bump.

The world is complicated and you're 14 years old. I know how you feel though.

you have much to learn, grasshopper.


just know that excuses are different from reasons.

sounds like this was written by a 14 year old.

Good ideas, but they wouldn't really work in this society. Without money, many people would have no drive to do work. It's a sad truth, but it is the reality of society today. I'd be happy too if the monetary system was done away with, and instead people worked to benefit each other. However, many people do not agree with this.

On the subject of religion, many people feel that they need religion to keep their sanity. It helps them to deal with the happenings of everyday life, and helps relieve some stress, knowing that they will have a better life waiting for them when they are gone. Other than that, religion serves as a purpose of social control. It tells people what they can and cannot do, and it lays out for them how they should live their lives. Unlike the laws drawn up by the government, the laws of religion have much harsher consequences. People feel that they can sometimes get away with breaking the government's laws, but religion tells them that they can never get away with breaking God's laws.

Just my opinion

And that is what I wanted to hear: opinions.

I wish I could get into peoples minds you know? Just see what they were thinking the moment before they died and such.
I want to know what my brother's were thinking; I want to hear their last words.

Look at it this way: Jesus Christ, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, The Dalai Llama, Michael Jordan, John Locke, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Albert Einstein, Malcolm X, Hitler, Osama Bin Laden...ect. all claim tap into some sort of religious or spiritual source of motivation. There is something psychologically essential about human beings that make them search for and find strength in a greater cause, whether it is established religion or not. I believe this "spiritual source" is a real phenomena, although an entirely psychological one.

I'm an atheist(or possibly a very skeptical agnostic) but I understand the purpose religion has served and will continue to serve. It has been and will be a powerful, vivid, terrifying, and passionate part of human society and the individual. It has been be used to control people and to free people, to advocate everything from fascist values to socialist values.

There aren't any simple answers.

There is a huge difference between power structures that abuse religion and religions. Religion happens to be a useful tool of manipulation, and that makes sense. Doesn't means its terrible though.

For example, I've read both the Bible and the Koran, and they are surprisingly similar. The religious conflict between Christianity and Islam arises primarily out of a cultural, economic, and power struggle. It'd be easy to just blame religion.

As I said, I don't really have a problem with religion, infact, It helps me to find a path. It makes me believe that if I do the right thing, people that I love that are gonna come back and see me.

But, if there was no religion, wouldn't that mean there is no evil either?

I wasn't trying to bash religion as a whole. I just feel that some religious organizations serve a different purpose than others. I understand that there are many groups that have the soul purpose of trying to help others, and of making the lives of its members as fulfilling as possible. It is also my understanding that there are certain other religious groups or other groups with religious affiliations that use their powers to only benefit themselves. To me it seems that religion is both beneficial and hurtful depending on how you look at it, and depending on the circumstances.

We all have values that we use to judge actions good and evil regardless of whether we believe in religion or not.

I'm human, you're human, I like to live, maybe you do to. That's as far as I go when it comes to universal ethics.

Thank you for loaning me your thoughts =D, as I said, I don't really have anyone to talk to about this subject.

no problem. You should listen to saul williams. He's kind of my hero.

Will do.

If you are really interested in the subject, I'd recommend picking up books and just reading. They can really teach you a lot, and have a lot of new ideas.

If you are interested in the subjects of religion and of money, there are many good books located on this site.

www.akpress.org

Thanks for the talk, but I'm about to take off from work and head home.

people don't kill in the name of their god, I think people manipulate religion to increase their political strength.

hate is caused by differences.
and everyone is different.

iPear, it gives them an excuse though. Just like how if you didn't do something and you said I was doing something else. I wasn't killing to get more power, I was killing because it came to me in a dream.