Re: What if?
[ QUOTE ]
At least the idea of a higher being keeps people in check and also together as a society, if they hold a common belief.
[/ QUOTE ]
The last statement seems to fit well with the facts, the first doesn't. A common philosophy is a big help to a society, but it can be quakers, zen buddhists, taoists, secular humanists, etc, the benefit is not dependant on a belief in a personal-intervening-god. Looking around the current world and through history gives no edge to those cultures that develop dependency on a omipotent father figure. The US as the current most religous nation in the leading western group doesn't support the first premise either.
Even in the 'godless' countries, it's not the citizens that turned barbaric it is government treatment of the citizens. No different than the old South Africa, or Taliban ruled Afg, or Iran, or ...
Yes, no religion would improve humanity, but it has to be a culture that arrives at it openly, like current europe or japan, so the social structure fits the belief system.
|