Should Organized Religions be Illegalized/Banned?

[Kofi]

I am a Christian and I defend religion sometimes because religion has done some good for some of us especially Africans. Some of our barbaric traditions and cultures have been abolished and all thanks to Christianity and Islam. Some barbaric traditions such as human sacrifice and female genital mutilation have been abolished in Africa and all thanks to God and to religion.

My country(Ghana) is a Christian country with about 80% of the population being Christians but we still observe some Islamic holidays. Our presidents are mostly Christians but we've had one Muslim president in the past and several Muslims vice presidents. Even the current vice president of my country is a Muslim. In my country we have 3 major religions. Christianity, Islam, and the Traditional African religion and as I said in one of my posts, we learn all three religions in primary school. Although religion influences every aspect of our lives, religious divisions don't create much problems in my country because we observe all 3 major religions. It is very confusing studying all 3 religions but in some way it helps bring all 3 major religious groups together and it doesn't create much problems for us in terms of religious divisions.

Although I am a christian, these days I don't put my soul in religion because I have come to realize religion in today's world is doing more harm than good to us especially we in the poor countries and I will use Ivory Coast as an example.

The outside world think the major cause of the violence in Ivory Coast was due to the irregularities in the voting process which is somehow true. However, the main reason why there is so much violence going on right now in Ivory Coast is due to religious divisions in Ivory Coast. Laurent Gbagbo is a Christian from the South while Ouattara is a Muslim from the Northern part of Ivory Coast. The Christians in the South don't want a Muslim to rule them because they are afraid Ouattara may end up bringing Sharia law to Ivory Coast like what created so much trouble in Nigeria sometime ago. The Muslims in the north however, want Ouattara to rule the country and that was the major reason for the clash in Ivory Coast that claimed hundreds of innocent lives. Despite the irregularities in the voting process, the UN declared Ouattara as the new president of Ivory Coast and the Muslims in the north took advantage of it because they thought they could get help from the UN. Laurent Gbagbo on the other hand refused to resign because he had the Christian majority support and the Christians don't want to have anything to do with Sharia law and the Quran.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict we keep hearing about in the news is also a religious conflict. Right now there are several clashes going on in Afghanistan why because a U.S Pastor (Pastor Terry Jones) burned a Quran and some Islamic extremists are ready to kill for Allah. This is also a religious violence. I could go on and on because almost all the clashes we face in today's world are in some ways fueled by religious hatred, etc.

As I said earlier on, religion has benefited some of us in one way or the other but that was in the past. However, as we can see in today's world, religion brings more doom than good because even the word of God has been turned upside down. So taking all these things into consideration, wouldn't it be nice to illegalize all organized religions and religious groups? In other words, should organized religions be illegalized? Should organized religious groups be banned? what do you think

[Doug]

Great idea Kofi, also let's ban darkness after the sun goes down. Lets ban weeds from growing in my garden.

We have the 10 commandments of life from the God of mercy and we have the laws of death from the religions of darkness.

You yourself said Kofi and quote: "I am a Christian and I defend religion sometimes because religion has done some good for some of us especially Africans." You then go on pointing out the bad. Religion - 'good plus bad'.

And that Kofi is the very mistake Adam and Eve made. They chose the tree of good and evil. A mixture that God said would cause them to surely die. Doing some good mixed with evil is a ploy or a deception of satan to lead people to sure death. Now this is only true if you believe what God said is true. Of course if you do not believe His word then the question is mute and have your destiny in the hands of your religion.

As a friend Kofi I offer this as an observation of many years. The idol of God, religion or Satan, has been on earth before man for the first man was offered the religion of good plus evil as a way to be like God. Man took it!!!!
Will you???