Would we be better off without religion?

It seems that the world is full of conflicts caused by religions. Looking at Middle East, there are too many wars between different religions – Judaism and Muslim. If we study the history, Christians also made wars. Considering these facts, we tend to think that the world would be better off without religion. Yet, before we conclude to this point, we should study more carefully the following points: what are the factors of conflicts; who are the dominant player of making world peace; what it would be without religion. This essay will explain the need of religions based on these points.

Religions are not only the factor of the wars. Although either sides claim their war as religious war – fighting to recover/protect holy ground. But there are other factors of their wars. Middle East is full with oil reserve. All the countries are competing to protect/gain the oil concession, making Middle East’s politics more complicated. Oil is essential to sustain our modern life; without oil, we would not have electricity, vehicles, plastics, etc. Also thinking about the war of Crusades, the deprivation of Jerusalem was said to trigger the war. All of the “religious” wars have political reasons that cause.

Changing the focus to the peace maker; who are the dominant player of world peace? Thankfully, after the World War II, the world is better ordered than before. Some of the once colonized countries – India, South Africa, etc. – won their independence without violent war. The dominant player of those movement ware actually religious people; Mahatma Gandhi was Hindu and Nelson Mandela was a Christian. Not only political movements, but also other peace makers indeed have religion.

Lastly, the world without religion will deprive hope from the people. According to some statistics, people would be stronger and vital when they have something to believe in. Religions are the answer most of the time. Studying non-religious countries will clearly explain this. Suicide rates in non-religious countries, like China, Japan, are higher than those of religious countries, like U.S.A., Germany.

Of course some of the wars were caused by religion and some people die for religion. However, the real religion does not exhort to die, or to fight. Former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan explained in his speech “Truth is one; the god gave it various names”. In other word, all the religions are the same, only the name is different. With this and based on above reasons, the world would not better off without religion but is better with religion.

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