The Root of All Evil?, by the Oxford University evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is his controversial documentary that complements his bestselling book The God Delusion. Dawkins presents his view of religion as a cultural virus that, like a computer virus, once downloaded into the software of society corrupts many of the programs it encounters. It isn't hard to find examples to fit this view; one has only to read the dailies coming out of the Middle East to see its nefarious effects.

This documentary is available on DVD for $29.95 [Click here to order]

While relating more to the topic than the post... ^*duck*

On this planet:
Greed.
Survival.

In totality:
Want, specifically a difference of.



Or, said in other way, individuality.
Imagine that

Aren't belief systems in general the problem? We cling so tightly to our beliefs that any differing belief becomes threatening. The amazing thing to me is that some of the present day conflicts are between belief system that are closely related. But when you become the sole owner of absolute truth, there really isn't much room for dialogue....

I'm guilty of being afraid of other beliefs, Kelly. They do seem threatening, at times.

But for the topic. I didn't watch the videos ( someone screwed with the sound effects on this machine ), but for most people, god is a feel-good diety, meaning they believe in him/her because they want to believe there's something better/more to this life.

I believe that many people have an inherint need to belong.  Many actually need to follow.  They crave the direction they seek from those they admire.

Couple this with narcisism, power, greed, and all those other wonderful traits that often make a very popular leader and you have a recipie for corruption.

A religion, led only by the chosen one, will go where it goes. There are no checks or balances to keep the leadership bound to its original philosophies.  Unlike a government, external forces and the wishes of its membership, have little voice in the direction of the organization.  The single mindedness of the group dynamic is only strengthened when members who do not conform are persecuted and/or driven out.

Many of these groups have missed the mark.  They are not what they purport to be.

Cindi

Quote from: Cindi Jones on February 06, 2007, 03:34:55 PM
A religion, led only by the chosen one, will go where it goes. There are no checks or balances to keep the leadership bound to its original philosophies.

And that assumes that the leadership understands the original teachings to begin with; or I have heard stories of features that were part of the original teachings being deleted subsequently because they did not meet with the "beliefs" of leadership at the time.

I have heard it said, and I am paraphrasing (I think), that a particular teacher has a particular message, for a particular people, in a particular place, at a particular time. If that message is delivered via devices such as allegory, parable, myth, fable, etc., after centuries or millennia is it safe to assume that the same mindset exists to correctly interpret the message...?

It ultimately boils down to fear.  People fear death -- and whatever may possibly happen afterwards.

Yeah, it should be no surprise.

And we cannot forget about wanting to control the masses. 


g

Well, I guess since I'm back I might as well just jump into the fire.  As I see it the problem with Christianity today is many of the people who profess to be Christians.  They use it as an excuse to marginalize anyone who is different, who thinks differently than they do.  This can range anywhere from simply not allowing a GLBT person to preach all the way to starting wars.  They have all the answers.  Now, let me first state that I am Christian and a currently serving Elder in my church.  Do I have all the answers?  No, of course not, I don't even have all the questions.  What I do know is this.  Many churches, even the ones who don't like you if your aren't a white, anglo-saxon, protestant heterosexual, do some good work.  Just this week, 3 missionaries from Atlanta were killed in Central/South America and 14 more were  injured when their truck overturned.  Were they there to preach?  No, they were there to help build a school.  Other churches run after school programs for at risk youth.  Now I don't know about most of you but I feel it is better for a young person to be in a church environment learning about the teachings of Jesus (whether you believe or not) than it is for that same youth to be out on the streets learning about gangs, drugs and guns.  True Christianity is about love and forgiveness, not hate and bigotry.

Now I'm sure than for some, distrust of organized religion comes from being hurt by that same religion.  Lord knows, growing up Southern Baptist and being TG, I was hurt many times by things the preacher said.  For others, it is simply a matter of not being able to accept the possibility of a Supreme Being.  I even question this myself sometimes but that's why it's called faith, not fact.  Who knows?  As Robert Heinlein one said of an afterlife, "I may find out that the great Mumbo Jumbo of the Congo is actually running things.  But whoever is making the world go around, I'm glad he doesn't stop cranking."  This may not be an exact quote, but it's close.

I now turn the other cheek.
Bev

I agree that religion itself isn't evil.
Religious experiences include a feeling of being loved, a feeling of unity... That is the feeling of God(s).

Now, next comes the advancement: Say: I've felt this. Oh, but surely, this cannot be something mundane, this is divine! So, I build myself a pantheon, with names for gods, and characteristics. But all the while using that feeling of love as my centrepiece.
Now, we've got religion.
(This is not to say that God does not exist, of course. But the Divine sends us a feeling, and we, as humans, simply make do with it. Eventually, every religion is written by human hands, but inspired by this feeling of the Divine. Something we cannot really understand, yet.)
So now come the followers. They claim the follow the Truth, with a capital T. Now, doctrine is written, and after that, dogma. And from here on, things get worse, and religion isn't what it used to be anymore. Suddenly, few people actually remember that first feeling. Or they turn it around; suddenly they claim this feeling of love is for them only, not something to pass on to everyone. And they are willing to pass the love, but only if you accept their truth.

Happily, not all religious people are like that. Far from it. But these are the loudest, the ones we hear from most, and the ones with the largest influence. And that's a shame, because religion, and religious practice, can be so beautiful.

QuotePeople fear death...

I always knew I wasn't really a person.
Perhaps I'm some random thought energy left over from a millenia ago.

QuoteI agree that religion itself isn't evil.
Religious experiences include a feeling of being loved, a feeling of unity... That is the feeling of God(s).

Nothing, without some force is evil.
Concepts, ideas, thoughts, even entire paradigms, aren't evil.
It's when people take those concepts, ideas, thoughts, and paradigms and do harm to others that is evil.

It's like the old saying, guns don't kill people, bullets do.

Anything can be made evil by the person or people that do harm to others under the influence of the concept/idea/thought/paradigm.

People who do harm to others are evil.

QuoteThe Root of All Evil?, by the Oxford University evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is his controversial documentary that complements his bestselling book The God Delusion. Dawkins presents his view of religion as a cultural virus

I can see the arguement, however, religion is nothing more than a paradigm of thought.

A person can also, within the paradigm of religion, be absolutely kind, and help their fellow man at every turn.  Mother Theresa comes to mind.
Likewise, a different person can within that same paradigm be evil.

It's not the paradigm that is evil or good, it is the person.

Religion's susceptibility to be used for evil is perhaps underestimated on a whole, though.  More so than, let's say guns, religion often changes our framing of the events in our life.

Philosophy is fine and all, but it gets dicey when people are compelled to not shape their beliefs according to their own observations and research.

Money. It leads to greed which leads to betrayal, then leads to war. It is far too late for money to be globally banned so the Earth is basically going down the crapper. What a nice feminine word, eh? :p

-Sara

The root of all evil is ignorance and lack of compassion.

I was going to say that the root of evil is richard nixon's corpse, but it told me not to.