What would the world be like without religion? Well, who knows exactly? It would be very different. For instance, we probably would have less terrorists out there. I'm not saying that terrorists are all 'Islamic fascists' but many (or most?) terrorists are religious fanatics.
What good does religion do for the people of this world? Well there are 2 things to think about. First of all, there's the afterlife. If you don't believe in that, then let's just move on. If you do, then that's more than enough to justify everything else, isn't it? Since nothing else in this world will help you with that particular subject.
Secondly, there are possible benefits for people during their earthly life. For example there are some kind of vague benefits like having a 'philosophical center' or a 'moral compass'. More directly, many charities have religious affiliations and many churches actively help the needy. Certainly, non-religious people do those things too, but I would guess that it's more common among the religious. Of course there are also personal benefits, like prayer and having a personal relationship with other-earthly powers. It's hard to really describe those to people other than yourself, so I can't really do much with that.
I think that many of the so called moral values and societal advances that our modern western society has benefited from have had some assistance from religion. For example, look at Martin Luther King. I haven't done the research, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Abraham Lincoln was a religious man. Our civilized society had to gradually advance to this level and is hopefully still going to get better. Maybe it still would have gotten to where it is now without religion, but perhaps it would have taken longer?
I was looking at this article about atheism: click here
And I have to disagree. First all, the attitude of the writer is rather like "I'm right and you're wrong". Is he sarcastically mimicking an evangelistic attitude or something? Maybe. He is almost writing with a religious fervor, isn't he? I'm not sure that making arguments about God on a logical level make much sense. Not understanding something or thinking it doesn't make sense is not a reasonable argument in this case, I think. My opinion is to simply let science be your guide for what happens in this universe. But for everything else, you have to turn elsewhere. Perhaps to philosophy, metaphysics, or religion ! I can understand the view of an agnostic, but atheism is rather difficult for me to understand.
4 comments:
Well, there's religion and then there's spirituality...you should check out a book by David Hawkings, called "Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behaviour." He tested a bunch of things using a basic kinesiological test, and religion fell into the force category, while spirituality fell into the power category. Power always trumps force.
Are you saying that people are separating spirituality and religion? I understand that. I'm not much for stuff like kinesiological tests (assuming I know what that is). I believe that religion is one way to spirituality. Others will say that religion is the only way. I'm not prepared to go that far at this point. I suppose if we want to talk about this any further, we will have to carefully define our terms in order to avoid a semantic discussion :)
I think that religion and spirituality are definitely not the same thing. Some people are religious, but not spiritual. Some people are just spiritual, and some people are both...they don't go hand in hand...the kinesiological test is very simple - hold up your arm, and get someone to try to push it down. Think about Hitler - you muscles will go weak. Think about Mother Theresa - your muscles will stay strong. They tested this with thousands of people and the results were always the same, regardless of philosophical ideas/beliefs.
OK well I suppose if I want to really understand how this power and force and spirituality stuff works, I'll have to read a book. Maybe I will at some point. If you think that it has practical value for you, then it seems to be worthwhile to get into. My only experiences with spirituality were religious in nature, and that was plenty for me... I still don't really understand them very well.
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