Violence

[Angel]

Do you think religion provokes violence ?

[General Lighting]

individual belief - no... (unless they are criminally insane and use "messages from god" as an excuse for committing violence)

organised religion - in many cases yes; where someone has set themselves up as a religious leader and encouraging others to follow the word of deities and take actions in their name - in many cases this is just a way of reinforcing social and power structures.

In ancient times a church. temple or mosque would have been set up by people with power and resources and provided a lot of resources and services that today the public sector provides (such as social care and care of the sick), but is usually open as a public building on condition that you give some support or respect to the beliefs of the people who run it. It also contains resources worth guarding such as religious artefacts made out of precious metal, good quality stone and as such is always subject to the risk of theft and often has to be defended, and people have a group/gang mentality anyway.

The actual nature of the gods or the location in the world where the followers are does not matter - more the belief that their community or religion better than anyone elses idea is what spurs people to fight crusades / jihads.

Also there were disputes between the congregrations of rival churches in different villages; often fights at border areas etc. One of the local history sites I visit mentions how such a dispute (in the 1700s/1800s) in East Anglia escalated into accusations of sexual crimes by the vicar, fights in church and bodies being dug up out of the graveyard and buried elsewhere!

Of course (speaking for Britain) today your local Anglican vicar does not today encourage his flock to physically attack members of rival organisations (although even today there is violence between rival Christian groups in the disputed territory of Northern Ireland) but that is only because they have a position of power and influence within the Government.

If you read British Acts of Parliament (laws) you will still see references to the Lords Spiritual (the heads of the Church of England) as well as the Lords Temporal (the old fogeys in the House of Lords), the church and state here still have many links...

I have an interest in history and for hundreds of years this country was awash with blood due to religious disputes where Protestants and Catholics fought one another; it is literally only in very recent times (I would say the last 30-40 years!) that there has been more religious tolerance in Great Britain.

Only a few hundred years ago in Britain people were being burnt alive by mobs for having the wrong religious beliefs; even for supporting the "wrong form" of Christianity.

[Dr Bunsen]

Do you think religion provokes violence ?

Of course it does, it's one of the worlds greatest ironies really...

[Raj]

how did we get from believe in this god to kill everyone who deos not anyway:you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazy

[Holeydel]

We've seen Catholics clash with Prosidants in Belfast, whites clash and asians in Bradford, and Millwall football fans clash with Birmingham football fans down South London.

Religion is just another way of drawing sides.

[Angel]

I was brought up to believe that religion was a good thing... Love,mercy,believe,accept other people as they are,forgiveness,charity..

Oh my..was i wrong or what..:you_crazy :you_crazy

Its non of the above,its killing,hurting,destroying,no compassion,no acceptance..

I dont say that ALL religious people are bad people,becauce they are NOT

[Raj]

the ideas behind the religions are usually good :weee:

it is the implementation of them which leaves something to be desired and thats down to the people :hopeless:

[titch]

Opps I accidently voted no, when I definitely wanted to YES !

[Angel]

:biggreen: :biggreen: :biggreen: :biggreen:


:flowers: :flowers: :flowers: :flowers:

[Shadowkar120c]

We here a lot about Islamic fundamentalists at the moment & even Ruth Kelly MP's links with more unusual Catholic tastes.

We don't here about another high ranking MP who has a child in the Church of England with very extreme Christian beliefs. A person who believes we shouldn't cut our hair or shave our beards etc. & that the sinners who do should be made by force to comply. Sound familiar...

What happend to the good times? Live and let live. The hippy generation & Make Love Not War.

[Angel]

What happend to the good times? Live and let live. The hippy generation & Make Love Not War.

I would to like to know that too..But there have never been periods in the world history where there havent been wars somwhere..

The hippy generation..I believe that most of the world population still want peace not war..

[Shadowkar120c]

I believe that most of the world population still want peace not war..

I believe that too but people sure do love to fight. Even my own family behave in a totally unacceptable way towards each other over religion.

