First, let me state for the record that I am agnostic, I simply believe that we cannot, and don not know what is out there (Religiously speaking), so we cannot form any types of organized religion. Think about this, in nearly every culture, every community, every country on the planet has a different religious view. All members of these religions all strongly believe that their religion is true. I'm going to quote Homer Simpson here, yeah, thats right, Homer (DOH!!!), "But what if we picked the wrong god? Suppose we are wrong!". This quote is in the comedic point of view on this stand about religion of course, but in the same way, it is also just as relevent as it is funny (or not funny depending on how close-minded you are). Thats only one way of looking at it. Ask yourself this, has organized religion really contributed as much as hinder the community? Let me restate once again, I am agnostic, so i do not comepletely reject the notion of a higher power, but as civilized human beings, we should be able to realize that we also cannot say that we do know, because we don't.

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Well, actually yes.
Organized religion was impossible to seperate from the other aspects of early tribal societies.
It's only become a problem since modern times when people from all other are trying to get along peacefully in huge nation-states.
But since organized religion did help us to get this far, I'd say it helped more than it hindered.
I wouldn't complain if it disappeared overnight now, as it's not doing us much good now.

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Definitely a good point. My religious views are simple: you don't need to subscribe to any organized religion to believe there is a higher power.

I don't affirm there is a God to anyone but myself as my religious beliefs are for nobody but myself. I also wait to be proven right or wrong. As far as organized religion goes, I think it has destroyed the meaning of faith, practice, and understanding of God. I also believe it was used as a tool to facilitate societal behavior. As a result of all this a lot of people simply go through the motions and never make a spiritual connection between their beliefs and actions.

I know that my God is the right God, so why am I even on this thread?

The tags are even biased!

Here is one instance of proof: the people of the Andaman Islands, off of India, follow a religion that is eerily similar to the Judeo-Christian faith. By the way, these people have been isolated for thousands of years, to the point where they have never learned how to create fire. They carry fire around in pots, and preserve the flame, so that they may cook and worship. Some of their language has never been studied.

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I can't speak to all organized religion everywhere as a homogenous group, because it obviously is not; however, Christianity teaches patience, forgiveness, charity, self awareness, and putting others' interests above your own.

If those teachings are detrimental to society, I am all ears for the explanation. I understand that some call themselves Christians and then do not follow the teachings, but can you really blame the religion itself for fakes that claim to be a part of it but are not?

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It's not the fundamentals of religion, it's how it was used by societies.

Does disorganized religion cause problems as well?

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I agree this is a good question and one that I have grappled with myself. At least for the present, my thoughts are most aligned with those above that have indicated it is not the religious precepts that are the problem, but rather their distortion by some for their own purposes. I was raised in the Church of the Brethren, a pacifist church. Early in my life I found them to be hypocritical during the Vietnam war. It was also about this time that it dawned on me that if God were truly omnipotent, he, or she, or it, would not have an ego, and therefore would not have the need to be worshipped. That pretty much ended my church going days. Would I defend my family and myself from a direct threat. You betcha I would. However . . . . .

Like with UFO's, I don't know for sure if there is a God, but I find it hard to believe he, she, it, would support any of us killing each other preemtively as in the Iraq war. I am completely perplexed how anyone that claims to be a Christian, or anyone who even believes in the ethical treatment of others, can justify our war with Iraq.

If anyone can explaing this to me, I would be very interested.

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