“If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.”

 Great social thinkers such as Karl Marx, Engels, Nietzsche, Lenin and David Hume have postulated the ‘death’ of religion in the face of philosophy, economy and improved standard of living condition of humans. The argument holds that suffering and social hardships make religion relevant in the society. 

Marx, in fact, canvassed for the abolition of religion because it is illusory to genuine human happiness. According to Wilson (1982) and Weber (2002), secularization theory holds that Christianity, with its value centered on the promotion of Western education, intrinsically brings about rationalization 

 

Independence  in thought – which naturally reduces the significance of organized associations such as religion. For Marx, religion is the “sigh of the oppressed,” the “opium of the 

people” which abolishment can only occur by emancipation from “the estranged world of human objectification”.

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed.” ~Albert Einstein

Religion is turning people against each other

Others are just a projection of yourself, a mirror, on whom you can see your own reflection. That’s why once you start hating yourself, you are bound to start hating others too.

When you accept the idea that you are a sinner, you start seeing those around you as sinners. As a result, you fear that those you meet want to harm you — they are also evil, ill-willed, enemies of yours.In addition, you will not tolerate religious ideologies that are different from the one you hold.

This is the reason why religious groups fighting against each other. Similarly, religious groups are fighting non-religious ones.

To identify with a religious ideology and call it the only truth and way, can only lead to tremendously bad or negative effects — prejudice, bigotry, and all kinds of violence (just think of how many wars have been carried out throughout history in the name of God and religion).

Many religions teach that some people will go to hell after they die. That’s a pretty dark thing to believe. It’s pretty harsh to say that someone deserves to suffer for all eternity.

Some religious groups go even further and claim that you have be in their religion to earn salvation, which would imply that anyone outside their religion would automatically go to hell. That is an appalling thing to believe.

Also, some religious people worry that they themselves might go to hell, which is a source of unnecessary anxiety in their lives (since, after all, hell is probably not real). Some religions have a long history of silencing and oppressing women.Some religions have a culture that turns a blind eye towards physical and/or sexual abuse.

Religion has played a role in many wars throughout world history. (But please note: if people didn’t have religion, I’m sure they would’ve found something else to start a war over.) On the other hand, Positive effects of religion:

Religion often helps people believe that their lives have a purpose.

 Religion supplies people with direction and meaning, which benefit one’s mental health.

Some people attest that their religious beliefs are the source of the courage they need to keep going in life.