7/28/2019 Religion Speech
1/2
Four largest
religionsAdherents
% of world
population
Article[circular
reference]
World population 6.99 billion[23] Figures taken from individual
articles:
Christianity 2.1 billion 2.2 billion 33% 34% Christianity by
country
Islam 1.5 billion 1.6 billion[24] 22% 23% Islam by country
Buddhism500 million 1.9billion[25] 7% 29%[25] Buddhism by
country
Hinduism 1.0 billion 1.1 billion 15.2% 16.2% Hinduism by
country
Total5.1 billion 6.8
billion[25]
77% 99%[25]
Religion is impeding society's development, and I am going to
talk about some of the ways that
it is doing this. I am going to discuss the deaths, injuries,
and mental disorders,{and money loss} which
can come about as a result of religion.
Firstly, let us have a look at deaths. Now, I am sure most of
you have heard of something called
the Crusades. For those of you who don't know, they were a
series of religious expeditionary warsblessed by the Pope and the
Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access
to the
holy places in and near Jerusalem, the most famous of these
arguably being the Third Crusade,
primarily fought against Saladin by Emperor Frederick I
Barbarossa of Germany, King Philip II
Augustus of France, and King Richard the Lion-Heart of
England.
These wars, fought during the 11th to 13th centuries, caused
between 1 and 9 million deaths, all
on behalf of religion. And although many people consider most
religious deaths to be from terrorist
attacks and the Crusades, the Taoist Yellow Scarves Rebellion
between 184 and 205AD caused
approximately 7 million deaths, and Aztec sacrifices in the
1300s to 1500s caused another million or
so.
On a marginally less morbid, but still quite shocking, note,
consider devout Muslims' stop,
drop, and pray policy. Imagine walking along a concrete
sidewalk, in a major city. Now think of what
would happen if one of them was walking in front of you,
suddenly spun to face the prescribed
direction, and dropped down to pray right then and there. You
could get hit by a car trying to avoid
them. In fact, according to very reliable sources, more people
get brain damage every year from
tripping over praying Muslims than from car crashes, and just
think of how many of those car crashes
could be caused by people stepping out into the road to avoid a
practitioner at his prayers.
Although the Buddhists and Taoists at least have the sense to do
their praying in temples, this
practice can be just as bad. Try living near one of their
temples, even just for a month. Starting early in
the morning, and ending late at night, the incessant humming
that is so often a byproduct of meditation
would drive you mad. I, for one, will never understand how they
can be so at peace with themselves
with all that noise. You could go insane, get tinnitus, or in
extreme cases even go on a psychopathic
rampage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CIRCULARhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CIRCULARhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-22http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_by_countryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-23http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Muslim_populationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_by_countryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_by_countryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-22http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_by_countryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-23http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Muslim_populationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_by_countryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_by_countryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion#cite_note-sync-24http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CIRCULARhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CIRCULAR
