Fundamentalist Religion Will Destroy The World Comments

Jennifer

Wed, 25 May 2016 20:26:36 +0000

This is the best article I have read in a long time. I have nothing against truly religious people. Those who call themselves religious however and spew nothing but hatred are ruining our world for sure and somehow it all needs to stop. Thank you for writing this, Mr. Schaeffer.

Linda

Wed, 25 May 2016 13:18:26 +0000

"Imagine a world without religious certainty....and see what con men have robbed from us all."--quote from a friends.

This article is very powerful. Sadly, most people will not read it, and if so, most won't get it. Blinders put on due to religion, are extremely hard to remove.

I ought to know about those blinder because my own were on since age 8.. Mine were on for decades. Only in my 50's did I finally follow my doubts and my gut, that I didn't follow all those years, and start to research online.

I understood then why my Christian denomination told us all to stay off the internet. And many did at that time. Of course, now they, too, are on, but use it to keep their "flock" in line.

Research, research, research. Knowledge is power!! It truly is. Take you life back. Stop following others.
Amazing article filled with great points and deeply thought out.

Please, for the sake of humanity, read this and start your own research on religion and it's roots and its divisions, and see if this article is wrong. If you really want to know the _truth_ be prepared to have a number of epiphanies and to have your foundation shaken even if you are not all that religious!

Only then will you know you are on the right path to the facts and truth. You will pay a price though...red pill, or blue pill?

Blinders on? Blinders off?

David Silverman

Mon, 9 May 2016 13:03:39 +0000

Frank, obviously you have never spent any time in Israel; for, if you had, you'd know that Israel just doesn't belong in the same category as the others. Never in the history of this world has any other warring faction taken such great pains to warn the enemy of all impending attacks. Israel doesn't want war, it wants to survive and be left alone.

Lewis

Sat, 7 May 2016 19:45:08 +0000

Frank has indulged in such a profound overreach, it is hard to know where to begin. His historical speculations are absurd, the equivalent of "If Columbus had sailed south and east, Africa would now be the United States, its ridiculous. His claim that Israel is an extremist, "our way is the only way" nation is an intellectual outrage, as most religious Jews are appalled by the thought of anyone even thinking of converting, whereas Muslims and Evangelical Christians demand it as the ultimate litmus test of your soul. Israel is obsessed with survival, surrounded as it is with countless masses vowing to exterminate it at all costs. Has anyone heard of the Madrassas and what million upon millions of Muslim youth are taught every day? The overreactions, Gaza bombings, Lebanon, and much more is abhorrent, and a million Peace Now activists in Israel fight tooth and nail every day to try to change the political insanity represented by Conservative lunatics allied with American fanatics with the same mindset. While the oppression and closed fist actions of the IDF and police forces in Israel must be stopped, and world opinion is mounting against these atrocities, Israel clings to a representative Democracy and a judicial system that recently found a soldier guilty of the murder of a Palestinian. Tell me about the jurisprudence in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Papacy and Iran. It is a shame that the intellectual and moral voice that is Mr. Schaeffer veers off with a fanatical tinge just like the nations and religions he vilifies, straining to bring coherence to his argument which sadly lacks proper reflection and insight.

JimmyDee

Sat, 7 May 2016 11:02:43 +0000

THe WORST and I mean THE WORST Religion that's got to go First is ISLAM.
It's almost literally the belief system of inbred desert savages of the Stone Age.
Nothing is more disgusting than this backwards insane ideology that promotes rape (of non-Muslims), sex slavery, pedophilia, mass executions, and all-around xenophobia.

Tim

Mon, 8 Feb 2016 02:44:12 +0000

an interesting discussion beautifully started. Go Frank.

skylinkdave

Sat, 6 Feb 2016 03:21:54 +0000

Blaming Hitler and the holocaust on Wilson's devoutness is disingenuous. Wilson had no way of knowing what would happen by getting involved in WW1, and things would have been far worse (at that time) if we hadn't.

Doom

Fri, 5 Feb 2016 13:48:53 +0000

Hitler was a Christian. Make no mistake. He felt he was doing God's work. Saying he was an atheist is pure propaganda or an uninformed lie.

elaygee

Thu, 4 Feb 2016 12:34:28 +0000

The Russian Empire was doing as good a job as the Nazis in killing Jews and making the lives of the ones they didn;t kill miserable. The Germans enslaved entire nations in Africa. The Arabs you would like to be rid of Israel for were and are the primary slavers of the world, having sold hundreds of millions over the millennia. Not fighting WWI or II would have made nothing better, just different. Most of these atrocities were about power and money. Religion was used as an excuse. If no religion, they would have used another excuse.

Jeff

Wed, 3 Feb 2016 16:46:50 +0000

I would probably over simplify a little. Most of the problems the world faces today come back to an argument over who has the best invisible friend. I heard this years ago, and it is more true now than ever, in my memory.

