What good has religion done in the history of mankind?

Question

answers with substance are prefered

Answer 1

None.  

Answer 2

Population control, and keeping governments in power. I would say that religion inspires charities, but most of the money just goes to the church.

Answer 3

I was told good is subjective so could you please clarify what you mean by good?

Answer 4

helped mother teresa do something productive with her time

Answer 5

Religion releases stress by providing an answer when you otherwise can't see a logical reason for something.  It let's you shift the burden of life onto some other shoulder(s).  It allows you to get on with the day to day life issues and not worry about the bigger picture because it's someone else's problem.

Organized religion has brought order. It set up codes of conduct that made communities work together and provided a certain safety for the weaker members of that community.  Some branches of it have supported the arts, provided medical care, shelter and food for those in need.  It created libraries, temples, churches, mosques which are/were showcases for those with talent.

Until mankind develops a better way to maintain order, its the best we have.  

You don't have to be religious to respect what religion has done for mankind.  Nor do you have to be religious to abhor the wrongs some people have done in the name of religion.

Answer 6

Very little, organized religion is like organized crime, both can be very dangerous to humanity.

Answer 7

It's been beneficial in some cases, and deleterious in others.  Someone would need a PhD in World History to examine and discuss every single case that religion helped or harmed civilization.  In general, religion doesn't matter.  God judges people based on how they lived their lives, and on their morals and ethics.

Answer 8

NONE

Answer 9

If your asking because you honestly don't know, then fine. It's like the Airlines considering banning alcohol on board flights because 90% of all in flight incidents involve alcohol abuse.  Now bear with me here but isn't it possible that Alcohol has also prevented just as much or more incidents do to it's calming effect? I can't answer your question with any exact or precise information. But I'm sure you can see were I'm going with this. And if your asking just man up on the Atheist band wagon that's fine too.  There is strength in numbers, if you feel the need for affirmation cool. But seriously, your question does seem to reflect a little insecurity. In as much as religion no matter how unnecessary in your eyes has historically probably done as much good as it has damage.

Answer 10

Worst argument I've ever heard "hurting people =bad, so you shouldn't hurt people."  I sound horrible for challenging that but... why?  There has to be a reason.  To not do something without a reason when you can benefit more from DOING it... that would be irrational.  This is long, I apologize.  Really, it can be boiled down to a few sentences but people challenge it with the above argument because they either can't understand or accept it (kind of how a religious person wouldn't accept their faith being false) so it's very redundant because I'm winging it and not writing out the whole logic thread (much longer).

A spiritual existence(not religion specific) has given a reason for most of mankind's way of functioning in the world.  It has given reason for doing or not doing actions, it has given purpose for rules/laws/morals, it has given a reason for caring about pain/pleasure and the lives of other people and your affect on them (read on...).  There has to be a reason to do what's good for others at the expense of your own one-shot experience of life.  This I guess could be deemed as having done something "good."

This is hard to accept but it follows the logic.  A spiritual aspect to the universe provides a permanence as well as a balance or universal law or truth, an OBJECTIVE purpose/reason.  In the universe with NO spiritual aspect, everything is impermanent (physics/biology, whether 1 day, 10 years, or many billions of years).  There is no objective only SUBJECTIVE or abstract/arbitrary designations of purpose/reason.

Take for example something we "seem" to agree on, murder is wrong.  Well, what does "wrong" mean?  Is something "wrong" only because we as a society or group agree that an action is not favorable (what if another group doesn't agree? who is right? why?)?  Is it not "wrong" but merely... disagreeable?  Do we "feel" that something is "wrong" because of an emotion (whether socially ingrained or biologically programmed) or instinct and therefore designate it as something to be avoided?  Are those who are able to overcome feelings/instincts and commit such actions damaged (or do they "get it")?  (people DO overcome feelings with new learning and understanding even when it endangers their own lives... think of drug use, joining a dangerous military service, suicide, or shooting your own rabid dog yeller)  

Finally, is something "wrong" because it simply IS... even in the absence of the surrounding group's judgement?

(this is hard to accept because people want to hold onto the idea that right/wrong can still exist... try to stay with me)

In the physical world, it cannot be denied that there are people who DO commit acts deemed "wrong" and they DO get away with it and they DO gain from it.  It has happened.  Take murder, for example.  If Joe, a homeless and hungry person who has gambled away his life and now knows only stress and discomfort, weighs his options and decides to murder someone for a substantial amount of money and believes he can get away with it then he has to ask why he shouldn't.  

First, what is death:  If when you die you cease to exist... that means you have no awareness or experience that you died, or that you ever lived in the first place and for how long... or what you're missing out on.

