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> Religion has been a major source of soothing and a major source of suffering for all of humanity's past The idea that religion is such a big source of suffer

> Religion has been a major source of soothing and a major source of suffering for all of humanity's past The idea that religion is such a big source of suffering throughout all of our history is one I stopped believing once I took a closer look at the actual nature of war, particulary how a country's elite is moving closer to war and how "religious" said elite actually is. IMO the amounts of blood shed over millenia would have been the same under atheists. And because today most of us are Atheists/Agnostics, and because most of these millenias' rulers weren't, it is our "agnostic hindsight" which follies us into believing that this suffering was all just caused by religion.

beaconstudios 5y ago
Yep, war has always been about resources and the fights of the elites. Religion is only ever an excuse, just like WMDs or whatever; a convenient lie to mislead the populous into believing there's a legitimate casus belli.
truetraveller 5y ago
Thank you. For anyone in doubt, look at despicable acts that governments have committed. Like how they massacred thousands, in the name of Imperialism / "Freedom".
- dang 5y ago
  You've posted a ton of flamewar comments to this thread—not just religious flamewar but nationalistic flamewar too. This is badly breaking the site guidelines and we ban such accounts. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it. And please, no more flamewar comments of any kind and certainly not these kinds!
worrycue 5y ago
I believe plenty of people have been killed for religious reasons. Sure religion is used as an excuse to start wars but wouldn't the fact that it works means people are willing to kill because of it?
- mensetmanusman 5y ago
  WW2 was 90% Christians killing Christians. People forget how easily the powerful can manipulate the poor to kill themselves.
pbourke 5y ago
> The idea that religion is such a big source of suffering throughout all of our history is one I stopped believing The Irish Troubles Muslim/Hindu conflict in India Church-run residential schools in Canada and the US ISIS The suicide rate among LGBT youth Rohingya genocide The Taliban Israeli/Palestinian conflict The destruction of indigenous cultures by missionaries 9/11 - should I start on the 19th century?
analog31 5y ago
To be fair, the good things that happened in the past might also have been the same under atheists. The thing that's puzzling to me is that religion is supposed to have such a profound effect on society, but is utterly innocent of involvement in anything bad that happens. Granted it's very hard to pin historical events on specific root causes.

beaconstudios 5y ago

Yep, war has always been about resources and the fights of the elites. Religion is only ever an excuse, just like WMDs or whatever; a convenient lie to mislead the populous into believing there's a legitimate casus belli.

truetraveller 5y ago

Thank you. For anyone in doubt, look at despicable acts that governments have committed. Like how they massacred thousands, in the name of Imperialism / "Freedom".

dang 5y ago
You've posted a ton of flamewar comments to this thread—not just religious flamewar but nationalistic flamewar too. This is badly breaking the site guidelines and we ban such accounts. If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it. And please, no more flamewar comments of any kind and certainly not these kinds!

worrycue 5y ago

I believe plenty of people have been killed for religious reasons. Sure religion is used as an excuse to start wars but wouldn't the fact that it works means people are willing to kill because of it?

mensetmanusman 5y ago
WW2 was 90% Christians killing Christians. People forget how easily the powerful can manipulate the poor to kill themselves.

pbourke 5y ago

> The idea that religion is such a big source of suffering throughout all of our history is one I stopped believing The Irish Troubles Muslim/Hindu conflict in India Church-run residential schools in Canada and the US ISIS The suicide rate among LGBT youth Rohingya genocide The Taliban Israeli/Palestinian conflict The destruction of indigenous cultures by missionaries 9/11 - should I start on the 19th century?

analog31 5y ago

To be fair, the good things that happened in the past might also have been the same under atheists. The thing that's puzzling to me is that religion is supposed to have such a profound effect on society, but is utterly innocent of involvement in anything bad that happens. Granted it's very hard to pin historical events on specific root causes.