Heaven and hell for controlling the masses

I’m glad my opponent understands the true purpose of this debate, it’s not about giving each other lessons in religion, it is simply because I have this way of thinking and I’d like to find out how my opponent would react to such a unique topic. In response to Con’s questions, I say that once death occurs, the spirits vanishes. What the living might think about is only to meet their needs. What’s written in books is only to comfort those of us who are still alive. The children of a dead father would like to think that their father is in a beautiful and peaceful place, but only to feel better. Whether we realize or not, the thought of where WE will end up always comes after we wonder where our loved ones will. I prefer not to drift off our topic; this response came to end any further questions Con might have about my view of the afterlife. I would like to focus on how we should act today, and not on what may happen in the future. As I said, religion is a spiritual message. Love, kindness, forgiveness, and so on… They are all spiritual, and that’s where the line is drawn. Any further obligations are set by man and man himself. They are to show people the way of receiving the true way of religion, but at the same time, to keep the world from falling into total chaos. As we all know, individuals differ in levels of morality, therefore, religion is needed to control them. My point is the following: Do we really need guidance? Shouldn’t we raise our children in a way that they can reason and process why they shouldn’t do wrong? Why they shouldn’t commit sins? We can be smarter than living in the constant fear of hell. We can draw our own “hell “; our ethical and moral hell, and not the hell portrayed in books that tell people what to do. Con has contradicted himself, after the following: “Perhaps Heaven and Hell is used as motivation to do good for some, but for other people it has been motivation to commit terrorist acts.”, and later saying “But if someone is trying to decide what is right, they use their brain just as much as anyone else. Once they decide what a moral action is, it is only then that Heaven and Hell would have any influence on them. They still have to decide whether or not to do what is right.” One of the main reasons why I started this debate is because of heaven and hell becoming (in specific parts of the world) extremely brainwashing that the population almost never uses their brain, but instead relies on heaven and hell. It has become ultimately repressing, that some populations lost their minds. They may seem religious, but beneath that thin cover are awful awful things caused ONLY by allowing religion to control every sect of their lives. That is not the case in more civilized parts of the world, but the idea is always same. Some say that religion is for the weak. I say that the strong are those that benefit from religion but never make it stronger than them. We control ourselves, we are not animals, and we don’t have to be guided. I am aware that this debate may not end, and the votes might be based on individual beliefs, however, it’s always healthy to debate even radical ideas such as this one.