religion = form of control

 

will bump tomorrow

 

A way for those with no personal morals to be kept in line. You beat them over the head with the thought that they will go to hell and suffer eternity in pain if they don't do right and they fall in line. The strong are the religious leaders who know how to hold it over those in their church and lead them to view in the way that suits their interests best.

I suppose some people need that but it is for the weak IMO.

Remember that is strictly my opinion, right or wrong it is how I view it.

 

close enough h:

 

Same can be said for government...

Religion? I can't bash it. Anything that makes a human being don some humility and try to do the next right thing is okay in my book.

 

I've found that controlling your own life is more fun h:

 

It gives meaning to a persons otherwise pointless existence, a way to control people by instilling fear of the afterlife.
The fact that all religions are basically the same set of ethics and morals, yet, they all claim to be the right ones, and everybody else is wrong.
People thrive structure as it implies a sense of fairness rather than a survival of the strongest. Most religions cater to the poor, uneducated that are prone to be treated unfairly.

I guess one can compare Organized Relgion to Organized crime. Instead of protection from the other guys, you get protection from the devil, then you owe them a little debt after.

 

I think it started as a way for people to explain the world around them and to give meaning to events like tragedy, death, birth and love. Before science came up with explinations for all that, people needed religion to make sense of the world. It also put religious leaders in a position of power over the followers. I think ultimately it is the power of leaders that corrupted religion rather than the beliefs themselves. Pretty much every religion teaches altruism, respect for family, reverence of life, etc. It's the religious leaders that taught people fear, intolerance and to be sheep (isn't that punny?).

The thing is, altruism, respect, reverence of life are all traits that anybody with any sort of moral compass possesses right out of the box. I am a non-religious person, but I still believe in doing the right thing and helping others. Thus, I find religion completely useless :shrug:

 

So what if one is not a part of a religion out of fear [of hell], but for another reason?

 

People are generally part of a religion because A) their parents are, B) they are socially pressured to. I know there are other reasons, but I think those two cover probably 80% of the church/mosque/temple/whatever-going population. As humans developed, there is very good sociological and biological reason to do what your parents tell you to do. Otherwise kids would get eaten by lions and whatnot

I don't have anything against someone who is religous or spiritual, BUT people who follow the bible to the word (i.e. Genesis) and raise their children that way are deliberately handicapping themselves and their children. There are even religious astrophysicists out there... but they believe evolution, the big bang and the laws of physics as the method through which God works. I'm fine with that... even the brightest scientist can't satisfactorily explain to me how/why the universe started.

I am also intolerant of intolerance h: Meaning, I can't see opposition to equal rights for gays as anything other than bigotry. Period.