It has its pros and cons. On one hand, it gives people something to believe in, and helps provide answers for questions that are, quite frankly, unanswerable. However, religion has been the cause of death and violence for thousands of years. I think over all religion is good, just as long as you don't become a fanatic

What do you define as religion? Some beliefs may produce overall better results than others. It depends of the world view of the belief.

I believe relgion can be good or it can be bad. In the case of national relations, we cannot have peace with religion. Everyone, if we had the freedom of choice of religion, there would always be different sides with different opinions and such and such creating conflict. It is human nature to get into conflict, religion is just a reason to get into such conflicts. It does have some upsides such as unity, and a reason to live.. but these can be created other places.

Religion is potentially either one. It's been used to justify all sorts of evil. But it's also produced enormous good. Religion is basically formalized spirituality, and spirituality is mankind's progress towards wholeness and integration. Depending on your particular orientation, this might mean a special relationship with God and humanity, or integration with some other thing which transcends individuality. Done well, religion fosters spiritual development. Done poorly, it divides us into warring factions who will stop at nothing to be right and punish those who disagree with us.

You wont be surprised when I say that on the whole, history has shown us that religion is bad. Even today. we are seeing a growing "Taliban" of fundamental christianity in middle America and the rise of Islam in the east. The sad fact that being a non-religious person is seen as a character flaw, and even on this site, which has many intelligent and thoughtful people, take a contrary view on religion, and you are immediately rated down, without even the courtesy of a comment. There is of course a handful of people who will debate with you and these people are to be applauded, even if I dont agree with their views, I grudgingly respect them. I will be interesting to see how many downrates I get for this response...

I think religion is good for me it keeps my priorities straight. I think it is good for most people. However, the people that is killing other people in the name of their religion is bad. So this answer can go both ways.

As a Christian who goes to church more than once a week to hear sermons, study the Bible. I believe that it is a good thing. Because man is born with sin in their heart, a lot of the Bible has been misinterpreted to fit what man wanted it to fit, and therefore a lot of bad has been done. Great question, hope this helps your inquiry. In His grasp, <:))))<>< "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21

Religion, in my eyes, is nor good nor bad. It is what it is; a personal belief. Anything we believe or dedicate ourselves to is our religion. It doesn't have to have anything to do with god. God is what many call the figure of what they preach, what they pray to, what the follow. For otehrs, it could simply be music, or sports, or anything. I think it's good to have a belief system as far as what your own beliefs are that keep you going, but not to believe in it to the point where it runs your life. You have to be able to distinguish the difference between guidance, and ruling. Some people are so far down, taht they can't even see how they got in in the first place. Whatever you choose to believe in is fine. But you shouldn't let it run your life. You decide, and you see what kind of guidance you need. That's it, that's all, that's what it's all about, to me.

I don't think religion itself is necessarily bad or good. It is simply what people do with their religious beliefs or do in the name of religion. Yes, it has caused wars, but then so have other issues.

It may be a good thing on a selfish level, but ultimately it is quite harmful. . [Excert from "god is not Great - Christopher Hitchens] . "Four irreducible objections to religious faith: That is wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos; that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum of servility with the maximum of solipsism; that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimatley grounded on wish-thinking"

religion in and of itself isn't bad, it's dogma that's bad. and it's not just religious dogma either. blindly following dogma, whether it be religious, political or philosophical is a recipe for evil. we need to teach our kids critical thought and skepticism and how to think for themselves, how to question our leaders, all of them from every field.

