@maxdancona,
If I have definitive proof that God doesn't fit in, then sure. Why keep something that makes no sense, but I wish this day will never come, at least when I'm still alive? Why? Because science can hardly address the question of ethics. Not sure why you hate religion so much (I got it from your bitter tone about it), but have you considered in the total absence of religion, what would the world be like? I see many posts here that says the world will be better, but I can't visualize that happening and I don't want to live in a world of Chaos.
Disclaimer first: Everything I write, say, are based on my memory of documentaries I watched, stuff that I read, or lectures I've been to. They may NOT be 100% the exact wording of the author, but an interpretation. I only "quote" them if I know or can find the exact wording.
It is true that each day, you hear on the news that religions fanatics kills people. It is also true that many war has fought for religion. The crusade, for instance, is the Europe's biggest crime against Islam (no wonder why they hate the west so much). However, instead of religious feud, these wars are rather politically motivated, by the popes who wants power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades
David Hume is a famous philosopher who attempted to prove that ethics can exist in the absence of a divine punisher, "God". Kant, on the other hand, doesn't believe in God, but says something like the illusion of God is a good one because it puts a moral limit on people who believes in Him. Atheist philosophers throughout history had tried to say that behaving ethically doesn't require religion, but none of these argument are sound. Hume, supposedly said something like you want to do good because the society will "praise" you for doing good and that bad things leads to "shame" which you don't want. Some others based their argument on the goodness of human nature. That's just purely and absolutely absurd. As we see from almost all cases of chaos, in the absence of law and order, how to people behave -- they behave like animals -- looting the store, beating up the weak...etc. Human nature is FAR from good.
In fact, I sincerely believe it's evil -- human nature is greed, oppression of others, and dominance over others (clearly shown by you who eagerly wants to show you are smarter than me). If you still don't believe this, go look at all the forums, blogs ...etc. People make death threats, insulting others, being racist, and ...etc because it's the internet and no one knows who you are. Again, this shows in the absence of law, order and retribution, the real human nature shows. Just say, the way you speak to me, do you speak this way to your peers? Do you like to make your co-workers look dumb when they say something wrong?
Extending this, if, say, you REALLY hate your boss and you know with 100% certainty that you can get away with murdering him, and you know with 100% certainty that there's no God to punish you afterwards, will you do it? Why or why not? What's stopping anyone from committing any crime if they know they can get away with it (looking at OJ and Casey Anthony)? Perhaps you won't, but can you say with 100% certainty everyone else won't, If it is proven that THERE WILL BE NO RETRIBUTION for your actions? Illegal activities aside, what's stopping me from LEGALLY ruin your life or legally abuse my power and make everyone else miserable, if I feel like it? I theorize that in a world free of any religion, natural selection will dictate and the strong will survive and the weak will perish. It won't be a fun world to live in. If you don't believe it, consider yourself lucky that you haven't pissed anyone off seriously. Back then I subleased out my home to some dude over the summer. He completely trashed my place and threatened to bodily harm my neighbors which caused lots of trouble. My father got really pissed because he was paying for it. He is an attorney and he sued the 18 year old kid who did it, for $500,000. Imagine graduating college with a half million dollar debt on top of your load of student loan debts and **** load of legal bills and possibly a record. That's ought to ruin your life pretty bad. So, in the absence of religious belief, what do I care? An eye for an eye and I can do whatever I want within our legal system. However, is it morally correct? Sure he's 18 and should learn to bear some responsibilities, but ruining his life? Perhaps we should think that kids make mistakes and from 17 to 18 it ain't that different. What if it was you? Do you wish I'd forgive you and not ruin your life?
In fact, not all religion is based on pure faith of God. Buddism, based on the little stuff I've read and learned from a college class, mainly talks about relinquish your humanly desires. It teaches that we suffer because we want things we can't obtain. Life is a constant struggle for material pleasure and without limited abilities, we can't fulfill these desires and thus leading to suffering. Once we relinquish these desires, we become better, and eventually, we no longer suffer. To me, it is more of a philosophy.
