Too Much Religion?

[HonestJoe]

Is it possible to have too much religion and/or to be too religious? What do you think and why? If so what would that entail?

I don’t think “amount of religion” is a scale that can be measured. Religion is just a reason for doing things and the value of the things you do generally aren’t going to change whether you do them for religious reasons or not so the nature and application of religion is going to be more important than scale. One person’s religion could impact everything they do day to day but if that guides them to working hard, helping others and generally living a good life it’s fine. Another person might only practice their religion once in their life but in the form of a mass genocidal sacrifice of non-believers to their god, which would be less fine.

 

[youknowme]

I don’t think “amount of religion” is a scale that can be measured.

Neither do I; however, I am not asking for a quantitative measurement, I am asking about a subjective gradation.

 

[stvdv]

Is it possible to have too much religion and/or to be too religious? What do you think and why? If so what would that entail?

No not possible for the spiritual person
Other judgmental persons might think so

 

[Remté]

No. Quality is more important than quantity. What is usually referred as "overly religious" means a person whose religious beliefs in fact cross the boundaries of the religion. This applies to all large religions in the world. I am not sure if it applies to all of the smaller ones as well.

 

[LuisDantas]

Why should I need to ask a theist? Is there something about "religious faith" that an atheist (or other non-believer) cannot understand?

More the other way around.

You can hardly ask a non-believer to justify a belief that they explicitly lack, now can you?

 

[Vinayaka]

Is it possible to have too much religion and/or to be too religious? What do you think and why? If so what would that entail?

Yes. A fixation on anything is unhealthy. If an emergency comes up, and you can't attend to it because you have a 'more important religious function' then yes you've got a problem. Addictive behaviour comes in many sizes and shapes.

 

[dybmh]

Is it possible to have too much religion and/or to be too religious? What do you think and why? If so what would that entail?

I vote yes.

When an individual's belief system is acted on without concern for another individual's or group's life liberty and pursuit of happiness,

Or

When an individual's belief system prevents acceptance of new information which would adjust their previous beliefs,

an individual has too much religion.

To put it another way:

Consider a person who takes their medicine religiously. This person takes their medicine as prescribed, on schedule, without fail, without thinking about it, without considering the side effects, benefits, harms, or whether any positive effect is placebo.

Aren't some ideas worth dying for?

If I understand the spirit of your question, I vote no.

(edited to clarify quoted question from OP not to change the words of my reply)

 

[David T]

I once knew a woman who said, "She is so heavenly minded that she's no earthly good".

I am sure she was told that at work and took it wrong.

 

[youknowme]

More the other way around.

You can hardly ask a non-believer to justify a belief that they explicitly lack, now can you?

Why not? I am not asking you the believe it, just understand it and what better way to do that than put yourself in their shoes.

 

[David T]

Yes..

Does the idea of a "self correction mechanisms" run contrary to "religious faith"?

Religion isnt the only area thats a problem but it seems to want to perfect it.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Is that always a bad thing? Aren't some ideas worth dying for?

Personally worth dying for perhaps... but worth forcing or even asking other people to die for, and getting upset when their answer is "no"? You don't get to make that choice for anyone. None of us do. People must be left to decide what's worth dying for for themselves. Working under any other pretense is immoral to an astounding degree.

Ever see the movie "Cabin in the Woods?" It addresses this very question in a very interesting way. And at the end, you can be assured that I sided with the guy who decided that no one could force him to die to save the world, and that even in the asking they were proving that the world of humanity may not be worth being saved.

 

[LuisDantas]

Why not? I am not asking you the believe it, just understand it and what better way to do that than put yourself in their shoes.

When I do that, I conclude that lending such importance to belief is just silly.

 

[youknowme]

When I do that, I conclude that lending such important to belief is just silly.

Come on now. . . you can't entertain an idea without accepting it?

It is about trust, putting trust in a divine source and trusting that divine source will lead you down the correct path even if your mind is clouded by uncertainty.

 

[Quintessence]

The question is just weird to me because "too much" implies we can somehow quantify the subject under investigation. Religion and religiosity revolves around qualitative experiences that resist quantification. I can't conceptualize what "too much" or "too little" would even look like.

Regardless, even if one quantified something that is not quantitative by nature, in this case the exercise would become little more than "I like this" and "I don't like this" given the cultural diversity in the substance of those quantities.

 

[LuisDantas]

Come on now. . . you can't entertain an idea without accepting it?

I did. And I found it hopelessly silly.

It took considerable effort to accept that there are people who actually think of the Bible (and the Qur'an) as literal expression of a presumed God's will back in the day. To this day it feels rather unnatural, frankly.

It felt slightly more odd than believing Superman to be real.

As I recall it, even as a youngster I realized that the Wolf who chased the Three Pigs was not meant to be taken for a real animal. Likewise for the Fox that did not want the grapes.

I don't really see how come Jesus or Abraham's God are supposed to be any different.

It is about trust, putting trust in a divine source and trusting that divine source will lead you down the correct path even if your mind is clouded by uncertainty.

I would not advise that to anyone, and I resent that there were people who actually expected me to do such a thing.

It is not a very respectful expectation for anyone to have, IMO.

 

[lukethethird]

Any amount of religion is too much, which is why I don't take my religion seriously.

 

[Woberts]

imo any religion is too much religion.

 

[Muffled]

Is it possible to have too much religion and/or to be too religious? What do you think and why? If so what would that entail?

I believe my wife and kids thought so but I was content.

 

[Muffled]

Any amount of religion is too much, which is why I don't take my religion seriously.

I believe a person without religion is like wave on the sea tossed this way and that.

 

[Muffled]

I once knew a woman who said, "She is so heavenly minded that she's no earthly good".

My wife used to say that about me. In her eyes my money was her money and my time was her time.