Do not think about the idea of "religion", There is only TRUTH. The Lord in Heaven, The Holy Father, King of the Universe is THE ONE TRUE G-D. SEEK TRUTH, SEEK AND YOU SHALL FIND, LET THE TRUTH BE KNOWN youtube.com/daanielsong YOUTUBE>"Interview with and Ex-Vampire" tp://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/world/essays.htm http://www.atgpress.com/kifap/britcol/b1.htm --"When Cornwallis surrendered to Washington he surrendered the battle, not the war. Read the Article of Capitulation signed by Cornwallis at Yorktown (footnote 3) Jonathan Williams recorded in his book, Legions of Satan, 1781, that Cornwallis revealed to Washington during his surrender that "a holy war will now begin on America, and when it is ended America will be supposedly the citadel of freedom, but her millions will unknowingly be loyal subjects to the Crown."...."in less than two hundred years the whole nation will be working for divine world government. That government that they believe to be divine will be the British Empire.""-- --- ...Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD. Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins" "The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more-- {12} cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; {13} cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men. BODIES AND SOULS OF MEN. the illuminati, "the enlightened", they follow Lucifer, "the light bearer" and if you haven't read, most of our "presidents" were masons/illuminati and were loyal to the "british empire" though really if you've seen this video, when people swear allegiance to the "crown" they swear allegiance to a corperation that rules the world basically and as you can guess, is controlled by Lucifer. On http://www.illuminati-news.com/Articles/149.html Illuminati Document, Presented by Wes Penre, Apr 09, 2008 Introduction by Wes Penre, Illuminati News I can't guarantee the authenticity of this document, although the context pretty much describes the truth as it is. We don't know when it was written and exactly by whom, but it looks like it was composed by a British person if we look at the spelling of words, which is British English. This information was sent to me by someone who for obvious reasons wants to be anonymous. This person gave me this reply when I asked if he/she could verify the authenticity of it: THE SECRET COVENANT An illusion it will be, so large, so vast it will escape their perception. Those who will see it will be thought of as insane. We will create separate fronts to prevent them from seeing the connection between us. We will behave as if we are not connected to keep the illusion alive. Our goal will be accomplished one drop at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from seeing the changes as they occur. We will always stand above the relative field of their experience for we know the secrets of the absolute. We will work together always and will remain bound by blood and secrecy. Death will come to he who speaks. We will keep their lifespan short and their minds weak while pretending to do the opposite. We will use our knowledge of science and technology in subtle ways so they will never see what is happening. We will use soft metals, ageing accelerators and sedatives in food and water, also in the air. They will be blanketed by poisons everywhere they turn. The soft metals will cause them to lose their minds. We will promise to find a cure from our many fronts, yet we will feed them more poison. The poisons will be absorbed through their skin and mouths, they will destroy their minds and reproductive systems. From all this, their children will be born dead, and we will conceal this information. The poisons will be hidden in everything that surrounds them, in what they drink, eat, breathe and wear. We must be ingenious in dispensing the poisons for they can see far. We will teach them that the poisons are good, with fun images and musical tones. Those they look up to will help. We will enlist them to push our poisons. They will see our products being used in film and will grow accustomed to them and will never know their true effect. When they give birth we will inject poisons into the blood of their children and convince them it is for their help. We will start early on, when their minds are young, we will target their children with what children love most, sweet things. When their teeth decay we will fill them with metals that will kill their mind and steal their future. When their ability to learn has been affected, we will create medicine that will make them sicker and cause other diseases for which we will create yet more medicine. We will render them docile and weak before us by our power. They will grow depressed, slow and obese, and when they come to us for help, we will give them more poison. We will focus their attention toward money and material goods so they many never connect with their inner self. We will distract them with fornication, external pleasures and games so they may never be one with the oneness of it all. Their minds will belong to us and they will do as we say. If they refuse we shall find ways to implement mind-altering technology into their lives. We will use fear as our weapon. We will establish their governments and establish opposites within. We will own both sides. We will always hide our objective but carry out our plan. They will perform the labour for us and we shall prosper from their toil. Our families will never mix with theirs. Our blood must be pure always, for it is the way. We will make them kill each other when it suits us. We will keep them separated from the oneness by dogma and religion. We will control all aspects of their lives and tell them what to think and how. We will guide them kindly and gently letting them think they are guiding themselves. We will foment animosity between them through our factions. When a light shall shine among them, we shall extinguish it by ridicule, or death, whichever suits us best. We will make them rip each other's hearts apart and kill their own children. We will accomplish this by using hate as our ally, anger as our friend. The hate will blind them totally, and never shall they see that from their conflicts we emerge as their rulers. They will be busy killing each other. They will bathe in their own blood and kill their neighbours for as long as we see fit. We will benefit greatly from this, for they will not see us, for they cannot see us. We will continue to prosper from their wars and their deaths. We shall repeat this over and over until our ultimate goal is accomplished. We will continue to make them live in fear and anger though images and sounds. We will use all the tools we have to accomplish this. The tools will be provided by their labour. We will make them hate themselves and their neighbours. We will always hide the divine truth from them, that we are all one. This they must never know! They must never know that colour is an illusion, they must always think they are