Most Britons Believe Religion Does More Harm Than Good, Huff Post UK Poll Reveals

[mr blur]

[div class="excerpt" style="background-color:#deedfc; color:#00000 0; margin-left:1em; border:1px dashed #7a7b7d ; border-radius:1em; box-shadow:4px 4px 4px #999999;"]A new poll done by the Huffington Post UK and research group Survation reveals that Brits believe religion does more harm than good:

One of these doors leads to religion…

More than half of Britons believe that religion does more harm than good, with less than a quarter believing faith is a force for good, the Huffington Post UK can reveal today.

Even 20% of British people who described themselves as being ‘very religious’ said religion was harmful to society, and a quarter of said atheists were more likely to be moral individuals than religious people.

…

The eye-opening survey, that will reopen debate over the role and worth of religion to British society, found of the ‘non-religious’ people polled, more than 60% said they thought religion caused more problems than it solved.

<snip>

Go Brit Infidels!:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/11/04/most-britons-believe-religion-does-more-harm-than-good-huff-post-uk-poll-reveals/

and http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/03/religion-beyond-belief_n_6094442.html

[deucemagnet]

1. I'm hoping that our internet-savvie millenials will throw off the yoke of religion.

Until that day I'll just remain envious of the British.

[Warpy]

4. Well, a lot of them have

but, like the agnostic Boomers, they'll likely get sucked back in when they have kids who want to go to youth groups with their friends.

I'm not surprised they'd feel that way in Britain. They're all too well aware of anticolonial violence along sectarian lines in Ulster. They have also suffered the knowledge of what went on in their workhouses and "homes" for wayward girls unlucky enough to get pregnant.

No one is more vicious than a religious true believer bucking for sainthood by trying to beat the "sin" out of powerless people.

[RussBLib]

2. I do hope we Yanks follow the Brits example ... again

We've been following in their footsteps for centuries, give or take a few wars.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Blasphemy!

Blasphemy!

There is no way that anyone said atheists were more likely to be moral than religious people!!!! It isn't possible. We all know that the atheists have no morals or ethics, because they don't worry about Hell.





In case this is necessary:

Now, can I move to Great Britain?

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. BIGOTS!

[beam me up scottie]

6. Wow, you'd get crucified for saying the same thing here.

Even 20% of British people who described themselves as being ‘very religious’ said religion was harmful to society, and a quarter of said atheists were more likely to be moral individuals than religious people.

Even the theists are anti-theists.

[whatthehey]

7. Caution is needed here

No doubt many of those "anti-theist theists" simply had the Muslim brand of theism in mind. The ratio of Muslims in the UK is already 7 times greater than in the US, nigh double that among young children, and unlike ours very heavily concentrated in Muslim-majority areas. Much of this angst is likely xenophobic rather than humanistic.

[mr blur]

8. Mmm..I think not. Your evidence?

Do you live here?

[whatthehey]

9. So you want evidence that there is rampant Islamophobia in the UK?

How popular is Nigel Farage again? With a political system only marginally less friendly to minority parties than the US is it UKIP or the Greens who are surging? 25% support for a party that essentially has one plank - xenophobia - and you ask for evidence?

Then there's this - when hate crimes generally decrease but increase massively against one religious group it's not exactly a Rabelaisian leap of logic to assume there are many who are none too fond of that religion. Answering that religion is harmful in surveys based on these data is hardly likely to be completely disconnected from Islamopohopia is it? Which religion do you think that UKIP quarter is thinking of mostly? The local vicar who wants nothing more than to raise a few grand for a new roof and maybe get on Songs of Praise one day, or the "cancer" that should be eliminated "with nuclear weapons" according to one of their elected officials?


http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/07/uk-report-anti-muslim-hate-crime-rising-20147512135922796.html

[mr blur]

10. No, I'm perfectly aware of the xenophobia here. I certainly don't need you to tell me about it.

In fact I don't need you to tell me anything. Welcome to Ignore. There are a number of people there who know nothing. As you know everything, perhaps you could enlighten them.