Our views about the Richard Dawkins' article on the relationship of religion and terrorism in 'The Guardian'
Keiko Namerikawa
I strongly agree with his article. Recently, I have wondered why Muslims could dedicate themself to their god willingly. For Japanese, we can't do that. Because we just regard religion as a kind of belief. But for Muslims, it seems to be serious and they seem to indulge in religion devoutly. And as he said , I think religion teaches that death is not the end. They leave their lives to a religion and expect that afterlife is paradise. That is to say, they are martyrs. But this will bring nothing. It's just self suggestion. But they are blind, so they don't know it. For their gods, they will be able to do anything. So it's very dangerous.
Keiko Kariya
I think religious problems are the most difficult problems in the world. Because people can believe some religion freely, people occasionally do some dangerous things or atrocities. So, no one can tell people who believe in dangerous religion "don't do that". No one can stop their act or change their thoughts. In this sense, I agree with his feeling about religion. However, I think religion is needed by people sometimes. Religion saves people many times, but occasionally it disturbs people.
Hiromi Morinaga
He thinks that religion teaches that death is not the end and a martyr's death is eqivalent to pressing the hyperspace button and zooming throuth a wormwhole to another universe....I strongly agree with his opinion. I also think that some religions teach dangerous ideas to believers. For example, we can go to a paradisical place after death....Those ideas help them to escape from the tribulations of the real world. So they do not care enough about life and are prepared to be martyrs. Because they believe that they can go to the paradisical world after they die. That is to say, these ideas of religion are quite different from our ideas. So we can not understand that religion and ideas of people who believe such a religion.
Yukari Hara
He has a strongly negative thinking about religion. Because religion makes many people believe the dangerous idea that death is not the end. According to this idea, some people bring about a big inccident which we can't understand such as hit N.Y on September 11. I agree strongly with him. Because I feel the danger about religion. Although some people, especially in the Middle East, who believe this belief bring about serious incident at the sacrifice of their precious lives, this is unbelievable for us. I think religion should teach how precious their lives are to people because religion plays an important role for many people who believe it to live, I think.
Kazuyoshi Mizobuchi
He feels that religion has a conception of afterlife. So if people who aren't afraid of death increased, the world would become more dangerous. It's symbolized by the latest suicidal terrorism. I can understand his opinion, but I totally disagree. Because everybody has a desire to believe in something. So I wouldn't say that religion is absolutely the root of the evil. I think the important thing is the direction of one's belief.