Religion is like a plague that has infected the world since the earliest of human civilizations. I have a theory that religion was once used in ancient times as a way to control a large growing population. In those times the people in charge and the enforcers of the law could not possibly watch everyone all of the time. It would have been wise to have the people believe that even though they are not being watched by human eyes all of the time that there is a greater power that sees all. That this power judges you and if you have been a bad person you will get sent straight to hell (Hades in the underworld, purgatory, yama or one of many other names for hell) [This is not a complete sentence]. In my project I will give many examples of how several religious beliefs and events fit this theory. However I feel that religion has not always been so helpful and has caused a great amount of damage in the past and continues to do so in present times. I also feel that the world no longer needs religion to help control its populations.

Religion has proven itself to be an extremely greedy organization. Everything from the filling of the collection plates to asking for tithes (which is giving a percentage of your take home pay over to the church). I don’t even need to tell you about “televangelists” and if the church gets really down on funds they can always start selling indulgences again. For what religion claims to be it has been far too profitable throughout the ages.

Religion has also proved itself to be a contender with civil law. Civil law through the ages has stated it is illegal to kill someone. However you look at witch burnings and the burning of other convicted heretics or another religion condoning the killing of all infidels. Also there was the burning of wives in India after the husband had died. Then there are all of the persecutions the Jews have had to go through and the Peoples Crusade led by radical monk “Peter the Hermit.” All of these deaths have been done above civil law and have been justified in the name of religion.

Also beyond all of this you still have the bloodshed of religious conflicts [This sentence is very confusing in its structure]. From the Catholic Protestant killings in North Ireland to the Hindu-Sikh-Muslim massacres in India, to the Orthodox-Catholic-Muslim horror in former Yugoslavia. These are but a few of the more recent conflicts of the 1990’s. The bombing of the World Trade Center and “The War on Terror” only brings religious conflict with us into the new millennium. Religious war and conflict have been occurring throughout civilization and it doesn’t appear that they will stop any time soon.

I believe that the only way to solve this ongoing problem is to simply rid the world of religion entirely. There are several good points to religion which I will also evaluate in my project but I feel that these good points are far out weighed by the bad. You may feel this to be an extreme action that will upset a large portion of the world. However I feel it is the best way to solve this problem because no other way has yet to work. Other ways have not worked because religious law and value clash with civil laws. Civil laws can be bent or broken in the name of religion. When you see my final argument you will see many examples of the injustices caused by religion and how even today religion continues to cause its usual destructions with its hypocritical views.

I will try my hardest to make this argument on film. In this day and age people pay more attention to films and are more likely to get the full impact of my idea [Good reasons]. If my audience had only a paper to read, I would feel that with my current writing skills they would probably miss several of my ideas. [I would have liked, here, to see what you are planning to make of this film? What is it going to include?]