yes, I think that all religions in general are products of control. These ways of life stem from a point in humankinds history when there was a need for such things. And today i see it as nothing more then an obstacle to peace in the world. In being that if you look at the middle east and parts of the world that are riddled with violence and going back in history you find it at the heart of the problem, or the reason people were being killed, killing each other. This in turn still echoes today in the world.

Welcome to the forum, nileriver. Just what is it you want us to discuss here?

Welcome to the forum, Nileriver Please clarify the topic for us. Are you wishing to debate whether or not there is still a need for religion in the modern world?

i would go with my stance against it, like i said, i think it is a major obstacle against peace in the world. I mean i am sure their are people that enjoy war for some reason, but i am not one of them.

I am still unclear as to what it is exactly that you want to debate. Since this is a debate forum, you need to present a clear and concise question for the members of the site to debate.

well i see religion in general, this means all of them as a tool for segregation, a tool that seems to be a large an obstacle against peace in the world, i dont know how better to say it. most would jump to say that is a move towards athiesm but that is not what i am about or my ideas. I think that at some point in the world religion(anyform) might have serverd some purpose. Now as the world grows into itself you could say it seems to be an obstacle towards intergration. Should it be in schools, or should it be are moral fabric, if you do this an other cultures and nations commit to such actions, what happens when the people or such banners are forced to live among each other. I find that has alot to do with stress and fighting in the world. In the middle east, it seems to be the real reason why people get killed or go about in such fashions. I fear this happening to the world at large. Or i think in a global(total) sense not just one area. So i guess that my topic to debate is that, is religion at large an obstacle to peace in the world.

not all religion is an obstacle to piece. buddhism is gennerally considered a religion, and it advocates peice. before judaism got so twisted it was a religion of peace (as was islam, I will leave the religion ABOUT christ, christianity out of that though) the religion OF christ taught peace and compassion (the chirch ABOUT christ all but destroyed the church OF crhrist) and followed many of jesus' examples.

my belief is that people like jesus, mohammed, buddha, and others like that are that they were spiritual teachers, trying to show us the moral way to live (I do not accept anyone but myself as my saviour BTW)

I don't believe in the dillusion of permenant peace either. peace will only last for so long before we eventually end up where we are today. it is a cycle of positive and negative, and it switches from one to the other through out all time. it always has, always will (on a good note, we are approaching rock bottom. once we hit that point in the cycle, we start on the upswing again, which is nearly 13,000 years of peace untill we peak and start doiwn again. (this is what the mayan long count calander(based on a 26000 year cycle, and the most accurate to date) was for I believe: to predict when we would "peak" and "bottom out")

I don't think ALL religion is a hinderance to peace. those that are will oneday be swept aside as the archaic fossil it is.

This is WAY too general of a topic. Cyan has asked for clarification twice and has yet to get it. Maybe you can try again after you get a feel for the forum.