Ummmm... so growing food has a bad impact on humanity? Okay,,, please explain that one.. I can't wait to hear this..

@Gwendolyn2018
My opinion: It’s what led to the invention of organized religion. What gets called “religious” behavior before the invention of agriculture is a very different kind of behavior from organized religion that sprang up after hunter/gatherers had turned into farmers and city dwellers. Agriculture, and the resultant civilization threw H.sapiens into an environment they were not evolved to live in without a counterbalancing cultural correction. That correction; you guessed it: organized religion.

@Gwendolyn2018 @Captain_Feelgood
[theecologist.org]

@Captain_Feelgood When agriculture was adopted by previously hunter gatherer people the surpluses created allowed a hierarchical class system to develop which we still have today

So basically you object to human society in general then?

@LenHazell53
No. Hunter/Gatherer societies were human societies. And even though I think agriculture is the invention that is worse than religion, I’m not necessarily opposed to it. It’s just something that happened and now we have to deal with it. It is what makes religion, of some description, a permanent necessity. Agriculture created an evolutionary mismatch of sufficient scale to drive our species into extinction (which I expect it eventually will) but religion has, at least temporarily, delayed that extinction. Now the “fix” has become corrupted to the point we are thinking of abandoning it, but reform is what is called for if we would like our species to avoid extinction.

@Gwendolyn2018 Skado, he has already replied

two things come to my mind as i read your comment:
1- the selfish gene - Richard Dawkins.
2- Robert Sapolsky's statement: we don't hate violence, we hate the wrong violnce.

@Gwendolyn2018 Or as a friend of mine would say, survival of the fit enough.

@Gwendolyn2018
The phrase “survival of the fittest” doesn’t just refer to violence though. “Fitness” in evolutionary terms, means whoever is best able to get their genes into the next generation. Sometimes that is done by cooperation, intelligence and kindness.

i can't but agree with you totally. and the dilemma of evil comes to my mind supporting this claim.

I wouldn't call the philosophy of either a killer. Stalin and Mao, who were adherents and, at the same time, dictators were killers. Lots of death as been brought on by capitalism well.

well, thats why religion is faith based!

i agree to the trump part, Covid however is stretching between a hoax and a real pandemic.
i am unable to tell which is true.

It was Soviet forces that broke Hitler. Look at what the Germans themselves said at the time...

@Krish55 In the end it was a world effort.

@Mcflewster Yes, but it was the Soviets that broke the back of the German military. The German words demonstrate that.

For one man’s overall negative impact on history it has to be Mohammed. Hitler was a blip on the radar compared to Mo’s legacy.

who does not hate capitalism.

@Basem A lot of the folks on this site who benefit from it.

You can find examples much closer to home…

@Krish55 How about examples of Native Americans warring against each other, enslaving each other, committing atrocities against each other (such as intertribal genocide). Is that close enough to home for you? So a little balance is in order here. Bad behaviour is endemic to our species. It cuts across all racial, ethnic, cultural and national boundaries.

religion uses racism and slavery.

@Basem they can reinforce each other, at any rate certain types of religion. Any paradigm that convinces followers they are special, separate and apart from the damned masses, a part of a chosen few, is setting folks up for racism and other bigotry.

It is possible to claim that emperor worship in Japan and other imperial powers constitutes a form of religion, since most emperors and monarchs claim if not actual divinity certainly divine guidance and authority.

@LenHazell53 I disagree. I see worship of an emperor (an entity that can be shown to exist) as quite different to the worship of any god. Additionally, the claim by any emperor of godhood I regard as being manifestly absurd.

@anglophone
It is manifestly absurd, as is religion in general however Historically most emperors did not claim godhood, they claim to be an avatar of god on earth it is therefore basically were the early Christians got the idea of Jesus being a divine avatar of YHWH on earth hence the title King of Kings and the worship of a mangod.

Came here to say this.

Greed usually stems from an idea of being more worthy, more deserving or more favoured by a god, then those you are depriving, it is therefore usually justified by divine precedent and in some cases even caused by it.

religion tells us to abandon greed and totally does the opposite lol!

@LenHazell53 I disagree it is related to god/s. It has more to do with lack of knowledge of the implications of your actions. Or if you do understand them, a lack of empathy for other beings.
The god delusion may be given as an excuse, but certainly for Christians and Buddists, their teachings are less is more and helping others is important.
The old Greek and Roman gods posed as beggars and elders asking for alms, if not welcomed they took vengeance.