Okay, doesn't the potential victim deserve to experience life?  What if Joe doesn't care about his victims "right to life" over his own potential comforts?  What about the potential victim's usefulness to society?  Joe doesn't care about that, the victim's usefulness won't affect Joe as he is starving to death anyway, and to care about society over one's own life-experience when even society (and humanity, and Earth) are all impermanent... doesn't make sense to Joe to sacrifice his own comfort.  So, Joe goes through with the murder, makes a lot of money and now lives in comfort.  He gained from taking this life.  He has no care about having done so.  Joe dies years later (old age).

Now, in the end, let's say we have a person who committed their life to exploiting the lives of others and that this person gained from doing "horrible" things.  We have another person who dedicated their life to contributing to society and general humanitarianism.  Both are happy in their final days when they die.  The murderer (who managed to escape the law) and the humanitarian both end up the same.  There is no universal balance, no judgement.  I don't mean "punishment" but that works too... what I mean is there is no higher universal good to aspire to either.  So, both cease to exist after death with no awareness of what they had done or how they affected others or if they did "good" or "bad."  This understanding opens up a lot of doors.  You've probably noticed I used the word "care" a lot.  The final point is that in the absence of a permanent/objective truth, you are ALLOWED to not care.  You can be "good" if you want to, but you can also be "bad" and not care what that entai

Answer 11

Given people food, clothing, shelter, medical aid, financial aid, counseling, etc free of charge. The Catholic church certainly made my life a LOT easier when I was a teenager...and they knew I was an atheist. I've also seen people gain respect for themselves and their lives through religion.  You gotta love people that love.

Answer 12

religion kills.  religion is all about control, rules and regulations..

Following Christ Jesus is a choice we Christian have made.  Its a personnel relationship with Christ Jesus, we obey His word.. then we have peace, joy and love..  Even if u'r being trashed, used, beaten or even left behind, it the reward we'll receive after our earthly life.  Our bodies will go back to the earth and our spirit will return to LORD to gave it to us.

Answer 13

You know all those questions on here about how atheists cant possibly behave morally because if they do not believe in the bible they cant under stand morals?  Or the ones about atheists doing whatever they want because they don't think God will punish them?  Yeah, how do you think THOSE people would behave if it weren't for the threat of h**l and list of rules?  For all of the terrible things religion has done (ie. religious cleansing, war, witch hunts) I really do think that some people need religion to keep them in line.  Some people truly need the 'caution; contents hot' label on their starbucks.

Answer 14

Hearts, stars, and horseshoes!

Clovers and blue moons!

Pots of gold and rainbows!

And me red balloons!

Answer 15

The only true religion, Christianity, has saved millions of people from eternal punishment in h**l...How's that for impact?

Answer 16

Population Control through various wars and other methods

Answer 17

It is what makes mankind a different animal from all other life forms on Earth.

Answer 18

Religion has done much good for mankind. Religion has spurred people on to do social work they may not have done but for their religious beliefs. Religion has done much to feed the poor and the needy. The Salvation Army is a huge demonstration of the goodness and generosity of religious people. The amount of food and clothing given out by the Salvation Army is almost immeasurable.

Most churches are also big into giving food and clothing to people around the world. From the people living in sheer abject poverty to the victims of floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis.

Christians around the country visit nursing homes daily as part of a ministry to help the elderly. These Christians sit for hours keeping elderly folks company and they also help their spirits with songs of praise and worship.

Christians also visit people in the hospital. For 30 years or more there was a man who used to visit our local 2 hospitals and pray for people. He would spend the whole day there going from room to room praying for people. If they didn't want prayed for he would go outside and pray silently. He was a mainstay at our two hospitals for years and years. But then he died. God has yet to call another like him.

Christians have ministered to children in many ways. One of the most famous is through Billy Graham's son Franklin. Franklin Graham has a huge ministry with his Samaritan's Purse organization and especially with his Operation Christmas Child.

Our church has participated in Operation Christmas Child for years. Every is asked to fix up a shoebox and fill it with pencils and small toys and toothbrushes and toothpaste and rubber balls and paper to draw on and also some crayons and glow in the dark trinketts and many, many other kinds of toys. We are asked to decorate the shoeboxes and put a donation in each box. (It's used to feed the kids)

We are asked to place a gender specific sticker on the box so they won't give a boy's box to a girl.

There are thousands upon thousands of other ministries that have helped people around the world and also in this country. So what makes you possibly question what good religion has done?

Answer 19

Religion gets some people through hard times.

Religious groups provide aid to areas of natural disasters and other areas.

Religious groups do a lot to help out communities, including running food pantries and clothing drives, maybe even a homeless shelter depending on where you live.

Religious groups provide social networks for people to become intertwined, then they are less apt to being suicidal. (Emile Durkheim)

That's just a few things I can think of off the top of my head, and that's a lot of good.

Sure, there have been bad things in the name of religion as well, but that's a different topic that takes a lot of in depth conversation)

Answer 20

Not much good, but it caused plenty of misery.