Kharisym
Member
i recently discovered a little bit more about @Kharisym 's faith and it appeared to me to be almost identical to a religion that existed briefly in the 19th century. The Religion of Humanity. Auguste Comte invented that religion, established a few temples in France and Brazil, but never really did much with it and now it doesn't really exist anymore. Comte's ideas carried on as general Humanism, but Humanism by itself seems to lack of religious structure or organization towards it.
It seems to me that @Kharisym 's highest ideal is altruism, and Comte literally invented that word, altruisme, in French. And Comte's religion was literally described as, "Catholicism minus the Christianity." If you were in this organization, it was apparent that you were also atheist too - but not secular, or without religion. And there are other religious organizations, both past and present, that claim no God. Such as Confucianism and certain types of Satanism would fall into that category. Some Hindus are also atheist and Buddhism is a religion typically viewed without God.
However, while I do not speak for all Baha'is by a longshot, I think they would tend to think that religion and particularly, monotheism, are synonymous or nearly identical. And it appears apparent to most people that most people who believe in God also have a religion, and that most people who have a religion also believe in God. And it seems now more than ever with various restorationist movements in Christianity that God and religion are the same. Although, there are the "non-theist Quakers", which never made any sense to me given how spiritual Quakers tend to be.
I am creating a poll on this and intend on having three options. Religion can exist without God, Religion cannot exist without God, or somehow a combination of the two. I am interested in hearing what people have to say about this topic. Many people assume if you are atheist you are also not religious or spiritual in anyway, but there seems to be glaring evidence of faiths that had no God and are still considered religions to most people. So I would argue on the side that religion can exist without God. Someone can be important enough to follow with conviction without calling that person divinely-inspired, although placing divinity towards them might help place a certain degree of importance to them.
What do you think about this topic? Can you belong to a religion without the need for God? Or is God and religion inseparable? I am purposely putting this in RELIGIOUS DEBATES so you guys can debate amongst yourselves about this. Let us know what you think below!
I would say yes. For me, I define a religion as not just a philosophy of life, but also a worldview or belief system that has at its core some tenet of faith. Its very easy to get to that tenet of faith with most formalized ethical systems because I suspect no ethical system can be completely self consistent--they will always reduce to a question of 'what is it that should be valued?' Beyond that, a veneration of some central aspect to the religion's philosophy.
In terms of my beliefs, I think Religion of Humanity is not really an effective comparison. The basic ethics are similar, but it would be closer to say my belief is... perhaps a transhumanist variant? Religion of Humanity does not establish a basis for an afterlife, and Altruanism does. Altruanism also ties the very existence of that afterlife to there being an altruistic society in the distant future, and hence towards its adherents working to make the world a better and kinder place.