My mother is walking the path to ordination into the Church Of England & most of the rest of the family have let her know exactly what they think about it.Ten years ago I would have done the same thing but I've come a long way since then.

She doesn't agree with my leanings towards eastern philosophies & I don't agree with the way the church does a lot of things but we have interesting discussion rather than argument. There is a mutual respect for the others point of view & complete support & love for each other.

Vive la difference!

The situation in my own family just shows how contentious the subject of religion is even with people of the same blood who are supposed to love each other.

[globalloon]

belief in the spirit is one thing, but to choose a religion, and claim that it is right is nonsense

what if you choose the wrong one and just make god more and more angry every day?

[Vaga]

People commit violence not religions

[globalloon]

People commit violence not religions

yeah but people commit acts of violence in the name of their religions

crusades, cathar massacres, inquisition, jihad

obvioulsy religion can't commit acts of violence, religion only exists by it's followers, who are often driven to start wars based on their blind faith

[Vaga]

crusades, cathar massacres, inquisition, jihad, could all be put down to individuals who distort there religion for other motives. I don't know of any religion that promotes violence or am i wrong.

[Acidfairy]

crusades, cathar massacres, inquisition, jihad, could all be put down to individuals who distort there religion for other motives. I don't know of any religion that promotes violence or am i wrong.

I agree for example nowhere in the Qu'ran does is say that non muslim's are infidels and that they should be killed

It's the extremists that misinterpret things and lead others to believe them

[globalloon]

the cathar massacres were led by the vatican and the king of france... the mainstream of catholicism, not extreme fringe

the bible says 'a tooth for a tooth'

it says a lot of other stuff as well, it depends on which bits you read and how you interpret it.

[TommyT]

Jesus was a black man !!

[TommyT]

no that was Bruce Wayne !!!!!!!!!

[benbear]

Yes. That's my answer.
Does this make anyone angry.

qiF_SgbHi3U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiF_SgbHi3U

I thought it was :laugh_at: :laugh_at:

[Angel]

:laugh_at::laugh_at::laugh_at::laugh_at:

Can only make me laugh..raaaraaaraaa

[Terry Photographer]

All religion has been misinterpreted at some point along the way, they want you to believe what they believe, so they try to force it on you, just look at the conflicts in Northern Ireland, protestants and catholic..its been going on for years.

I think you should be able to believe or not believe in religion without all this misinterpretation leading to conflict, by others who want to force their interpretation of whatever religion is onto everyone else.

each to their own I think. but it is the people who practise these religions that are violent not the religion itself.

[phantom]

I was brought up to believe that religion was a good thing... Love,mercy,believe,accept other people as they are,forgiveness,charity..

Oh my..was i wrong or what..:you_crazy :you_crazy

Its non of the above,its killing,hurting,destroying,no compassion,no acceptance..

I dont say that ALL religious people are bad people,becauce they are NOT


Indeed, religion is truly a good thing. All you've mentioned are the things which religion is proclaiming that must be practiced. Violence, killings, wars, etc. are just manifestations of a misguided belief of the believers.

[Vibration]

Do you think religion provokes violence ?

The teachers and prophets come to tell us all to live in peace and harmony.

And then the followers spend the next few thousand years killing the living shit out of each other over exactly what KIND of "peace and harmony" the dude was talking about.

[Vibration]

I think you should be able to believe or not believe in religion without all this misinterpretation leading to conflict, by others who want to force their interpretation of whatever religion is onto everyone else.
each to their own I think. but it is the people who practise these religions that are violent not the religion itself.

Philip K Dick once wrote a book, can't recall if it was The World That Jones Made or The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, but in one of those, the earth had been devastated by a brutal religiously fuelled war.

So the new thinking after that to keep society going was that everyone could believe whatever the hell they wanted to about god and the after life, but if you couldn't attempt to convince anyone else of your point of view or else you'd get fried.

