What would be living in a religion-free society look like?

[dba07]

There will always be fools, zealots, and power hungry d bags. War, poverty, and oppression wouldnt completely go away, but at least it'll be clear what the purpose of war is...not to glorify some imaginary higher power, but the need to control others, and expand ones own influence.

[Nozzferrahhtoo]

Originally Posted by icametodropbombs

What do you think it would look like? Would the world be a better or worse place?

Better but not perfect. The main problem for human society today I think is the whole realm of unsubstantiated claims. The existence of god... and the religions based around that concept... is only one unsubstantiated claim from many. I think a society that deals better with the unsubstantiated is the ideal we need to work towards and the destruction of religion is only one stepping stone on that path.

Originally Posted by icametodropbombs

-Would charity suffer? All of the church-sponsored soup kitchens wouldn't exist. So where would that type of social support derive from? Additionally, there are typically religious holiday drives like Toys fror Tots, etc. all of which are gone.

I do not think charity would suffer in the long run no. People have charitable inclinations and religion is just the current "Go to" place for many people. If there were no religious institutions then people would just go elsewhere. Many already do and you should not underestimate just how many secular and non religious charities are out there.

Rather than suffer I think it would benefit in many ways. Many religions skim much off the top of donations to finance their Vatican Arts or Churches and more. Without those religions more money would go to places where the people donating it actually intended for it to go.

Further without religion people would not be using charity as a cover for going into places or countries with the agenda of spreading the faith. Ask yourself which is better... people going into a country to genuinely help the needy. Or people going in to help the needy in order to target the vulnerable for religious conversion?

Originally Posted by icametodropbombs

-Perhaps we would lose some great art. Naturally non-religious subjects can be inspiring, but inspiration strikes everyone differently, and for some of the great artists of the past religion was that inspiration.

Again I am not so sure this is true at all. I do not really think the inspiration for the art comes from religion. Rather I think the inspiration for art AND religion both come from somewhere else. In other words I do not think X inspires Y, but that Z inspires X and Y similarly and therefore people make the mistake of thinking X inspires Y.

We as a species have a penchant for personification. We always have. We represent aspects of the human condition, nature and the universe in human like form. We ascribe emotions and intentions to things that have no such thing. I think it is from THAT that we draw inspiration for art, folklore and literature.

Taking that personification too far and starting to think the personifications exist is what results in things like religion.

So rather than religion inspiring art I think that religion is the result of taking the artistic inspiration too far and I see little to no reason to expect that the destruction of religion would result in any reduction in artistic inspiration in our species.

[Nozzferrahhtoo]

Originally Posted by bchris02

North Korea, the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, etc are/were all religion free.

Not really. State religion is still religion and has nothing to do at all with atheist or secular ideals. The first of your examples is a good place to start. That is a state that claims that the Eternal Leader who is now dead still runs the country through a semi-reincarnation via his own off spring. They also claim the birds sang in Korean for him, I think on the day of his Birth and again on the day of his crowning as Leader.

If you think that sounds like "religion free" then so be it but you have a definition of religion free that is unrecognizable to me.

[TRANSPONDER]

I think that is so. While state leaders are a warning to atheism, the excesses of the Marxist states were down to the Marxist dogma which effectively became a religion in itself - state - approved dogma enforced by inquisition, questioning being a heresy, dissidents executed or banished and the great leader raised to supreme status. In Korea,the family is now a divine dynasty and the regime is now no more marxist than China. The only similarity they have is one - party rule.

[Astron1000]

Originally Posted by icametodropbombs

What do you think it would look like? Would the world be a better or worse place?
....

It might look like the Federation, since Star Trek is based upon atheism.

[MrBlueSky_]

Originally Posted by Astron1000

It might look like the Federation, since Star Trek is based upon atheism.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest.
And can you imagine what Star Trek would be like in a future where religion, and particularly Christianity held power?

Aliens would be considered inferior to humans since humans were created in God's image.
The prime directive would be to "save" the galaxy by conquering and converting it to Christ.
Starfleet would be a missionary (or Conquistador) organization.
Creationism and Bible study would be compulsory subjects at Starfleet Academy.
Prayer would be used in sickbay instead of tricorders and other advanced medical instruments.
Prayer would be required before all away missions/beaming down to alien planets...
Feel free to add more...