MY QUESTION: -

Religions flourish under suppressed thoughts and misconceived fears! Do you agree?
My explanation! I believe in a single universal God common to all; but worshipped as different entities (deities), religion-wise. I also understand and appreciate the role of religions in propagating its faiths. But religions as of today has an ugly face as a divider of humanity and an asylum to evil forces, baiters of God and squeezers of the knave. Religions have now turned as the supreme commercial entity run by trained personnel with ignorant shareholders. None fights against because of imaginary reprisals from the ultimate power that is God. And God is in fact most loving and benevolent.

Best Answer - Chosen By Voters

Excuse me, but religion hasn't transformed. We have.

If I give you a knife, you can carve beautiful things out of it or hurt someone. You choose to hurt someone. Whose fault is it, yours or knives? Why blame religion for all that's happening around the world. We are the sole beings responsible for it.

If we stop paying attention to those who misuse religion and carry on with our own lives, we could help the issue. But we choose to join one or the other such group. It's all our fault.

All the best...

Other answers: -

1. Did you just find a way to try to make people afraid that they should believe like you? Peace be with you

2. Well, sometimes, yes. But you can't blanket all religions or specifically, all congregations of any one religion, under your statement. There are religions who behave that way, and a lot that do not.
You will find a specific congregation of one religion who behaves that way, but then another congregation of that same religion in a different place will not.

3. Religions may just do their flourishing as you suggest. Christ and His Kingdom and Family have NOTHING to do with any religion at all. Your premise fails there.

4. There can be no religions unless men organize and control it.
So why don't you blame man ...and not religion?

5. While it is true that religion seem to flourish when it is suppressed, for example the early Christian church, and in the U.S.S.R. when religion was frowned upon, the church did flourish, as did other religions.
But while fear or the threat of Hell might convince someone to accept religion, is is only a temporary acceptance and they soon return to their original lifestyle.
The only real way to true conversion, or belief is through the sharing of God's love.

6. Any religion that goes about trying to convert because 'Our Religion Is The Only Way' is ignorant, tyrannical and highly dangerous. All the terrible wars we have suffered through Milena in the name of religion have been more devastating than both World Wars put together.

In that respect the Zoroastrians score the highest. They do not allow conversion into their faith and so have not had to fight any wars to show how wonderful their religion is. When asked if his religion is the best a true Zoroastrian will say, "No. Second best." When asked which religion is best, he will reply with a little smile, "Yours!" The matter ends there and everyone is happy.

7. Religion is collective following of faith and is not based on suppressed thoughts and misconceived fears but it is rather seeking the solution of individual for the same and the preachers have the responsibility to correctly guide

8. "You alone, Jehovah, are the God above all other gods in supreme charge of all the earth." (Psalms 83:18) LB

However, there are others called gods, some of which are ideas made up by men, &, some, which have chosen to be evil.

9. Is There Only One True God?
- Figments of the Imagination
- Jesus, the Angels, and the Devil http://www.watchtower.org/e/200602b/arti...

I've spoken with various ones who trained at seminaries belonging to different churches, who admitted that they studied that sect's beliefs, & business management + money-making courses ... but no real Bible studying ever took place.

Religion---How Should It Be Financed? :
- Giving Until It Hurts vs. Giving That Brings Joy
- - - Tithing and the Law
- - - Christian Giving
- - - "As He Has Resolved In His Own Heart"
- - - Voluntary Giving Today
- - - Did the Early Church Fathers Teach Tithing? [No!]
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20021201/art...

I also recognize that many religions use an unhealthy fear to motivate membership & compliance ...

Has Christendom Betrayed God and the Bible ...?
> Unbiblical Doctrines + Ungodly Actions = Not Christian http://www.watchtower.org/library/pr/art...

However, God Himself is actually very loving ...

Identifying the Only True God
- An Identifying Name
- Jehovah or Yahweh?
- Does It Really Matter?
> The True God's Qualities
http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1999...

Yet, a loving parent will not let their children to be brutalized indefinitely. Prophecy states that there will soon be an end to unscriptural religions, including political & other aspects of it. For anyone or organization that claims or takes on what only the Messianic government of God can accomplish, is trying to userp -- rather than support it ...

The End of False Religion Is Near!
- What false religion is
- - How it will end
- - - How to identify true religion
http://www.watchtower.org/e/kn37/article...

"Come close & listen. I have always told you plainly what would happen, so that you could clearly understand. ... This is what Jehovah --your repurchaser-- has said, 'I Am Jehovah your God, who punishes you for your own good and leads you along the paths that you should follow. O if only you would have paid attention to my commandmnents! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river, and your righteousness would be like great waves of the sea." -- Isaiah 48:16-18 (Living Bible + NWT)

Is There Sound Basis for One's Beliefs?
- Your Right to Believe
- - Belief Versus Truth
- Why Do You Believe What You Believe?
- - Brought Up to Believe It?
- - Educated to Believe It?
- - Influenced by the Media?
- - Finding a SOUND Basis for Belief
http://www.watchtower.org/e/20010801/art...

