What Happens If Religion Is Proved False?

If all the religions of the world could be proved definitively false and all the people accepted this idea that all the religions of the world were and are, indeed, false, do you think there would be any real significant change in the world?

 

Yeah. We'd have a massive power vacuum on our hands, I would predict a good ~10 years of world war, then we'd settle on some new arbitrary set of ideologies, thinly veiling the power hunger, insecurities and personal interests and vendettas of whoever holds them, to divide the world with.

 

The number of church goers would drop slightly, but rebound to almost current levels.

 

It would change the lives of those living in Sharia states.

Otherwise no. Capitalist exploitation will continue on. The rich will become richer, the poor will remain poor. In other words the way it's always been. The world will become a little more depressing.

 

Have to give you credit for posting some of the best non-sense I have read for some time.

Every conscious person capable of reason has 'religion' despite many ignorantly deny the fact.

Yes that sort of change would be a complete dumbing down of society where philosophy would need to be thrown completely out the window and replaced with parlor talk.


Definition of religion

the belief in a god or in a group of gods

an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods

an interest, a belief, or an activity that is very important to a person or group

A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion: a person for whom art became a religion.

something of overwhelming importance to a person: football is his religion.


Examples of religion in a sentence

Shinto is a religion that is unique to Japan.

Hockey is a religion in Canada.

Politics are a religion to him.

Where I live, high school football is religion.

Food is religion in this house.

 

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None whatsoever. Next deep question, what if the sun blew up?

 

Granny says dat's what's gonna happen...

... when Jesus comes back...

... an' puts alla lib'rals and jihadis...

... inna lake o' fire an' brimstone.

 

Not world war, but probably some civil wars in theocratic areas, though there would be increased hesitation to fight given the lack of afterlife. More secular areas like North America, most of Europe, most of South America, Russia, some of Africa, and I'm not really sure about India, would have minimal effects in terms of power structures. After the dust settles people would have better priorities and focus on being happy or making the world a better place instead of the outdated musings of primitive peoples. It wouldn't be a utopia or anything, but it would be better in the long run.

Pretty sure it's understood we're talking about spiritual religions, ranging from Buddhism to Islam, i.e. a little bit broader than theism versus atheism... but not football. If you really want to stretch the definition of religion, we could include nationalism. The core is faith, not passion nor even philosophy.

 

Not world war, but probably some civil wars in theocratic areas, though there would be increased hesitation to fight given the lack of afterlife. More secular areas like North America, most of Europe, most of South America, Russia, some of Africa, and I'm not really sure about India, would have minimal effects in terms of power structures. After the dust settles people would have better priorities and focus on being happy or making the world a better place instead of the outdated musings of primitive peoples. It wouldn't be a utopia or anything, but it would be better in the long run.

Pretty sure it's understood we're talking about spiritual religions, ranging from Buddhism to Islam, i.e. a little bit broader than theism versus atheism... but not football. If you really want to stretch the definition of religion, we could include nationalism. The core is faith, not passion. It may be a subcategory of philosophy, but philosophy does not require it.

It will go supergiant in something like 5.4 billion years, destroying the Earth. The habitable zone at that time will be in the outer solar system, though the Earth will slowly become hotter through increased energy from the sun long before that - Earth will be outside of the habitable zone in 1 billion years. By then, something else will have killed us anyway, or if we were still around in any way we could probably just move the planet or move somewhere else. After being very huge and very bright for a few billion years, the sun would shed it's outer layers and become a white dwarf, very slowly dying to eventually become a black dwarf.

 

What makes you think the effect would be so minimal? What do you think will happen to the Christian right in places like America and Europe? They will have to rebrand, and in that process, they will split, and develop in new ways. Similar things will happen in the left (I shouldn't pretend nobody on the left is religious). In such situations, extreme groups tend to win ground, and with a massively new foundation for politics, lots of people will start to rethink borders, alliances and other arrangements.

But maybe you're right, maybe the political system actually works well enough to balance these things out. I have another prediction in that case.

Things will go on as usual, most if not all religious animosities will be rebranded to get new justifications, but none of them will actually go away. Most religious problems which go away will be replaced by their philosophical counterpart. This will be most obvious in what you call theocratic areas. They've been using religion to spur on conflicts, but the conflicts have more underlying causes. Those will still be there, and conflict will remain, the only possible difference is introducing extra chaos when some groups have to take unexpected steps to deal with the new information.

I am not religious, and I think religion causes more problems than it solves, but I do not subscribe to the simplistic idea that just getting rid of things will solve them. I believe in gradual change, and processes that take into account the complicated matter of how people think and what actually fuels the problems we have in the world.

 

The problem with this is that it isn’t a realistic scenario for everyone to accept all religions to be false. That itself would require a massive shift in human nature. I’m sure that even with unquestionable definitive proof, a number of people wouldn’t accept (or wouldn’t admit) that their religion was false and many more would continue with the same day-to-day religious practices, habits and associations regardless (because the literal truth of their faith isn’t really their core motivation). In practical terms, I see few significant changes to the way the world works.

 

Does this mean you are defiling your temple by gluttony?

 

IMO, it would be impossible to prove. And, even it were, most current cultist would cling to there religions anyway. Belief would likely diminish over generations.

