The worst religion invented by man

[Nirvanam]

Although the poll allows us to pick only one religion as the worst, we could use the messaging option to rate these religions from the worst to best (or least worst). I also thought that I could provide some standard criteria to base the ratings upon. Please feel free to add more criteria that may help.
a. Amount of hatred/intolerance preached in the religions "main" (bible, ? of christianity, quran and hadith for islam, etc) scripture(s)
b. Amount of proactive violence preached by the religion's main scripture(s)
c. Amount of violent actions by followers of the religion as a result of interpretation of the religion's main scripture(s) (I guess this is a difficult one but we could use our personal experiences and factual knowledge to guide us here)
d. Openness of the religion to critique and therefore to accept change
e. Openness of the religion to be inclusive
f. Amount of factual errors in the religion's main scripture(s)
g. The concept/depiction of the god(s)/prophets of the religion

The worst religion to be rated 1 and the least worst to be rated 10 (there are exactly 10 options)
If possible please provide the reasons for your rating

[Lifelinking]

You forgot the Jedis

[Lifelinking]

and Scientology

[Lifelinking]

And it doesn't feel fair to include Vedism, and to miss out Hinduism, eh what?

[Alan C.]

It's a silly question Nirvanam, you would need to include all religions, of which there are hundreds, with thousands of different sects (they're all man made) christ! The Christian religion alone has over 3,000 sects, Buddhism has at least 60 sects, Hinduism I can find a dozen sects without looking too hard, Sikhism at least 4 sects, Islam a half dozen sects, Judaism a dozen sects, and so it goes.............Where would you even start?
Suffice to say, they are all bollocks.

From wiki. I love number 11

# 1 Abrahamic religions

* 1.1 Bábism
* 1.2 Bahá'í Faith
* 1.3 Christianity
o 1.3.1 Catholicism
o 1.3.2 Protestantism
o 1.3.3 Restorationism
* 1.4 Gnosticism
* 1.5 Islam
* 1.6 Judaism
* 1.7 Rastafari movement
* 1.8 Mandaeans and Sabians
* 1.9 Samaritanism
* 1.10 Unitarian Universalism

# 2 Indian religions

* 2.1 Ayyavazhi
* 2.2 Buddhism
* 2.3 Hinduism
* 2.4 Jainism
* 2.5 Sikhism

# 3 Iranian religions
# 4 East Asian religions

* 4.1 Confucianism
* 4.2 Shinto
* 4.3 Taoism
* 4.4 Other

# 5 African diasporic religions
# 6 Indigenous traditional religions

* 6.1 African
* 6.2 American
* 6.3 Eurasian
* 6.4 Oceania/Pacific
o 6.4.1 Cargo cults

# 7 Historical polytheism

* 7.1 Ancient Near Eastern
* 7.2 Indo-European
* 7.3 Hellenistic

# 8 Neopaganism
# 9 New Age, Esotericism, Mysticism

* 9.1 Left-Hand Path
* 9.2 Magic

# 10 New religious movements

* 10.1 Shinshukyo

# 11 Fictional religions
# 12 Parody or mock religions

[Nirvanam]

I know there are many religions, but my attempt was to capture just the more popular ones and not go too much into the sects of each religion. In any case most of the sects of a religion would have formed due to interpretational differences.

[Nirvanam]

And it doesn't feel fair to include Vedism, and to miss out Hinduism, eh what?

"Vedic" Religion is actually a more appropriate term for Hinduism. Hinduism was coined by the early racial and missionary funded Indologists during the 18th and 19th century referring to the Indus (from Indus came Hindu) - Saraswati Valley civilization. In fact if you would want to use the actual name as per Sanskrit language and what is generally accepted by "Hindus" is it is called "Sanatana Dharma"

[Alan C.]

With respect Nirvanam, it really is an impossible question.
Atrocities are committed in the name of most "religions" and absurdities are believed by all of them.
If you personally have a problem with one of them, tell us what it is and we'll talk about it.

[Alan H]

But there isn't an 'All of the above' option!

