "nice things" tht religion has to offer e.g. being kind, respecting ur elders etc. But then she doesn't like to associate herself with extremist views. I found it quite hard to get on with her at first because it felt like she was mocking everything I would say, but I find people like her just need time, space and guidance. We have to remember we live in multi cultural societies where the media influences our decisions and the way we think. People spend more time fighting over differences then the similarities, and I think thts why people associate religion with evil and run from it. The more time I've spent with my friend talking about Islam she's actually quite surprised at how similar it is to her own religion.

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Re: Your views on religion at home…

I think misguided by the people who turn religion in to conflict and basis for hatred brings these kind of thoughts.

Throughout the history of mankind, religions played much smaller role in wars or destruction and other ideas like land, power hunger, lust, greed and hatred of fellow human being brought total annhilation of nations or made millions suffer.

Read the history of mankind. There are more weapons (and more mass destrutctive weapons) used against human beings for reasons other than religion.
And then religious people are called extremists. :smack:

We human cannot be assured of being good till some deterrants are placed. Be those the laws of land or religion and ‘preferably’ both.

This is why you said and I agree, if religion is followed properly there would be benefit to mankind. :slight_smile:

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

This world has gone to the dogs....simply put.

We NEED religion in our lives to stay on the right path.

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Re: Your views on religion at home...

Just a question for everyone who's posted or is reading this thread: when you say "we need religion", are you referring to the major religions today? What about religions that older societies such as the Romans, the Persians or the Chinese might have had?

If you mean Islam only then that's faulty logic because the civilizations I mentioned above were amongst the most influential in history, proving that society can be successful without the three major religions. Of course I'm not saying that they had no religion; they had their own and followed it to varying degrees.