Paris

[Dogg Thang]

I think part of their recruitment drives have asked that exact same question.

[Team Andromeda]

yeah no doubt

[Howiee]

I think the days of fantasy prone religious thinking in general need to come to an end, then you'd have some sort of vague harmonious world.

Every country from history that tried to end religious thinking, became an actual hellhole.

[QualityChimp]

I think "every religion leads to war and they should all be banned" is as productive a solution as "this religion is the only way and we should smite all unbelievers".

[Howiee]

Exactly. We don't blame (and seek to eradicate) politics for Stalinism, so why blame religion for Muslim extremism? I think we should instead investigate the different opinions and discern truth that way.

[PaTaito]

If religion was simply allowed to be a personal thing to each individual, things would be so much easier...its too big a business these days unfortunately though, and it seems in lesser parts of the world it seems like the only meaningful thing to be involved in.

The last time a proper fanatical situation(prior to muslim extremism) happened, which kept costing lives, it ended up with hiroshima...just saying.

[Dogg Thang]

Japanese fanaticism? Must admit I don't know enough about that end of the war. Is it comparable?

[Dirty Sanchez]

our resident historian will be along in a bit to berate us for our lack of knowledge.

[Dirty Sanchez]

then we'll have the bible basher insisting it wasn't God's will or something 😁

[Dogg Thang]

our resident historian will be along in a bit to berate us for our lack of knowledge.

Well I at least know quite a bit about the Europe end but, yeah, I actually don't know much about the Japanese end at all. Could smile and nod in a conversation though and then shake my head and tut-tut at the appropriate times.

[fishbowlhead]

Well I at least know quite a bit about the Europe end but, yeah, I actually don't know much about the Japanese end at all. Could smile and nod in a conversation though and then shake my head and tut-tut at the appropriate times.

It was complicated.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan

[Dogg Thang]

Seems it was. Thanks for the link.

[Kit]

Every country from history that tried to end religious thinking, became an actual hellhole.

That's because historically one religion was being replaced with another and so forth.

In the west religion is coming to its natural demise as people realise the scientific method has given us more than sitting on your arse praying.

We can't force this change on islam. Therefore it's not the wests problem. They'd need to separate state and church and draw their own conclusions; it'd take generations and quite frankly, I don't think opening european borders to people with such an unstable ideology is wise.

It's like having a flatmate move in who disproves of everything you do; your lifestyle, your eating habits, everything. It's a recipe for disaster.

[Howiee]

That's because historically one religion was being replaced with another and so forth.

In the west religion is coming to its natural demise as people realise the scientific method has given us more than sitting on your arse praying.

I'm not sure that's true. Stalin's 'League of Militant Atheists' (actual name) killed more people on an average Tuesday than Isis ever will – all in the name of scientific socialism. The same goes for the systematically irreligious regimes of Pol Pot, Ceausescu, modern North Korea, and others. In fact, the Encyclopedia of Wars states that only 7% of all history's wars were religious (123 out of 1763). Religion can certainly be a problem, but it isn't the problem. People are the problem.

I don't think reducing religion to "sitting on your arse praying" is particularly helpful. Religion seeks to find serious answers to the serious questions that science can't answer – ultimate meaning, morality, what ought to be, etc. Science and religion are two very different – and worthy – things. But of course, lunatics exist on the fringe of every movement, religious or not.

[Brad]

What answers to serious questions that science can't answer has religion found during this seeking? What methods do religious folk use to find these answers. I mean, I've seen the results of science during my time on earth and how they have helped reduce pain and suffering using the tried and tested hypothesis -> test -> result -> proof system but I've not seen religion produce anything like that. These are genuine questions by the way; I dismissed all religions a long time ago without really having much understanding of them so whilst I'm unlikely to ever be converted I am interested in learning and understanding.