not equal. Drop by drop, drop by drop we will advance our goal. We will take over their land, resources and wealth to exercise total control over them. We will deceive them into accepting laws that will steal the little freedom they will have. We will establish a money system that will imprison them forever, keeping them and their children in debt. When they shall band together, we shall accuse them of crimes and present a different story to the world for we shall own all the media. We will use our media to control the flow of information and their sentiment in our favour. When they shall rise up against us we will crush them like insects, for they are less than that. They will be helpless to do anything for they will have no weapons. We will recruit some of their own to carry out our plans, we will promise them eternal life, but eternal life they will never have for they are not of us. The recruits will be called "initiates" and will be indoctrinated to believe false rites of passage to higher realms. Members of these groups will think they are one with us never knowing the truth. They must never learn this truth for they will turn against us. For their work they will be rewarded with earthly things and great titles, but never will they become immortal and join us, never will they receive the light and travel the stars. They will never reach the higher realms, for the killing of their own kind will prevent passage to the realm of enlightenment. This they will never know. The truth will be hidden in their face, so close they will not be able to focus on it until its too late. Oh yes, so grand the illusion of freedom will be, that they will never know they are our slaves. When all is in place, the reality we will have created for them will own them. This reality will be their prison. They will live in self-delusion. When our goal is accomplished a new era of domination will begin. Their minds will be bound by their beliefs, the beliefs we have established from time immemorial. But if they ever find out they are our equal, we shall perish then. THIS THEY MUST NEVER KNOW. If they ever find out that together they can vanquish us, they will take action. They must never, ever find out what we have done, for if they do, we shall have no place to run, for it will be easy to see who we are once the veil has fallen. Our actions will have revealed who we are and they will hunt us down and no person shall give us shelter. This is the secret covenant by which we shall live the rest of our present and future lives, for this reality will transcend many generations and life spans. This covenant is sealed by blood, our blood. We, the ones who from heaven to earth came. This covenant must NEVER, EVER be known to exist. It must NEVER, EVER be written or spoken of for if it is, the consciousness it will spawn will release the fury of the PRIME CREATOR upon us and we shall be cast to the depths from whence we came and remain there until the end time of infinity itself. and it seems in response to this leaking an anonymous posted a commented Xianist says 12/15/2008: This article is really just a synopsis of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion...it's nothing new or astounding. Have you ever thought that maybe you've been fed disinformation on purpose? You're not any different then William Cooper. Quite possibly you're already working for us and you don't even realize it. It's as plain as black and white. You either accept this, join us, or perish. It is what is meant to happen. It's humanity's destiny. Evil is good, and good is evil. We are the yang from ying in this world. Without us you would be a mindless drone in "utopia" always worshiping God without really loving him as the great architect of the universe. We bring the order in society. We've created the balance. The very toothpaste, which you use (hopefully multiple times) on a daily basis, could be infecting your body with all of the horrendous materials we've crafted. Our diseases have been pushed into absoluteness. There is nothing that our sinister tentacles have not infiltrated. Why do you think so many believe and trust the FDA? If only they knew the ingeniousness behind the booster shots, flu shots, antibiotics, and their biological mutations. We're profiting from the death of your family, friends, children, spouse, and even you. Ever been to the doctor? Had surgery or have been in the Emergency room? Remember the saline drip? You were never asked for your consent to push this cold clear killing agent into your blood. But, you were led to believe it was to rehydrate your body. As if your body doesn't naturally do so already! Look at the society you live in. Who are the new icons in America? Not politicians, hardly athletes, but your musicians, especially rap artists. We have controlled the African population in the American states so well. We've glorified their impoverished lifestyles. Their purposes are to only breed like the cells of an infectious disease, and completely waste any money we've given to them on a slew of material objects we've designed solely for them. We build them up, making them feel like they have equality. Even gave them a TV station to reach the masses of Africans to continuously force down their throats what, how, and why we want them to act. We've given them their own magazines, as if we actually care about their culture. They have been our best test subjects aside from a few of our own. Our very existence was created by God, for God, of God. We cannot be destroyed without first destroying the great architect of the universe, which is the definition of impossible. My brothers are the ones who serve you at the banks, create your food, made the vehicle you drive, the house you live in, the clothes you wear, the movies you watch, the books you read, the music you listen too, the fragrances you wash with, absolutely everything in you, on you, around you, we have created. God may have made you in his image, but we bred you into existence. What is imperative is that you know the extent of our ownership over you, namely your soul. You have been given a number. We have been given the master list of the numerals enlisted for death. Our savvy is death. Our secondary aptitude is control. Together we have become the unstoppable force, blowing in the wind, inhabiting every shadowy corner of the world. We are that unspoken word, ready to be spoken, but only when we determine the time is right.

Both. Religion has inspired many great innovations, reform movements, and ideas in our world. It has also caused/prolonged many wars and conflicts.

Both.

I think it is bad and the only truth in it is what dos not kill you makes you stronger.

i beileve curtain religion is good and beatiful but you have to know your religion i dont know what i would do without my beileves i would go crazy with questions i just wish some people would open their eyes to it before its to late but it can go both ways it could e bad and it could be good you know like pros and cons