Tough question. Okay...I'll post my opinion, but I perhaps have to state first that I only glanced at other replies and side-discussions. I will not be partaking in any, but reply directly to the OP. Meaning...this piece:
With constant growth of the disbelief in God (or the belief in no God) and tensions between different religions, religion has constantly become a hot topic. Certain religions have been changing their doctrine to fit modern society to make themselves more appealing. Personally, I am not fond of this approach, because you shouldn't have to change the fundamental prospects of your religion to get somebody to join it. The basis of a religion is the belief in something, but changing those beliefs to make it more appealing just seems wrong -- one could argue it seems that it doesn't make it a true religion.
Anyways, I just want to get your opinion on what a religion and why you do(n't) follow one.
I think the constant growth of disbelief comes from the evergrowing means to communicate. Back when all you had was your own community, it was much easier to share your beliefs with others. And this was for good cause, because the doctrines most if not all religions share had an underlying goal or intention on them that made the community stronger (incest was bad because offspring often ended up being behind or backwards; stealing divided the community members, and so on). Even now seemingly strange rituals like the prohibition of pig meat was (according to people whom I personally choose to believe) because pig meat was, at that time, unable to be conserved for a long time (meaning: it could kill you if it wasn't fresh enough). These things were good. Most of the mantra's still are (sharing and equality are often preached). So on that front, I can't fault religion for giving people moral anchors to guide them through this life.
Personally, I'm agnostic and closer to atheist, but certainly not an active one. And I'd consider myself a humanist before that, though it's often not regarded as something religious. In any case, I believe in mankind. We're...what? 7 billion people? That's a pretty large number, so of course things can go wrong. Murder, robbery, stealing...all sorts of crimes. And on larger scale: war and oppression. But that's the side the media feeds us. The media constantly reports on these issues but usually fails to mention that for all these steps back, we take huge-ass steps forward. No matter how miserable we feel, we've got things better than ever before. There may be a huge gap in equality, but even the poorest of the poor are now richer than they used to be. Things like pollution and starvation still happens, but not on the scale that it once was.
And to bring it back to religion: it's in a time of crisis partially because - ironically - things are so looking up. If the worst thing we're afraid of is a terrorist attack, we don't really have much to be afraid of. And in case that sounds strange: the chance of dying in such an attack are smaller than dying in traffic. And it's a HUGE MAGNITUDE lower in probability than dying of things that were common about a hundred years ago.
And as I started this post: it's about community too. We don't live in isolated towns anymore. We're connected to the entire world. Having Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, atheists and all sorts of religious people talk to one another doesn't always go smoothly (see also: a huge amount of earlier posts
), but at least these talks are done TO EACH OTHER. Values and principles are questioned, yes. And that can feel threatening. But these values and principles could also have been wrong to begin with. And I'm not saying this to step on anyone's toes (though I admit it'll probably be taken serious), but because I believe that values and principles that can't stand a bit of self-examination isn't worth cherishing. I don't mind rituals, holy places or other ways of life (as far as they leave me my own beliefs). But whatever you might get out of it may be your own strength. No matter how well your intentions, you shouldn't push it. And no matter how strange the religious (or lack thereof) others might seem to you, you should accept them for who they are rather than attempt to make others fit into your world view.
