I do find your article really interesting Zach! I think it is a weird thing to think about, how something that is supposed to lead us to good can lead to so many conflicts. I think it is really hard to think about how many lives have been lost over the topic of religion. I do think that religion offers some good into our society, but is also astonishing how much harm it can bring as well. I read this article on how religion can hurt our society, and I think you should check it out!

I found your article to be very insightful and I agree with your point of view on religion. Although religion has been the source for a lot of good in the world, it has also brought so much war, violence, and inequality in the world.

Dear Zach, I found your article compelling and I am intrigued by what you said regarding “The world would be far less polarized and a far better place to live if religion had never surfaced.” With my faith I have never felt like I needed to be healed because of my sexuality and insted I have felt a magnitude of love and support to embrace my sexuality. From an article from the Huffington post George Carlin said to loud applause, “More people have been killed in the name of God than for any other reason.” And he talks more about how more than 35 million soldiers and civilians died in the senseless, and secular, slaughter of World War 1 alone. I would agree with you that the world would be less polarized if we had one commong ground in our beliefs. Hope this helps and I do find your research compelling!
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-alan-lurie/is-religion-the-cause-of-_b_1400766.html

I love your point about how it is against the rules in religions to fight yet they do it anyways??? It is funny to see this because I think many read religious texts and then pick and choose what they want to believe. With this tendency, people can “justify” themselves to do anything. To sum it all up, I think religion can be good but as you said about a few Muslims, some don’t see it for what it should be.

Zach,
I agree with your position that you take in this essay, but I think there are a few ways to improve it. Your largest section of writing has to do with war, and I think there is an imbalance between the evidence and thought given to the war side of religion as opposed to the other detrimental effects of religion. Additionally, I think it was a very strong statement that you finished with. Your audience may have followed you until the very end and then been thrown off by the dramatic, unjustified words. Saying that it would be better for everyone if religion never existed while also not addressing any positives of religion makes it easy to counter your argument. Also, I would like to thank you for including the comment on the affected perception of Islam. Very interesting piece!

Hey Zach! Reading this the first thing that caught my attention was this line “More people have been killed in the name of God than almost any other topic, and I find that to be massively shameful for the religious community”.As horrible as it is, this is a true statement. We see people doing harmful and shameful acts on the name of Allah and pretend to be okay. We see that almost everyday in Africa, Nigeria, where Boko Harams use religion to justify their evil acts. https://www.thoughtco.com/christianity-and-violence-249551

Hi Zach, this is a great topic and on that is very interesting to me. I see what you are saying and I do believe that religion at times has hurt people, however I believe that on a personal level many people have been helped by it. The cost of religion is the fighting and need to be dominant over another people however some would say that we even do that in the increasingly secular world today. If there’s something one has and other doesnt there will be fighting. That’s just human nature.

Zach,
I thought your post was interesting and your stance was unique. I agree that religion has lead to persecution but in a way I think it’s beautiful and is a true test of faith. Religion has been around forever and when things go bad, it gives you something to believe in. I think faith has done more good than harm. Everyday someone is discriminated against for their religion but also gives countless people the strength to not give up. Here is a source you can use to strengthen your argument on both sides https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-some-ways-religion-can-impact-life-better-454242

Dear Zach,
I was very happy when reading your article as I am writing about a similar topic, “Can You be Good Without God.” I was quite pleased with some of the links you provided, as I will also use them in my research paper. Here is an article that I’m using, opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/good-minus-god/. I think it could help you out as well.
Good luck on your essay.
-Tony

If we get rid of the death penalty, what would be put in it’s place? I myself am not for the death penalty. I would rather that they rot in prison. Convicts who molest and kill children and sentenced to death are outcast per say in the prison system. If you kill a child and put in prison other prisoners will probably beat the shit out of you. Leaving on that note most people who are on the Federal Death Row list are half African American.

Zach, I fully agree with your post. I think we’ve become slaves to the modern consumerism and we would fail as a society without it, like a drug. Think of it like a leach that if it gets too big it will kill you if you take it off, technology has become so prevalent to every individual that we couldn’t function without it. I also agree we have to put things in perspective, really look at the pros and cons. We’ve become so distracted with the “newest” technology we don’t take time to look at the effects it will have on us. This was a very enlightening post, hope to see more from you.