What is the purpose of religion?

[Valwin]

To me, the main focus of religion was always to cater to the spiritual part of our being - religions were created to pass on sets of moral rules within societies as well as cultivate them. Not only that, religion also provides comfort - allows one to become a part of a greater whole - a group of people who share his or her beliefs. Even more importantly, it introduces the notions of God, afterlife and "soul", it gives hope that our current condition is not the end of the journey. Finally, it attempts to give answers to questions which science cannot answer not due to lack of data but due to the nature of the question - things like "the sense behind life?" or "who created the world?". I know where this thread is inevitably heading - discussions like this one require a certain level of maturity, so I'll just use this opportunity to say that the thought that there is, or at least might be another sentient being out there which carefuly designed the universe as if it was clockwork appeals to me.

is this the same religion that says that the sun goes around the earth ? cuz if they were wrong about that i don't think it can be right about many other things

 

[Gahars]

In the end, something had to have come from nothing in order to start creating. That thing is what would be called God.

Well... not quite. I know I've been trying to steer clear of the argument for the most part, but this argument bugs me a bit.

Stephen Hawking created a fascinating program centering around this subject. It's definitely worth watching the whole way through (it builds up to his ultimate conclusion), but if you are really short for time, you could probably start around 35:00.



Whether or not you agree with Mr. Hawking's conclusion, it does demonstrate that as we're understanding more about the universe, we're coming to see that God isn't necessarily an integral, essential part of the equation. We're trying to handle a scope that stretches the very limits of human comprehension, but just because there are blanks doesn't mean we should fill them in and write them off.

 

[Foxi4]

is this the same religion that says that the sun goes around the earth ? cuz if they were wrong about that i don't think it can be right about many other things

Read through the last four pages - don't take religious stories literally. Their writers did their best to represent the world as accurately as they could at the time, but that's not the point of those stories - they're supposed to teach you moral lessons, not scientific facts. For scientific facts, you should depend on science.

 

[Jan1tor]

It is a big form of control, and to give purpose to peoples lives. It is an excuse to kill in Gods name, it is an excuse to bash gay people, it is an excuse to bash other cultures. It brings wars against people, it puts down women (Put them in their place). It brings people together. It says your God is wrong, mine is right. It says if you do not obey you will be punished (FOREVER). It makes you bring deformed and unwanted children into the world. It makes doing the wrong thing right by saying your are sorry for your sins. It gives you something to argue with an atheist about.

All in all Religion love it or leave it. No one can prove it one way or the other. Just lead a good life and you will be ok. Myself I tend to find more cons with it than pros though.

 

[JoostinOnline]

is this the same religion that says that the sun goes around the earth ? cuz if they were wrong about that i don't think it can be right about many other things

AFAIK, no religion says that.

 

[Foxi4]

It is a big form of control, and to give purpose to peoples lives. It is an excuse to kill in Gods name, it is an excuse to bash gay people, it is an excuse to bash other cultures. It brings wars against people, it puts down women (Put them in their place). It brings people together. It says your God is wrong, mine is right. It says if you do not obey you will be punished (FOREVER). It makes you bring deformed and unwanted children into the world. It makes doing the wrong thing right by saying your are sorry for your sins. It gives you something to argue with an atheist about.

All in all Religion love it or leave it. No one can prove it one way or the other. Just lead a good life and you will be ok. Myself I tend to find more cons with it than pros though.

Just like every other congregation/belief of people in the history of human kind. Any kind of differentiation may breed animosity - all of the things you mentioned could just as well be caused by a political ideology, take communism, socialism, nazism, fascism, nationalism etc. as an example. Even if an ideology is "good" at its core, it can easily be misinterpreted and twisted.

 

[Valwin]

AFAIK, no religion says that.

no longer they do after they were proven wrong

 

[DiscostewSM]

Just making a theory here, but if anything, the purpose of religion is to bring about science. The belief in something greater than yourself and what you see/hear/know is enough to make anyone curious, and therefore experiment.

 

[JoostinOnline]

no longer they do after they were proven wrong

You are confusing religion and general belief.

 

[injected11]

You are confusing religion and general belief.

Pretty sure the catholic church tried to lock up Copernicus for his ideas on heliocentric cosmology.

 

[Valwin]

You are confusing religion and general belief.

around the 1400s the Cristian church give as fact that the earth was the center of the universe

 

[Foxi4]

around the 1400s the Cristian church give as fact that the earth was the center of the universe

...and they improved with time, so let's bash them now, because that makes sense!

You're over 600 years late to the criticism party.

 

[PolloDiablo]

Im just gonna leave this here:


the first part makes sense, but then (around the end of the video) it starts with all those silly conspiracy theories about mind control and implanted "chips" in humans brains

 

[JoostinOnline]

Yes, but that was just what most everybody believed. The Catholic church was corrupt, and committed evil acts in their power, ignoring basics in the Bible for their own gain. Punishing people like Galileo for challenging their assumptions is an example. However, nowhere in the Bible does it say that the Earth is the center of the Universe.

History is full of instances when people have distorted what the Bible says for their own gain. The people were wrong, not the Bible.

 

[Valwin]

...and they improved with time, so let's bash them now, because that makes sense!

You're over 600 years late to the criticism party.

they improve only after the were found out what there saying was bullshit

 

[heartgold]

What is the the purpose of religion?

I haven't looked into other common reglions other than the background from my family. I have not ever tried to understand it but rarely read some sentences. What I can tell is it is wanting us to meet with the creative force(wonderful lord) through good means.

Yes I believe there is a creative force, weather the name is god or anything people would like to call it, there is a higher up and has the universe under its control.

More and more people start treating "God" as the creative force behind the universe, whatever it may be, rather than a guy with a white beard, sitting on a cloud and watching over us. The difference between Atheists and these "new" religious people is that Atheists choose to treat this force as a natural occurrence wheras religious people usually attach some form of sentience to it - that's that.

It's like I said earlier - there are numerous scientifically-proven, or at least hypothesized mechanisms that lead to the creation of the universe, and they're like domino blocks. "God" pushed the first block, starting the chain reaction.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[Foxi4]

they improve only after the were found out what there saying was bullshit.

That's not my point. My point is that you use the argument of "600 years ago they treated something as fact but it turned out to be wrong" to support your claim that religion isn't the way to go now, which by itself is pretty silly. Moreover, that was the globally-accepted belief at the time.

 

[PolloDiablo]

If you ask me.... religion is the manipulation of human faith

 

[JoostinOnline]

That's not my point. My point is that you use the argument of "They treated something as fact despite the fact that they were wrong 600 years ago" to support your claim that religion isn't the way to go now, which by itself is pretty silly. Moreover, that was the globally-accepted belief at the time.

Exactly. It wasn't a religious belief. The Catholic church was corrupt and punished people for disagreeing with them, so people make the assumption that it was a religious belief that the Earth was the center of the Universe.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

around the 1400s the Cristian church give as fact that the earth was the center of the universe

I am not supporting the 1400s Church, but according to Einstein's relativity theory, saying the sun goes around the earth or the earth goes around the sun are neither wrong and only depends on the point of view. In fact, considering the Sun the center of the solar system is easier for studying planets movements, that's why cientists of the time created the heliocentric theory, because it was more convenient scientifically speaking but it doesn't necessarily represents the absolute truth.