@Basem There are some people doing good in most Communities from what I see. The Sikhs are doing some great work here, Christians often run soup kitchens too. Yes, it’s propping up a broken system, but is most likely saving lives.
My only beef is when they help people and try and convert them.

The adoration of guns and the myths surrounding them has certainly caused more trouble in the US than in the rest of the (Peacetime) world yes.

@LenHazell53 I was focusing more on the deaths. In addition, tough to have a war without guns. How many wars have there been in the world? Not sure what the myth about guns is, pretty sure they kill and maim people.

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

Steven Weinberg

Yes, but is there any one of those things that religion does not have a hand in, or contribute to ?

@Fernapple religion is a political force. It can reinforce or oppose all those other movements.
Catholicism supported Franco in Spain but opposed fascism in other lands.
It created death traps (mother Theresa for example), but at the same time have a lot of legit institutions for help.

Religion is not evil per se, it is just a tool to harness power and can be pointed to many targets. Understand the difference between a political power source and an evil ideology is the better way to fight them.
Using a moralist argument (religion is evil and evil must be eliminated) is fighting in the same terms and arena as them. And they have millenniums of experience in using the moralist argument.

@Pedrohbds Yes but I did not say that religion was exclusively evil. Only that it played a part in most of those evils at some time.

Though I would add. That religion does tend to evil, (I don't truly believe in absolutes like good and evil anyway.) and is often the choice of evil doers when looking for support, because it is fairly easy to justify good ideas, using reason, appeals to instictive morallity and history, but it is much harder to support evil that way. So that for those wanting to promote evil ideas, religion which does not have any safe guards, such as the appeal to reason found in philosophy, and /or the appeal to evidence, found in real history and science, is the natural tool to use for those with difficult ideas to promote.

Especially as it claims absolute authority, (Every criminals greatest wish.) yet its tool for enforcing its authority is an entirely imaginary one, god, which being imaginary can be reimagined to say anything those who control it wish, yet wonderfully from their point of view, without any loss of authority or prestiege. And that is to some degre supported by the fact that most of the really powerful religious movements, base their god on old texts, Bible Koran, etc. which are often highly complex, muddled and capable of almost total reinterpretation, to say anything you wish, however immoral and unsupported. Which no doubt accounts for their popularity and growth, being such useful tools to anyone regardless of their views, is a great selling point.

And sadly if the world progresses, as it certainly seems to with better education etc. So that secular morality moves forward and becomes more advanced, while goverments and politics become increasingly the tools with which human use to express compassion for the rest of the human race. Then the trend will surely be for religion to become increasingly the default tool of the evil alone, because that is the only share of the market left to it, its future looks very bleak.

"Ultra nationalism, plagues, tyrannical dictatorships with military and intelligence resources, colonialism, industrialization of slave labor "

All of these can be traced back to sources in "Holy Books" that advocate the idea of a chosen people, a master race or a blessed people favoured by a god, and that "lesser" races are there to be enslaved for the benefit of the godly.
The Bible is one of the first pieces of writing to advocate the use of spies and espionage and the idea that god appoints monarchs as "His" will being enacted and like wise prophets to be his mouthpiece giving the word of gawd to the kings, thus intertwining church and state.
Also though horrific idea that plagues and natural disasters are signs of gawd's displeasure and vengeance on people who sin against him.

In short if something is being exploited for power and wealth you will find "biblical" precedent and justification for it.

@Fernapple Right on spot, now we see a nice analysis here. Thank you, and i totally agree

@Pedrohbds "Catholicism supported Franco in Spain but opposed fascism in other lands."
Incorrect, I am sorry to say
Under the papacy of Pius XII the RCC supported fascism all over the world, especially it's racist and anti-Semitic policies. The church had concordats with all fascist nations and Pius XII even declared Hitler's Birthday a holy day.
The Catholic church genuinely believed that Hitler would win and wanted to be the official state religion when they did. It was after all Pius XII who instituted the far ranging expansion of Papal infallibility so he could state ex cathedra that fascism was the will of god. A "fact" used in some countries even after WW2 to justify regimes such as Argentine president Juan Perón right up till the late 20th century.
Even when European fascism was defeated and to this day the RCC has never excommunicated Hitler for his actions and deeds and remains in the annals of the RCC a Catholic in good standing, subject to the grace of Christ .
In other words in the eyes of the church Hitler is in Heaven while all the Jews he burned are burning still in Hell.