Do not underestimate people...
Ok, I, too, am a bit of an aethist, but there is one little detail about the human race you're forgeting.
Even if we didn't have religion, people would just find a different reason to kill each other.
Yes, religion is a stupid thing, and it inspires nothing but hate for others, I'll give you that. But even if the world didn't have religion, it would still be a pretty shitty place filled with hate.
It would just be a different kind of hate, that's all.
Disagreements cause conflict.
Religion is one more thing to disagree with each other on. Saying that if everyone was an atheist, there would be less conflict is like saying that if everyone was Christian, there would be less conflict. IT's probably true, but people will never conform under a single religion.
The real way to end violence is to accept other people's beliefs, like you claim to. However, if you really did, what is the purpose of this flash movie?
i agree that organized religion is crap
but not all religion, oragnized religion is just another way of people trying to find power, however saying that it is the cause of all those things is bullshit, if there was no religion osama bin laden would still be a violent person who would kill lots of people, israel would the nazis still would have found some group to use as a scape goat for their problems, and israel and palestein would still be fighting over land (hating each others religion is an affect of the fighting, not the cause) i hate movies like this because you make them without knowing all the facts, not theat your the only one, so many people do this, especailly about current day events, they blindly scream either about how bushis an idiot, or about how everyone is an idiot for not liking bush, ne way, dont try to make political or religous statements, you suk at it, and by the way if your talking about dead for the holocaust, its 6 million civilians, or 54 million dead in total (you said 16 million dead in the film)
From a scholar of religion...
You look only at one side of the issue, however. If religion did not exist at any point and time, the masterworks of Greece would not have been written, the Sistine Chapel's ceiling would not be so beautiful... Heck, there would be no sistine chapel... The pyramids of Giza would have no reason to be built, the pilgrims would not have fled to America, and there would essentially be no fantasy, as most "legends" are based in old-world religions. There would be no concept of the witch, or the alchemist, or the wizard, as all are supernatural concepts steeped in ancient religion. Art would never have existed, and without art to inspire the world, technology would not have advanced. Whether we like it our not, our world, with its good and bad points, is the direct result of people applying their religion to better the world.
All right, enough is enough!
All of the reviews have just been other atheist making fun of religion, im making a change. I do belive there is a God, I mean think about it, what do you scientist think we are going to see when we are dead? How have sientist proved the "miracle planet" was created? To the person who said there is no heaven in the sky, thats because it is behond teh galaxy, besides we will need to be dead to reach it anyways. It really doesnt matter wich relgion you choose because 99% of them basically worship the same god. Would it really hurt you guys to just pray or something? Meh, I would just like to add that I am not standing up because of the movie but for the of the reviews it got.
P.S., religion did not cause those tragic events, the stupidity of human beings did.