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Humanity is a hard thing to overcome. The majority of society at least in the US is also overweight and completely undisciplined. Society makes it easy for people to be this way.
If we changed society to reflect our values, then people would be more inclined to do the right thing.
You do realize that "the majority of society" in the US are also self proclaimed Christians, right?
Sort of shoot your fuzzy thought train in the foot, or to make it easier for you to understand it proves you to be wrong.
I believe that some people who are naturally good would continue to be naturally good without religion.
But the majority of people do need some restrictions in order to force them to behave. They won't naturally choose "the right" thing to do. And it's these people that religion keeps under control.
I have to admit that I feel much safer when I am around Christians (if they follow the rules of Christianity) because they are taught to be good and not to cheat and not to steal.
The government also teaches that and has punishment in place to prevent that. However, the government can't "see" everywhere and so people do it when they know they can get away with it. With religion it's different because "GOD can see everything" and he will punish you if you do it. So it keeps some from doing it.
Some murderers stop killing when they convert to Christianity. Some drunks stop drinking.
So I definitely believe that Christianity reduces crime rates.
When people have a problem with Christianity it's usually because it's too controlling and it takes away our freedoms. But, by being so restrictive, it's definitely good for the crime rates being down.
The way we argue is - suppose you lost your religion. What would you do different? Would your morals immediately go out of the window?
Usually we get away with it as nobody wants to admit...'Hell yeah...if only I didn't believe that Jesus was watching me through a CCTV, I'd be on top of the cute chick next door with her folks kept off with a sawn -off shotgun and bricking the window of the bike store and swiping that model I never got the money for as they keep putting the price up...'
But in fact, I have a theory.... ... that some of the really bad dudes around here are that way because they lost religion but, being brought up as part of a strict churchgoer family... "Now you just look happy now we off to church and you got to wear a tie or it is disrespectful to Jesus, and no sucking Haribo gummies like last time..'
...They never got to work out an alternative morality and they got nothing to fall back on.
So yeah, maybe in their view if they didn't believe that God was watching to see they didn't play with themselves, they would would be down the mall with their FN SCAR (1) wasting the shoppers for no better reason than they saw no reason why they shouldn't. They'd have been down there long ago trashing the populace if they got the idea in their head that their god had given a good reason why they should.
Maybe that's why society not only can persist without religion - all religion - but I begin to wonder if it can survive without getting rid of it.
I love it here
(1) Yeah...I had to look it up
If I didn't believe in God or Karma or anything like that, I would absolutely live my life differently, as my values would change.
I would certainly be more inclined to follow society. I would probably try and emulate what I see on TV.
You do realize that "the majority of society" in the US are also self proclaimed Christians, right?
Sort of shoot your fuzzy thought train in the foot, or to make it easier for you to understand it proves you to be wrong.
The majority of people also believe they are good people, yet they clearly don't care about the troops that come back missing limbs because if they did, they would send home the troops.
However, if they did this, in many cases at least, they would be forced to sacrifice their lifestyle of extravagance. People's behavior shows where their true values lie.
It's hard to be a Christian. It takes a tremendous amount of self discipline and sacrifice to be a Christian. These are not values that are espoused by our culture.
Humanity is a hard thing to overcome. The majority of society at least in the US is also overweight and completely undisciplined. Society makes it easy for people to be this way.
If we changed society to reflect our values, then people would be more inclined to do the right thing.
It sounds like you're saying that it's the fault of society that Christians do bad things? You want society to change so that Christians can live like they believe they are supposed to?
I'm not sure people have the foresight to see what they are creating when they are taking Jesus out of people's lives.
It certainly isn't a world I would like to live in.
You better get used to it because that is the kind of world you live in now.
Jesus means nothing to a lot of us, and you have to deal with people like us every day.
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as nobody wants to admit...'Hell yeah...if only I didn't believe that Jesus was watching me through a CCTV, I'd be on top of the cute chick next door with her folks kept off with a sawn -off shotgun and bricking the window of the bike store and swiping that model I never got the money for as they keep putting the price up...' 
... that some of the really bad dudes around here are that way because they lost religion but, being brought up as part of a strict churchgoer family... "Now you just look happy now we off to church and you got to wear a tie or it is disrespectful to Jesus, and no sucking Haribo gummies like last time..'
