Religion.

Religion has always been a major issue in all sorts of locations. It has sparked wars, divided families, crushed nations, destroyed peoples, set neighbors and brothers at each others throats. It has also consolidated splintered people against dissapearing, it has written rules by which a society that follows it will thrive, they have brought rules to those without conscience, saved brothers and sisters they don't even know, helped those who needed it most.

The question i pose are these; Would this crazy world we live in be better of or worse without religion in general? Does the good it does outweigh the bad, or the bad it does outweigh the good? Does it make sense at all to believe in a higher power?

There are so many different things to think about any religion. Some parts may be good, some bad. If there are things about religion that you think are good, then make a note of that, if there are bad things about another, say why. i don't want to see "OH SUCH AND SUCH SUCKS" and the like.

Also, please be sure to know what the heck you are talking about or at least be able to admit your wrong when you are discussing the specifics of a religion as it completely ruins your argument and messes up your credibility.

I have my own personal grudge match with christianity and its many splinter cults, for legitimate logical reasons I mgiht add. But for the arguments sake, I will stick with Christianity, Judaism, Muslim and Buddhist.

Christianity
These guys have been one of the ruling religions in the world for a while. With that power, they have committed atrocities such as the crusades and witch hunts all across Europe and the Americas. Originally a splinter cult from Judaism, they worship the son of God (which is all wrong in my opinion. Venerate, yes, worship, no) and believe in the opposite afterlives of heaven and hell (and sometimes purgatory). Christianity is composed of thousands of splinter groups in and of itself that all have varying specifics that all would like to throw off the mantle of playing nice and kill each other good and dead. These days they've gotten better; focusing on strength of community, helping those who need it, and furthering one's spiritual understanding of oneself.

Judaism
Though I know less about Judaism, Its consolidated and concise according to my knowledge. They worship God, who's name is never spoken in their tongue (Hebrew) and have been around since before the time of Christ. These guys have been summarily kicked out of just about every country in the world at one time or another and have still managed to stay alive and to some extent, thrive. Though these guys are less outspoken, they give a community a place to gather and consolidate.

Muslim
These are the USA's current "Bad Guys". Though the actual religion preaches nothing but peace and nonviolence, like allays, a tiny percent of them in splinter cults believe otherwise and have managed to get everybody upset at them. These guys are some of the most spiritual people I have met. Having not read the Koran, and not knowing a lot of details about them, I cant go into much further detail.

Buddhists
These guys are the hermits who live in mountain temples in Asia. They, for the most part, are pacifistic, human rights loving people who spend their days in contemplation and meditation. Though I'm not exactly sure, they are also those who have trained themselves as martial artist to protect themselves. They are in the front lines when it comes to human rights, especially in China/Tibet.

In general, I would say that Religion has kept us back from a lot of things, but kept us together across the world when we were desperately searching for something that was missing in our lives. In general it is/was a good thing, but if history could be rewritten, it needs some definite changes. And while I dont belive in the "God" that everyone else seems to, I admit that the presence of a higher being does exist in our world. After all, through random chance, the chance of us being as we are today is so astronomically improbably that it would have to be calculated as 0%.