What would happen if we all suddenly 'forgot' about religion?

Let's say the entire population of the earth wakes up tomorrow, and somehow every bit of religious belief has been scrubbed from our minds? What do you think would happen?

Rather, it's the principle of doctrinal infallibility that's causing most of the trouble.

Imagine if you will a religion that admits it doesn't really know what its deity wants or requires. It understands that "gospel" and practice are man-made artifacts, which imperfectly attempt to communicate ineffable, transcendental ideas. Believers in this sort of faith are, I would argue, much less likely to engage in "holy wars" or strive to impose "God's Will" on others, simply because they can't claim to have any direct knowledge of God's Will themselves.

Now look at religions like Christianity and Islam, both of which (in their extreme forms) consider the concept of the infallibility of "divine revelation" to be central to the faith. The Bible and the Koran are the direct word of God, and anyone who doesn't believe that better watch out. The fanatical believers go even further, denying that any interpretation of scripture is permissible. The Word of God is as written, and any attempt to interpret it is blasphemy (which is, in itself, an interpretation, but then fanatics have never been big fans of irony). These believers are much more likely to go to war in their unending quest, holy text in one hand and gun in the other, to rid the world of "unbelievers" and "infidels."

To answer your question, if, on the day we suddenly forgot religion, we quickly replaced it with another "infallible" philosophy, then things would go on pretty much as they are now. If, however, whatever force scrubbed religion from our brains also scrubbed our propensity for believing that ideologies and other made-up guff are as real as rocks and trees, then we might have a chance at a better future.

from the questions Who Am I and Why Am I Here?

and NEVER is god part of the answer.

Entertainment and her sister fashion are the new opiates of the masses.

missing, something important.

But they'd just go on searching for God in some other way, and soon you'd have "religion" again.

to the "god-shaped hole" chestnut.

those of us who do believe don't necessary do so only as an intellectual exercise. To us, it's usually something deeply felt. Without formal religion, we'd still feel it, search for that connection to the divine. I don't believe it to be entirely learned; I think for some of us it's cell-deep.

Some people are naturally spiritual. I know two people who were raised as atheists but felt irresistibly drawn to religion, much to their parents' dismay.

They'd roll it up and periodically gather together to admire each others' string-balls. The best string-ball makers would emerge as powerful leaders. Arguments would erupt over the relative merits of various types of string. Some string-ball groups would combine their string into larger and larger balls. Some of the balls of string would become very large indeed, and people would travel great distances to see them. Rival string-ball factions would attempt to steal larger or better string-balls from each other and then combine them with their own. Neighborhood fights would break out, then regional battles, and so on. A great many people would die in string-ball wars. Society would begin to break down. A few people would see what was going on and urge non-stringers and disaffected former stringers to turn their energies to making large stone heads instead. Soon, large stone heads would appear in neighborhoods across the globe. For many, the large stone heads would become a compelling and relatively benign alternative to string-ball making. Dedicated stringers, on the other hand, would perceive the large stone heads as a serious threat to their way of life and would take ruthless steps to eliminate them. The leader of the large stone headmakers would be killed after a series of stringer-lead atrocities. Rumors would fly that the leader of the headmakers had risen from the grave and would someday return to smite his enemies. Millions of his followers would wait centuries for his return. And so on.

I'd bet my stash is bigger than yours. ;) Though, knitters and beaders are in the midst of an uneasy truce right now, which might erupt into 'net arguments should that stone thing ever happen. That's obviously a beader's idea.

Don't get me started on the quilters, though. ;)

and centuries.

and some other nasty things.

When I forget, it's wonderful.

It's freedom.

I'm a preacher's kid, and I saw the job from the inside.

They administer an organization, plan and coordinate its activities, teach classes, are on call and expected to show up whenever any parishioner is hospitalized, bereaved, or even arrested; conduct funerals and weddings (each of which involves up to several hours of preparation time with the people involved), write a 20-minute speech every week, and in small parishes, even do what would be secretarial work (typing and printing the bulletins) and janitorial work (fixing clogged toilets). In a large parish, they may spend hours per week listening to people's troubles (and in the mainstream denominations, they're trained to spot those who need to see a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist instead of just a listening ear). They also look in on activities that they are not directly involved in.

And yes, contrary to legend, their salaries are taxable.

This was early 70s, and already the high drama of being End Times Christians had seized half his flock (Texas has always been home to cutting edge religious nuttery and they embraced Hal Lindsay like he was Jesus' little brother). He had his hands full with charismatic "visionaries" in his church who'd get the word from God the world was blinking out before the end of the month, causing people to quit their jobs, sell their stuff, leave their spouses, tell their families what they really thought of them, and all other sorts of idiocy. When the Exorcist blew through town, I doubt he had a full night's sleep for a solid month, he was called out to play Ghostbuster so often.

Poor guy was just too old school to deal with the new Turbo Christianity, and one night had an episode where he couldn't speak. He'd had a minor stroke and was reassigned not long after. Young guy too, early thirties.

but he did have to deal with a Southern Baptist woman who came through town setting up Bible classes and convincing several of the women in the congregation that everyone who wasn't a Biblical literalist was going to hell. "The Bible class crowd" became a recognizable and annoying group, complaining, in essence, that their Lutheran pastor wasn't acting like a Southern Baptist.

They caused so much trouble that when we were watching the wonderful British comedy The Wrong Box and my dad heard the line, "My father was a missionary in Africa, but he was eaten by his Bible class," he laughed harder than I had ever seen him laugh.

That IS a funny line!

This preacher is the guy I'd once told you had baptized me. Me, the non-believing, non-churching kid. He was such a sweet guy and good neighbor that when he invited a few of us from the street, we actually thought it'd be a neat thing to do. He was so happy that Sunday, he was nearly dancing. Never gave me any grief about not coming back, either. I was baptized, he got to do it, and that was good enough.

That's the sort of thing he really wanted to do, I think. It was just his bad luck he landed in a mob of high maintenance Technicolor Sensurround Texas Christians. I'd heard later that he was doing well at his new church. I hope so, he deserved a little peace and contentment after what he'd been through.

with one of the members . . . and he had to leave ---


I only know about this because it was townwide gossip -- it broke up two marriages ---

It's a sad fact that many people in the country/world need to be told what to do. They are ignorant and gullible and they need to be driven by fear of afterlife retribution in order to live a moral life.

So, unfortunately, I think without religion the world would be a worse place. I'm not religious at all, but I think a lot of people, without that fear of getting in trouble after you die would just start running around like anarchists and killing/raping/stealing, etc.

Sadly, I have little faith in humanity.

which is personal and individual and has more to do with a universal feeling of connectedness.

On the other hand, I think that this spirituality and connectedness also can bring an

understanding of reincarnation which was taught at one time by ALL the major religions.

If we are here once, we can certainly be here 100 X ---

and it does make a difference to thinking --- what if we come back as male or female ---

as a person of color --- homosexual --- transgender?


And, perhaps, the strongest spirits among us take on the most difficult lives ---???

There are plenty of things that people get obstinately militant on this board over, that have absolutely nothing to do with faith. All you have to do is go into the dungeon and look at the various theories about September 11th, or check the archives for GD-P and look at the various arguments regarding favorite candidates. In each of these cases a subject was latched upon and defended with unyielding obstinacy, much like any religious fanatic. Hence no religion = no change, it's human nature to worship something, even if its just our own egos.