Not an entirely bad system! Probably not an achievable one though! ;)

[timid rabbit]

without a doubt, i grew up in west belfast and seen it and experianced it all my life,

[General Lighting]

the only religion i know not associated with violence is Buddhism - maybe because it advocates positive thinking rather than social control structures.

[quietRIOT]

religion causes wars. violence. because people become fanatics in what they believe...

[AJS]

We've seen Catholics clash with Prosidants in Belfast, whites clash and asians in Bradford, and Millwall football fans clash with Birmingham football fans down South London.

Religion is just another way of drawing sides.

Exactly. I don't understand it. Maybe they know something I don't, or maybe I know something that they don't.
Either way, I cannot understand why people would fight over what shape church you go to, what colour scarf you wear or what colour your skin is.
I like to think though that I don't get it because I understand and they don't. We're all human so go forth and multiply!

[BabyGirlMiza]

Yes, religion does cause violence.. It cant be helped.. People doing acts and saying " god " told me to or its what " god " wanted.Religion has begun violent acts between religions and countries.
Religions tell us what we should believe in and that other religions beliefes are wrong, that causes arguments which cause conflict. But thats just my view.

[Digital-A]

individual belief - no... (unless they are criminally insane and use "messages from god" as an excuse for committing violence)

organised religion - in many cases yes;.

i agree :-)

[Dutti B]

Its the people who are in the religion who provoke the violence, war has gone on for as long as man can record but it has not always been religion thats causes it, unfortunately religion has been the reason used for war many times in the past and present.

[~DiRtYrAvEr~]

ok heres my veiw on violence i think it is a waste of time and i just dont think it solves anything.... this world could be a much happier place if we just didnt have violence !!! .... but yh i do think it is sorta bout religon too
because other cultures in this world just dont go yh and thats ma views xxxxxxx

[rach]

i think its all about the difference between religion and faith.

we all have some level of faith in ourselves as human beings, and i think that pushes our instinct to love.

its the religion that seperates all our faith into seperate groups, we live in a world determined to be constantly labelling ourselves and everything around us. once we seperate ourselves thats when there is conflict and ultimately ends up in violence.

[tarifa]

religious conflict has undoubtedly resulted in untold death and misery, would anyone disagree?

I can't think of any belief that is simply based around violence. I would argue that it's fanatics (of any and every description) that distort the basic tenets and twist things into something inflammatory, committing atrocities in the name of faith.

But I think that its religion and culture and history an psychological issues such as the 'other' and greed and fear and all that sort of stuff rolled into a huge big mess that is really the source of the problem, not just religion by itself.

I also think that sometimes people use religion as an excuse/a cover to commit or instigate violence, and that clever people use it to manipulate others - you take one (maybe not so clever) person with a pure harmless faith and twist it and them into a deadly weapon (which i think is the saddest bit)

I know there's no simple answer, all we can do is lead by example

plur

[DaftFader]

how did we get from believe in this god to kill everyone who deos not anyway:you_crazy:you_crazy:you_crazy

i think it has some thing to do with "blind faith" .. ie. people who compleatly give them selves to there god and belive nothing else could be ture other than there god .... when cossed with people of like wise minds from another religon they clash ..and the fued esculates into violence ....also battles for sacred land between two religons that belive the same land is sacred to there religon eg. the gaza strip

[Playground Politics]

y'face

i love that opinion, it settles all arguements

[Tank Girl]

y'face

i love that opinion, it settles all arguements

that and laughing usually gets me a smack in the mouth :wink:

[JulesDogg]

Do you think religion provokes violence ?

This question has been answered again and again over the centuries past.

[pixiegirl]

Organised religion is often the cause of segregation and violence.

It is also often confused with faith which I consider to be a very separate thing.

[djsteviec]

I believe the short answer for this is yes yes yes!

[photographthesun]

very much depends on the context, how you define violence and other such things.

Simple awnser no complex awnser yes :p

[DontBeliveTheHype!]

i put no .. but i didn't read the question i just thought it was asking if violance was good .. so i put no ... but i should of put yes as i think religeon does cause violance alot of the time