 

They already have been proven false, depending on what you take for proof. Most secular people regard them as a mix of myths, cultural biases, and superstitious ethical law (morals).

The only thing not effectively proven false is a very refined and philosophical argument about the possibility of a god.

Specific gods are obviously not real. Zeus hasn't come down and impregnated anyone (or anything) creating new demigods. Apollo hasn't appeared in disguise to grant wishes to morally upright peasants. And so on. There are absolutely no interactions with humans from the gods as described in the stories of religion. If there are it's a media conspiracy of epic scale.

So, to answer the question, this would happen. Exactly what is happening right now.

 

Obviously there would be dramatic change, but this would not happen as is clearly shown by current reality. All these man made Gods have already been shown to be fabricated by their mere existence in the world but it makes no difference to those who want them.

 

I feel as though some people in this thread are not taking your question at face value. If you are saying that all at once every one knew and accepted that there is no God there would be great change.

Within a decade the world would feel entirely different. People truly do not understand the poison that is religion and how it infects everything. Countless problems would end immediately in terms of war and other destructive behaviors. Obviously there would still be conflict because religious isn't necessary for that but it is necessary to convince those who would otherwise avoid such behaviors. Without mythology guiding peoples lives they would have a void to fill and absent credulity, science and secularism would have a great chance to fill that void.

Just the act of realizing that this thing that occupied your existence, this thing you were so certain of was wrong would have a major impact on people. I dare say some number of people would commit suicide out of shame or depression. But most people would reflect on what it all means and I dare say they would not turn back to their priests or caliphates for the answers on what to do next. In fact there might even be some violence towards those who convinced them of this false reality. Politicians could try to fill the void with some form of state religion but I'm not certain how successful they would be since people are more apprehensive and less trusting after they've been duped and coming to understand that everything you thought was true was a lie is something you wouldn't easily set aside.

Secular and scientific figure heads would have a great responsibility to help ease the transition. The validity and honesty of science would be a welcome change. The phrase "I don't know" might finally be seen as the virtue it is because at least people would know they're not being sold something. Artists of all stripes would also have a responsibility to help fill the spiritual void and churches would be reopened under secular ideals to maintain the sense of community and get group projects off the ground. They could even still have the songs and other rituals like marriages just without all the supernatural nonsense.

As a parent there is moment when your children leaves behind childish things and begins to understand their potential. The rate of their evolution becomes exponential. Its a very important time in their development because they are beginning to acquire their own power but they are unfamiliar with the responsibility that goes with it. It might be similar in this case for those who believed the world was in gods hands to now realize that the problems and solutions of this world are of our own design. You can actually witness this in the words of people who have lost their faith. They have a major sense of urgency because they realize there is so much that needs to be done but they have no idea what steps to take to help.

We would have to completely reassess our societal goals and future aspirations because the world would be profoundly different.

 

You're changing the OP to mean "What would happen if everyone stopped believing in religion all at once?". Which would be a great thread, but its not the one posted.

First, to be clear, I like nihilism. People who have taken the time to think about how to approach life and come to nihilism through rational processes are most often fine upstanding people.

But a mass population that has up to now depended on a religious founding to frame their own existence, who are likely to come to nihilistic conclusions from the emotional vacuum, it might not be so great.

People are already giving up religion in the first world. The US is lagging a little, but we're moving in that direction. As of right now no one is picking up the slack on the loss of community cohesion thats resulting from this. Neighbor helps neighbor much less these days, and in many cases people don't even know people in their community unless they are co-workers or members of the same social club. Secularism isn't all puppies and roses.

The loss of religion needs to be a gradual process, and things to replace it need to be developed. This can't, and shouldn't, happen suddenly.

 

Sorry but the use of reason is not a form of religion.

You have consistently lost every argument and lost them badly because you demand recognition of a definition of religion which you simply made up out of thin air.

Not everyone has a religion which is the false premise of your lame arguments.

Food is not a religion hockey is not football is not and neither is atheism which uses reason and destroys you every time.

But of course you will ignore those absolyte facts and childishly declare you are right because you made up a definition and scream that it is true despite the fact that is demonstrably false

 

PROVE IT!



Ok folks grab your popcorn comedy central next stop!



Its difficult to read some of the things posted on these topics because I always end up laughing so hard I cant see the text!

So have you written to webster and merriam and all the dictionaries of the world to inform them how (*)(*)(*)(*)ed up they are yet?

 

No need, your theory is no more valid than your ignore list or imaginary ROE violations. Do you remember you were going to ignore soupnazi we do, a man is often judged by his actions, such as making silly threats he is incapable of sustaining.

 

its impossible to give up religion, unless you are dead or in a coma.

 

the question at face value is utter non-sense, of course you can do as you did and put in all the strawmen and you still cant rescue it from its right home, file 13.

So those who have adapted a religion in which contain the beliefs thou shalt not murder, rape, cheat and steal are toxic and poisonous eh?

There is a preview of where the world is headed to day folks!

 

So you believe they are all false, pun intended.

 

You are talking about an impossibility.

 

The burden of proof is on you.

You made the assertion based on a false definition.

Thank you for openly admitting that I am correct.

You did exactly as predicted and childishly avoided fact proving you wrong