DEBATE: no doubt Religion can give people a guideline for morality, but also can contribute to justification for violence. Do you think without religion would people become more, less, or be equally morally corrupt?
Humans, being the destructive animals that we are will simply move from hating people because of their choice of imaginary friend to race, sexuality, creed, type of car they drive, hair color, politics, sports team(s), horoscope, the way they breathe, what foods they like, cat person or dog person, do they match their belt with their shoes, the position of the moon and the sun. Just about anything else really...
Any form of dogma can lead to terrible things. Blind allegiance or loyalty, just following orders, nationalism, political dogma, etc. That would eliminate one dogma. But would still be a gain and that is not to say that there would not be other dogmas that can fuel similar actions.
Norway is one of the least religious countries in the world with 39% atheists and 37% believers. In 2014, Norway had a murder rate of 0.56 per 100,000 population. There were a total of 29 murders in Norway in 2014. It varies with other crimes though. Most people in jail in the U.S. are religious. By most, I mean 99%. I'm not sure there is any conclusive evidence for or against though.
Sorry, I didn't see the question.
We can get our morals through rational discourse, according to Sam Harris. I agree. We don't need religion to figure out the "Golden Rule". What we need is for Congressmen to quit telling the American people that God speaks to government officials.
Michael Shermer said something similar. In general, religion serves as an incubator for more and (supposedly) the ones that best serve the group are the ones that survive, as opposed to the Jim Jones congregation and groups like Shining Path. I just wish it didn't take so long for this to sink in with the Joel Osteens of the world.
I think people will always find a reason to hate other people. Years ago we played in Wyoming a few times. It would be to find a place more white than Wyoming. There were no people of color in Jackson Hole, but we would hear the n-word when we were just hanging out. There were no Black people there. Some of these folks probably never even met a Black person. In South Dakota they treated the Native Americans the way people in the South treat Black people. The point is people just really suck!