I think ZL made a very good point with the upbringing part, which is something I regularly question myself. Is there actually any such thing as free will, or is everything determined by chance reactions in the brain and other peoples' opinions? Something to ponder. My Phyics teacher mentioned a French philosopher who considered the same thing, and turned control of his life over to a die, or similar, assigning half the values to, say, bad things, and half to good, and then doing 'what the die said'.
I think Communism (everybody works equal, everybody recieve equal) Demorcractic ( goverment stays out of peoples lives for the most part) and Republican ( Goverment helps people further) are all very good goverments. So why are all so corrupted, Men (mankind, not men in general)
I thought Republicans were more right-wing, who believe in interfering less, for better or worse?
Religion drives a minority to do some pleasant things, such as our own BL, who I believe participates in such schemes as Domiciles for the Destitute/similar, and those to whom Kasperg referred. Yeah, that's mildly nice, but society'd be rather better if more people did it out of kindness, etc., rather than because a bloke in a dress and some dead monks threaten them with eternal burning.
Look what modern science has done for us. Without this becoming an economic argument, the life expectancies in developed countries are far greater than they were, say, in the seventeenth century, when religion was generally taken pretty seriously. Has religion cured smallpox or developed antibiotics? Think how much further science could have progressed without the religious a) wasting their own time, and b) harassing those whose quest for knowledge and curiosity furthered the human race.
I think religion today is just a lazy alternative to learning. People go "whoa, that's too complicated. Probability? I'd rather believe that everything is controlled by a lovely friendly man with a big beard. Yay, now I feel safe and warm.". Very mature. If you don't understand what you can see in front of you, what on
earth makes you so arrogant and stupid as to think you can understand all of existance?
On a similar note, how can you be so abominably conceited as to think that everyone who follows a different religion to you is completely wrong and stupid and evil, etc., etc., and doomed? Come on, that is sheer idiocy. Think about what you're doing.
Anyone who professes to understand life is lying, but so what? There is no way to live your life other than based on what you sense around you.
Stop being so ignorant and cowardly, and do something useful.