[Paolo]

I think it is a valid question, since some religions are worse in terms of abuses of human rights than others. The question needs a time frame though, since they have all changed through time. I voted according to the present - I personally think it would be interesting to see how people's opinions pan out on that basis. Perhaps it would be easier to think in terms of which religion you would ban... (all is the preference I am sure, but that's asking a lot...)

[Nirvanam]

With respect Nirvanam, it really is an impossible question.
Atrocities are committed in the name of most "religions" and absurdities are believed by all of them.
If you personally have a problem with one of them, tell us what it is and we'll talk about it.

Personally I haven't faced or experienced any untoward incidents from people of any religion. In spite of being an Indian living in India I haven't come across Muslims who either feel victimized or are supposed to be "traitors" (both viewpoints forcefully doctored by media). Maybe it is because I live in the south and South Indians historically have been lesser prone to violence. I am sure there is hatred among the Hindus and Muslims but I think it is more in the North of the country since those people were witness to the horrors of the Partition. Deep scars don't vanish very easily.
Also, this poll is not for me to share any problems and talk about them, it is more to understand what people, especially religion-neutral people like in this forum perceive other religions to be. Paolo put this in better words in his message.

[grammar king]

I'd have to say Islam. The Abrahamic God is particularly nasty as Dawkins likes to say so often, and you could argue that Christianity historically has been just as bad, but the face of Christianity has changed considerably, they're not as horrible has they've once been with the crusades, inquisition etc. I don't put Judaism on a par because historically they seem to have been the world's whipping boys and girls and didn't have much opportunity to do a comparable amount of harm.

Now you may say that Christianity's been around a lot longer, and that in another 700 years, say, then Islam may change in the same way, but I have 2 arguments against that.

1) The Q'uran is undoubtedly the word of God written by Muhammed, for the muslim. Therefore it doesn't change. That's why there are so many more Muslim creationists than Christian.
2) It assumes that time is the key factor in deradicalising a religious group is time, whereas I'd argue that it's influence from other groups, evidence, that kind of thing. In the modern moral climate, Islam should have changed much MUCH faster than Christianity has in its time.

Of course I recognise that the deradicalisation of Christianity has nothing to do with Christianity itself, but with secular ideals instead, and that if we looked at the religion free from outside influence it would be just as bad as Islam.

[Maria Mac]

On the little knowledge I have about any of those religions, I'd say Islam for the same reasons as grammarking.

[Ken H]

It's usually the fundamentalists of most religions that are the worst. That being said, I would have to pick Islam.

Living near one of the headquarters of Scientology, I would rank them right up there also.

[Fia]

Any organisation can achieve power over 'their' people if they can control their daily behaviour. It is those organisations that concern me the most. In the cosy UK we can be cultural xtains by occasionally turning up in church and singing along. It is a far cry from some organisations who control women's freedom through dress and other inequitable controls and call you to prayer many times a day. Religions who try to control women's sex lives and fecundity. As in cults, some religions are wholly embedded in peoples lives. It must be very difficult in such an environment to even grasp the concept that "truth" might be different from what everyone around you believes. Let alone voice your doubts.

As I continue to reiterate: I have no problem whatsoever with folk following their personal path. It's when that impedes and imposes upon others my concerns grow. So I'd bung any religion into the worst which ensures control over the minutae of folks daily lives. IMHO it's not a good way to treat our fellow human beings.

[Lifelinking]

The question needs a time frame though, since they have all changed through time.

and place, and context, and so on.

I am with Alan on this one. Pretty meaningless poll really.

[jaywhat]

How can we as intelligent humanists with the future of the world lying on our shoulders have such time-wasting exercises thrust at us?

They are all cod and pollacks.

[getreal]

Having just come accross this thread (I've been away for a bit), I looked at the poll results (without polling myself) and my immediate thoughts were "jesus christ! Islam's not very popular!!"

seemed funny at the time...

[Alan C.]

Having just come accross this thread (I've been away for a bit), I looked at the poll results (without polling myself) and my immediate thoughts were "jesus christ! Islam's not very popular!!"

seemed funny at the time...

we're looking after you wimin

[Fia]

Although i do appreciate your gallantry, Alan, what makes you think that us 'wimin' need, or even want, 'looking after' ?