Guest

Tue, 2 Feb 2016 21:32:32 +0000

As a non-theist I take it further. I propose that believing in an unknowable all powerful being is fundamentally socially harmful. Individuals cannot just say, 'well I like doing this- God made me, so obviously it's what he wanted me to do', although that might be valid logically. Instead 'mediators' 'interpret' the 'word of God', which was also written by previous 'mystics' . Strangely up to date primary instructions are lacking, because we tend not to be so gullible these days as to believe those that claim to channel 'God' . But any definition of what is acceptable in a context unspecific way with no negotiations creates dogma. a one true way, that , unsurprisingly differs from other one true ways. But because this God is unknowable directly, and unquestionable, the result is rigidity and conflict between rigid results of the same basic belief. It even occurs to me that if a God really created all this , ISIS might be the ones who have really understood this God. A God that loves decapitations, conflict, suffering - as in the old testament. Happily , I find the idea of co-self-created diversity far more mystical, marvellous, and beautiful.

DJ

Tue, 26 Jan 2016 17:37:44 +0000

Frank Schaeffer was deeply traumatized by his own fundagelical upbringing, which ironically resurfaces in this hateful screed. In his frustration, he loses the important distinction between ideologies and the human beings who hold them. While he is simplistically correct about the history of nations established on certainty and exceptionalism, he skips right over the anti-religious holocausts of Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot and others with barely a mention.

Sure, bad religion is toxic, but the root problems are fear, hatred and violence. Scapegoating religious fanatics only exacerbates the problem by throwing gas on the fire. Schaeffer uses words like "eliminate" "delusion" and "lunacy" in exactly the same ways that others have done to stir up purges. And he misses the fact that religion is only a factor because it is an easy way to mobilize millions of naive pawns...on both sides of such 'holy wars'.

He attributes hate to the creator of life, and appeals for an end to tolerance and civility--what a mirror image of the appeals made by religious fanatics! He writes, "It’s time to stop being polite about the religions... it’s not possible to love God and love the sort of tribal exclusionary religions that are taking us all down."

Driving a wedge between love of God and our (nutty) neighbors, he finally issues an ultimatum: "Eliminate willful self-serving tribal religious delusion from the globe and there might be hope for the survival of the human race."

"Certainty is a killer." he says.

Yes it is, Frank, and yours is the most insidious.

xaris4u

Mon, 25 Jan 2016 09:24:36 +0000

and the answer is what, Frank? a relativistic, universalistic human-engineered hybrid would be kinder to the world and more humane? don't be fooled; humanity at it's core is flawed; in need of the substantive transformation that can only be accomplished by a uniquely qualified God/Man. Jesus Christ is, was, and will prove to be that Man. It's irrational to conclude that because many live as enemies of His cross (Phil 3:18) that He Himself is not worthy of "subjecting all things to Himself" (Phil. 3:19)

Eric

Mon, 25 Jan 2016 03:52:25 +0000

And yet Frank is quiet about current Russia and even makes Soviet Russia here sound like it was the West's fault. The Orthodox are no better but just like most Orthodox converts, Frank wants to point the finger at the western Christian world.

Guest

Sun, 24 Jan 2016 13:54:45 +0000

many thoughts but lot of them either simplifications or half-truths. Blaming WW1 and President Wilson for the rise of Hitler is just too ridiculous.

Brad Jersak

Sat, 23 Jan 2016 21:54:16 +0000

Thanks Frank. Spot on. You're another kind of prophet.

Roger Wolsey

Sat, 23 Jan 2016 20:09:31 +0000

Re: "Fundamentalist religion will destroy the world", let's redouble our efforts to not let it. Promoting progressive Christianity is the approach I'm taking. Blessings to us all as we do what we can.

Roger Wolsey, author, "Kissing Fish: christianity for people who don't like christianity"

Richard Fisher

Sat, 23 Jan 2016 16:47:36 +0000

This is the most stupid thing I have every read in my life, and I read a lot! How can anyone suppose to know how things might have turned out had he not acted as he did. I love you Frank but you are overreaching here.

Dan Laurier Beaulieu

Fri, 22 Jan 2016 14:26:00 +0000

Thank you. Religion is a useful tool for primitive peoples to explain the universe. People armed with stone or bronze spears, can not destroy all humanity. The age of religion is over.

michael roberts

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 23:28:51 +0000

all of the world's problems due to religion are like watching a house on fire especially if you happen to be an atheist and subscribe to no such superstition. Although it is no surprise that a dig in Africa unearthed the remains of people killed violently by spears and clubs that dates back 10.000 years. I wonder who their god was. In 10.000 years we have become efficient at killing but not much more intelligent apparently.