A World Without Islam

[SebC]

I would love it if that chart was using some kind of quantifiable vertical axis (like the Kardashev scale) and actual (albeit estimated) data.

[theonlywhiteout]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

Religion

Perhaps what I should have said was it's not my original thought but I agree with it.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by TriCitiesHockeyFan

i know christianity isn't all religions but...

Why would someone even bother to create a chart out of this, when it's obvious at first glance that it's not connected to any sort of data. Or reality in general for that matter.

[Henry Fool]

Originally Posted by Itse

Why would someone even bother to create a chart out of this, when it's obvious at first glance that it's not connected to any sort of data. Or reality in general for that matter.

The answer is usually the same: it's the grand information age, and no matter how uncultivated we are, we instinctively assume that we occupy the apex of human civilization. People who are profoundly ignorant about science and history are the ones who insist on having the strongest, loudest, simplest, laziest, most stubborn opinions about them.

[edit]

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by theonlywhiteout

religion, albeit distasteful to me was a natural evolutionary "tool" of our species. Without it I don't think we would have been as successful as we were

Patton Oswalt explains it VERY well.

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2...ns_the_ori.php

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It's not a very interesting or deep premise though. It's basically just: "people will be people, war will always happen, we'd just find something else to fight over, they just hate us occupying their countries, etc." even if Islam didn't exist.

I think that is pretty much true though. All wars, even ones that use religion as a catalyst, are rooted the competition for power and resources that seems to be in our nature as humans. It's not like if religion never existed, we wouldn't compete for the same things we do now. Even in relatively more secular parts of the world, we see things like nationalism and ideology taking the place of religion as way humans decide to separate themselves from others and allot resources.

[yads]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

The best part of that chart is how it assumes all other religions and cultures didnt exist. What was up with Asia and the Muslims at this time?

I don't know I thought the best part was the completely arbitrary 'scientific advancement' axis.

[The Yen Man]

My opinion on religion has always been that it's a tool created by a few individuals to control the masses and get them to obey commands without using real force. It gets people to abide by rules on their own rather than have it forced on them, which makes them much easier to control.

I mean, think about religion for a second. It's all basically based on someone else's recollection of an event that happened a long time ago. That's essentially the same as a story from a friend of my brother in law's cousin's next door neighbor.

[peter12]

These threads are routinely cringe-inducing for me.

[StoneCole]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i'd prefer a world without religion

Science Damn You!

Science H. Logic

...it's so simple: a world without religion. Solves all of our problems.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by TriCitiesHockeyFan

i know christianity isn't all religions but...

This graph is BS.

There was strong religion before and after the "dark ages". Although many scientific and cultural achievements happened in the middle ages, the relative lack of such events in Europe had more to do with the collapse of the Roman Empire than any religious control.

The Renaissance, on the other hand, was largely inspired by religion. If you look at a lot of the great artisitic works from the Renaissance period, they often have religion as their subject.

[Muta]

Palestinian Held for Facebook Criticism of Islam

http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/worl...f-islam--page1

Some excerpts:

He now faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence."

Many in this conservative Muslim town say that isn't enough, and suggested he should be killed for renouncing Islam. Even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.

---

...Husayin is suspected of posting arguments in favour of atheism on English and Arabic blogs, where he described the God of Islam as having the attributes of a "primitive Bedouin." He called Islam a "blind faith that grows and takes over people's minds where there is irrationality and ignorance."

If that wasn't enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an.

---

Why is the response to this blogger so violent in its nature? Surely people would understand that the best way for people to address this situation is to pray for his forgiveness... not to get all cranky and death incarnate and put him in jail for life / call for his head. Right?

[Knalus]

Fixed

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i think religion has held back human advancement more than it has helped. look at how far advanced the Romans were at their height, compared to the dark ages that followed after Christianity was born. you had the Roman church imprisoning Galileo for trying to advance scientific thinking, and calling Charles Darwin a heretic. and today you have the church telling an AIDS plagued Africa to not use condoms, fighting against stem cell research, and schools in America actually debating on whether to teach creationism over evolution

every religion in the world seems focused on tradition, faith in old beliefs, and very hesitant to change. that flies in the face of advancement

Bah Humanity as held up human advancement. I mean religion was created by humanity after all, if not for religion something else.

[burn_this_city]

I'd prefer a world without people. Think how nice that place would be.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by blankall

This graph is BS.

There was strong religion before and after the "dark ages". Although many scientific and cultural achievements happened in the middle ages, the relative lack of such events in Europe had more to do with the collapse of the Roman Empire than any religious control.

The Renaissance, on the other hand, was largely inspired by religion. If you look at a lot of the great artisitic works from the Renaissance period, they often have religion as their subject.

Exactly.

How many people learned to read by using the Lutheran Bible in the 16th century? It pretty much sparked any trend for people outside the aristocracy or religious leadership to be literate.

People can be against religion for any number of 100 reasons and have a solid footing to base at least part of their arguments on but to blame it for the ills of the world during the Dark Ages just shows they really have no idea what they are talking about. Religion, Politics, Environmental issues and Disease all played parts.

[CaptainCrunch]

While you could state that Relgion held up scientific study in the dark ages, you could also argue that the governmental system at the time did a greater job of that through the repression of education and reading by the masses.

A educated person is not working in the fields or building castles, instead they're wasting their time reading and writing and ploting a revolution. Its pretty simplistic to soley base the dark ages on Relgion, while it did cause problems it was not the soul problems.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Exactly.

How many people learned to read by using the Lutheran Bible in the 16th century? It pretty much sparked any trend for people outside the aristocracy or religious leadership to be literate.

People can be against religion for any number of 100 reasons and have a solid footing to base at least part of their arguments on but to blame it for the ills of the world during the Dark Ages just shows they really have no idea what they are talking about. Religion, Politics, Environmental issues and Disease all played parts.

Not to mention that wars tend to be vectors for spreading technology and science. The Crusades (which are often pointed to as "religon based wars") introduced mathematics and social ideas to Europe from a civilization that was more advanced in someways at the time.

And it is not like the Crusades were 100% religiously inspired either. Famine and the desire for plunder by "poor" kings were largely the cause, as was obtaining relics that could be used to increase support from their subjects. Only a fool would look at those wars and blame them solely on religion.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by WilsonFourTwo

Patton Oswalt explains it VERY well.

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2...ns_the_ori.php

This is the new commercial entertainment. Make bad jokes about religion, people clap like seals, profit.

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by TriCitiesHockeyFan

i know christianity isn't all religions but...

That is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen, on several levels.