Does Humanity Need Religion?

[MaddSkillz]

I believe your line of thinking will become more common. I believe all this does matter to you, however. If it didn't, why would you dwell on it like you do?

We're all products. If I dwell on it, it's a reaction to something... Namely, geography and the buckle of the bible belt. If I lived somewhere in which religion wasn't at every corner, I would probably think less about it.

As much as I'm not religious, it still shaped who I am as a person... So, there is that. I'm just reflecting now.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

Not so much religion as much as we need a path. The best one I have found is the one outlined in the Bible - You know, the Maker's Instruction Manual.

Woody

 

[MaddSkillz]

I think mightymouse is correct. Humanity doesn't need it, but some people do. Structure and routine is important to people. Without it, they feel adrift and disconnected. Religions provide that, as do many other things in life.

What I fond more interesting is how most bad people still reach for a justification to be bad. It's not always religion, but it often is. The truly amoral sociopath is a pretty rare bird. Most who commit violence are just people with faulty wiring.

I guess the real question is why it was created to begin with. To explain our history or to explain our future? Maybe it's neither as there's the mechanism of control it affords as well.

I read an article a while back that Americans were losing their religion. I don't know how true it is, but I do think having immediate access to information via the internet would have something to do with it.

 

[mightymouse]

If you can find--in the entire history of the world--a single culture without some sort of mystical/religious belief, you might have a starting place to begin your investigation. I don't believe you will find such a culture. The question, then, is: why is religious belief all but universal?

 

[MaddSkillz]

If you can find--in the entire history of the world--a single culture without some sort of mystical/religious belief, you might have a starting place to begin your investigation. I don't believe you will find such a culture. The question, then, is: why is religious belief all but universal?

I think they were created as a means to help explain the difficult questions people of that time, who lacked the science, had. Potentially other reasons as well, but I think those are the driving factors.

 

[Dale00]

Two thoughts:
1. People need "meaning" in their lives.
2. It is better to be for something than to be against something. Articulate your better world in terms of things you favor rather than saying, "Let's get rid of X and then ta-da the world will be great!" I know you are doing that to some degree but try it on 100% just as an exercise. It's scary because then you are opening yourself to attack rather than being the one casting stones.

 

[mightymouse]

I think they were created as a means to help explain the difficult questions people of that time, who lacked the science, had. Potentially other reasons as well, but I think those are the driving factors.

As an example, then, L. Ron Hubbard dreamed up Scientology in the 1940's or thereabouts. What difficult scientific questions did his vision answer?

 

[JD8]

In essence humanity does not need religion, and the world would be better off without the two largest. Man will evolve from this understanding of it's existence, just like it has in the past. However, right now, it's generally used as control or allows people to be controlled due to insecurity about their mortality.

 

[mightymouse]

In essence humanity does not need religion

Evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. Again, name the society/culture without some form of mystic/religious beliefs.

 

[MaddSkillz]

Two thoughts:
1. People need "meaning" in their lives.

Yup, I get that one completely.

2. It is better to be for something than to be against something. Articulate your better world in terms of things you favor rather than saying, "Let's get rid of X and then ta-da the world will be great!" I know you are doing that to some degree but try it on 100% just as an exercise. It's scary because then you are opening yourself to attack rather than being the one casting stones.

But we can't be for all things simultaneously, right? Some are in direct conflict with each other. Religion and many times, science, for one.