10. No I don't agree! Religion / Religions never flourish where thoughts are suppressed and fears misconceived. Exposure of thoughts and existence of fear of GOD are the main sources to flourish the Religion. I agree with you "Supreme commerciality of Religions" but you know root of every thing is in the family "the parents / guardians", if this basic unit of society is truthful to its' members with literate sense of belongingness to the humanity, things would be better and entire humanity on Earth would be threaded as a one garland which is always fresh.
And let me tell you Religions never separate the humanity! it always brings together, this truth I had seen in my life period at the age, bittern 5 - 20 yrs, not in one family / village / community but at many and many places.
Being materialistic and commercializing various aspects in human life is not wrong but not at the cost of loosing moral values.

11. No. Religion is born out of freedom of thought, belief and practice. There is no religion where thoughts are suppressed and stubborn fears are acceptable. From the great religions, one thing is common, they all tell people how to live peacefully, harmoniously. Today's so called religious practises are reflection of the social evil thoughts and practise thereof. Furthermore the glitter is so much that it blinds the people and deviates from right path. True religion and the god do not talk of reprisals and fears it is so called god-man who preaches so to confuse the masses.

12. Agreed totally.

The fear of the unknown and the curiosity to know the unknown will always remain, until we understand the supreme.

And you are right in saying that the Supreme Being is one only, for all of us. Those with vested interests do not allow this universal philosophy to gain strength, and they take advantage of the vulnerable.

13. So does belief in god if you think so negative just enjoy religions they save your culture don’t take them so seriously?

14. For the time being we will forget about god.

But all most all religions go away from god and Godliness. You must have seen people who boast about their religions, do against everything which their religion has preached. Certain religions have many gods who fight among themselves.

My religion-Hinduism says there is only one God but you can see millions of Gods everywhere in temples to footpaths. People spend lots of their ill gotten wealth in these temples. People stand in queue for days/hours together to pour money in coffers of temple but will not pay a single pie to the poor.

Certain religious people who will not hurt even a fly will fleece people with high interest or selling spurious food/medicine since their religion did not say anything about it.

There is a religion, which preached about non-killing of lives. But today they eat everything that moves and are in all south Asian countries.

Certain religions have rules to pray, eat etc and most of the religions do not allow any questions to be raised against their practices and punishes the fellow who question them.

But everybody forgets that all religions are man made and that there can be only one God and cannot have many gods since god is extremely powerful.

If there are many gods will they not fight among themselves to find who is superior among them and if they fight then they will lose that position.

Godliness is extremely great. It is incomparable. It marks only the good and wants everybody to be good. God does not bother whether one prays to him or not, whether anybody offers any thing or not.

HE wants everybody to be good. You see in real life two sections of one west Asian religion are fighting and killing themselves.

Sometimes back another religious people in the highly civilised UK of two different sects fought among themselves for years together.

Which God wanted this?

People should come out of the nutshell and think.

15. There are some people who are exploiting the sentiments of people in the name of religion. But we ourselves have to change this and if start respecting the sentiments of other religion and become more tolerant, then, I don't see we can't do away with it. If start loving human kind, then nothing like this will exist. All religion preaches love and this is the very essence of ever religion.

16. There is only one religion propounded by 186, 000 prophets since Adam, refined and revamped according to the requirement of society but the practice depended upon the intellectual level of that particular society and culture as such prophets appeared periodically. Religion is meant to free you from the burdens of superstitions and fears of human beings, provide you confidence and seek protection of God who is just, benevolent, caring more than mothers as he created all the beings .Religions cannot flourish under coercion and suppression of thinking but it is rather the religiosity which overtakes the human minds ;that is the time that due to his utmost love and affection for mankind sends new prophets to help mankind for developing courage and conviction for enlightened life.

17. Perhaps Vedas are the real source for mankind to live very happily. Because, Bhagwadgita, or any other in this directions shows the dharma. However, the so-called Religions are flourshing, spreading with cynical thoughts and rule the World and claiming that their way only reaches GOD. However, the persons who are really in search of spirituality would come out from religion evolving through Religion but not hating other Religions or other Dharma Sastras. Now money, power is pushing the persons to Ayomayam (total ambiguity).

18. Hi - it could take hours to answer this and add my thoughts - however am tired! :-)
unfortunately I don't think religion has very much to do with god - it is Man made in the state it is in today.
a god that demands blind faith or burning in hell ... ????
a god that demands war be brought upon another whose thoughts are independent and different ???
to me.....god is the most loving - we are all a part of the unconditional love - and to question who we are and why, is - I hope - what part of being a spiritual human being is and not simply a human animal