How would the world be different if nobody believed in God?

Answer 1

It's difficult to speculate; belief in gods or spirits seems to be "built-in" to people - indeed, superstitious behaviour is seen in many animals and it can be argued that there is no difference between superstition behaviour and religious behaviour. However, in countries with little religious belief (such as the UK), life goes on.

Answer 2

If people did not believe in God, or in any other god:

• There would be less intolerance among people,because religion tends to divide
• Less war, because religion is, directly or indirectly, a principal cause of war
• A greater emphasis on ethics as a rule for living, rather than on the Ten Commandments, which have never been shown to influence behaviour
• Statistics in the UK and USA have shown higher levels of incarceration among Christians, Jews and Muslims than among atheists. If this holds true in a society free from religion, then we would have less crime.

Answer 3

Although religion has been a divisive force throughout human history, most of that is not because of the religion itself, or the belief in God itself, but the actual human nature of people. For instance, if Christians, actually followed the teachings set out in The Bible, the world would be a much better place. The same can be true for people of many different religions.

It is not the belief in God that is divisive, it is the very nature of humans to be divisive. Greed, power struggles, and superiority complexes have hidden behind religious teachings in order to justify many acts of complete unrighteousness. Take the belief of God away, and you still have greed, power struggles, and superiority complexes that humans will always have.

In today's society, the actual belief in God, to the point of where it actually effects the way you live your life, has declined tremendously. That has not helped the overall global situation, and in fact, the debate could be made that it has made things much worse in the last century.