What good does religion offer the world today?

Heh.
You would think someone having the time and energy to design an image for publication just might .. .. .

Nah!

Society's transition from Christianity-based ethics to various atheistic ethical systems is already underway. Three candidates are currently vying for the chance to replace Christianity as the source of our ethical code: (1) Ayn Rand's objectivism, (2) secular humanism, (3) socialism. There may be others.



Like you, I am rooting for the rise of a secular humanist ethical system, as Christianity fades out. Unlike you, I am pessimistic about secular humanism's chances. Greed and self-interest seem to be "sexier" these days than good old empathy.



Well, that's not the only way. You can also observe that we are becoming less Christian, and that society's values are changing. Then you can ask: "are our values changing for the better?"



I'm not one for quoting scripture, but ... "blessed are the meek", "blessed are the peacemakers", the "good Samaritan" -- that sort of thing.



You could say they "encourage" compassion, if you don't like the word "compel".



I didn't say religions were perfect.



No, in fact I explicitly stated otherwise: in the absence of doctrine, our tendency is towards goodness, generosity and compassion.

I would appreciate it if you can show me a creator from a holy book whose "standards" are worthy of praise.

The Bible says God's never changes but his standards have changed so often that one wonders how many gods there really are...

This only makes the book even less truthful and these "standards" highly suspect.

God wants animal sacrifices and then God does not.

The gentiles are infidels and then suddenly the gentiles are as equally worthy of saving as the Jews...

Wash your hand then don't wash your hands...

Don't drink wine then mass produce it.

God's standards are schizophrenic at best. And this is supposed to be the firm foundation and rock of ages?

Not in my book. This is why civilization has a better chance of rational standards than these holy books are offering, a subjective set of standards based on highly errant faith, bigotry, homophobia, male chauvinist sexism, genocide...

God's "standards" are horrible and too flip floppy to be taken seriously.

God's holiness is based on a fractured set of standards that are unforgivably barbaric and hideous in nature.

Science has its own book of standards and they are based on evidence and not the faith of a bunch of judgmental haters.

Murderers, polygamists and racists for kings... Are these standards? Really?

As one of my students used to often say, "I am wondering...."

Not seeing the relevance there, Max.

It is just a response to TheCobbler's wholesale hatred of Christianity. The most famous civil rights leader in the US was a Christian minister who based of his message of courage and good will in the face of oppression on the Bible.

Erm...uncomfortable truth here...the Bible was cool with slavery.

Damn FBM!... I guess no one ever told that to Dr. Martin Luther King, who earned his PhD in theology.

Dr. King looked at Christianity and saw love, forgiveness, hope and resolve. I suppose it is possible that Dr. King had a overly simplistic view of Biblical Christianity that gave him narrow that corrupted his ideas of what it meant...

... then again, it is possible that you do.

I think King's avowal that Christianity drove him is pretty relevant.

Revolutions require a simple set of slogans and parables that people can connect with.

The Bible provides tons of them.

The irony is that King followed Gandhi's (a Hindu) idea of non-violent and peaceful demonstration during the civil rights movement in the USA and that proved, in the face of violence by so called christian racist, as being the most effective way to force change.

And both were assassinated.

Rex; I know you have had a difficult time reconciling your high standards with those of the Bible. But throwing out a bale of straw men won't qualify as proof of your position. I'm on a cell phone; so i will take just one:You miss the point of the Edenic promise (Genesis 3:15), but more particularly the Abrahamic Covenant, where God promised that Abraham's faith would result in blessings for all nations (Genesis 22:18)

So, it should not surprise you that, once Jesus instituted the New Covenant, the way would be clear for fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham.

Check Galatians 3:24-25, Acts 10:10-34.

New covenant of a god who does not change? LUDICRIS!

Your understanding is on a level with your spelling.

Really? You think that non-violence was invented by Ghandi? The Quakers (a Christian group) were talking about, and practicing, non-violent protest centuries before Ghandi was born. Ghandi's views on non-violence where informed by the West (and he admitted as much).

Non-violence is written into Christian scriptures and has been practiced by many Christian groups.

Christians non violent, what a ******* joke!

Not all christians are Christian.
You know that

'Cause they are guided by a dumb book.

Never have I ever had two dicks in my mouth....

I don't recall you're having been accused of that. . . . .