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Re: Does Religion cause war? -
September 9th 2009, 06:55 AM
In some ways, yes, and in others no. I'd say - and I'm only guessing - more leaders throughout history started wars because of greed than religion. But a greedy leader does not an army make, and religion is one of the single post powerful tools for controlling large numbers of people. It's not that religion preaches violence directly - though some do - but more that it teaches obedience and discipline. The promise of an afterlife doesn't help matters either; as an atheist, I can think of very few things less appealing than marching off to be relieved of the sixty or seventy years of consciousness I have left.
The atoms that make up you and me were born in the hearts of suns many times greater than ours, and in time our atoms will once again reside amongst the stars. Life is but an idle dalliance of the cosmos, frail, and soon forgotten. We have been set adrift in an ocean whose tides we are only beginning to comprehend and with that maturity has come the realization that we are, at least for now, alone. In that loneliness, it falls to us to shine as brightly as the stars from which we came.
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