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Why Does Religion Exist

Why does religion exist

  • 1-Superstition

    Votes: 18 40.9%
  • 2-Tool of control

    Votes: 17 38.6%
  • 3-To convey valuable life lessons

    Votes: 14 31.8%
  • 4-Profound truth

    Votes: 12 27.3%
  • 5-Other

    Votes: 30 68.2%

  • Total voters
    44

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
Aren't all moral claims just claims, at the end of the day?

No, I wouldn't say so.

... at least, depending on how we define morality. If we accept that morality concers the impact of our actions on the well-being of thinking agents (one definition I've come across), then it's no more unsupported or arbitrary than, say, nutrition.

Even though there can be reasonable disagreement about the ideal healthy diet (or even reasonable rejection of the idea that there is one "ideal healthy diet"), we can clearly identify rocks and poison as unquestionably unhealthy to eat.

I think that (for instance) "thou shalt not kill" is a true claim that has come yo us through mythology
Even if lots of kids first learned that murder is bad in Sunday School, I don't think its origins are in mythology.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
Correcto!

It's not TRUE.
Merely occasionally useful.
Killing can be good, eg, invading armies.
Although a general rule against killing is I think prudent

Although granted, there are numerous exceptions

But I think that as a rule killing should not be an option
 

Spice

StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
#5 -- social connectivity, belonging, like-minded fellowship
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
Here are a few reasons you may or may not agree with.

1-Religion is a holdover of superstition from a time with limited scientific knowledge that we have since grow out of so it no longer has any value in our lives.

2-Religion is a tool is a tool that was and can be used to control the masses.

3-Religion contains valuable lessons like fables to aid people in their journey through life.

4-Religion is a profound truth that if understood leads one to a correct understanding of reality/the universe.

5-Other. A different reason for why religion exists which doesn't fit into any of the above. Please explain.

All five are true in some situations and not in others. It is possible and in fact commonplace for two or more to coexist even within the same person at any given moment, too.

It is not for nothing that I insist that we should put some effort into explaining what we mean by "religion" when we use that word.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Religion is a very complex thing
...

For those attracted to it, at best it offers a moral framework and rituals which some find meaningful.

In terms of Islamic sufism, religion is called "shariat", the exoteric. Beyond that is "tariqat", the spiritual path, maarifat, gnosis, and haqiqat, realization.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
Funny because that sounds like science to me.

“God doesn’t exist but we can’t explain how everything was created we just know God didn’t do it because….um….He doesn’t exist.”
With all due respect, what you are truly saying here is that you are lacking seriously in scientific education.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
All five are true in some situations and not in others. It is possible and in fact commonplace for two or more to coexist even within the same person at any given moment, too.

It is not for nothing that I insist that we should put some effort into explaining what we mean by "religion" when we use that word.

BTW, that is why I allowed multiple votes. I actually selected all 5 myself.
As you say, it is a matter of interpretation of what religion is.

I'd suggest the greater number of alternate reasons you can consider as possibilities the greater one's cognitive awareness.
 

Jayhawker Soule

-- untitled --
Premium Member
I think that is a much better and more nuanced commandment than "do not kill"

With reference to Exodus 20:13, I noted yesterday in a different thread evening:

Quoting Robert Alter:

You shall not murder. Readers thoroughly conditioned by the King James Version's "Thou shalt not kill" need to be reminded that the Hebrew verb ratsah clearly means "murder," not "kill," and so the ban is specifically on criminal acts of taking life. [source]

Quoting Nahum Sarna:

13. murder The Hebrew stem r-ts-h, as noted by Rashbam and Bekhor Shor, applies only to illegal killing and, unlike other verbs for taking of life, is never used in the administration of of justice or for killing in war. [source]
 

InChrist

Free4ever
Here are a few reasons you may or may not agree with.

1-Religion is a holdover of superstition from a time with limited scientific knowledge that we have since grow out of so it no longer has any value in our lives.

2-Religion is a tool is a tool that was and can be used to control the masses.

3-Religion contains valuable lessons like fables to aid people in their journey through life.

4-Religion is a profound truth that if understood leads one to a correct understanding of reality/the universe.

5-Other. A different reason for why religion exists which doesn't fit into any of the above. Please explain.
I chose other because:

I consider religion to be any concept or practice whereby humans think they can reach God, a higher power, or higher state of being through their own efforts, rituals, etc.
It exists because humans are under the deceptive belief that they are capable of reaching God or improving their spiritual state themselves, rather than relying upon their Creator.
 
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Tomef

Active Member
Here are a few reasons you may or may not agree with.

1-Religion is a holdover of superstition from a time with limited scientific knowledge that we have since grow out of so it no longer has any value in our lives.

2-Religion is a tool is a tool that was and can be used to control the masses.

3-Religion contains valuable lessons like fables to aid people in their journey through life.

4-Religion is a profound truth that if understood leads one to a correct understanding of reality/the universe.

5-Other. A different reason for why religion exists which doesn't fit into any of the above. Please explain.
It seems natural that some kind of belief system would develop in communities that had little understanding of the natural world. Even now when something weird happens, some people are quick to think there must be supernatural forces involved. Maybe that’s just something that naturally arises, out of the need to assign cause or something like that.
 
Here are a few reasons you may or may not agree with.

1-Religion is a holdover of superstition from a time with limited scientific knowledge that we have since grow out of so it no longer has any value in our lives.

2-Religion is a tool is a tool that was and can be used to control the masses.

3-Religion contains valuable lessons like fables to aid people in their journey through life.

4-Religion is a profound truth that if understood leads one to a correct understanding of reality/the universe.

5-Other. A different reason for why religion exists which doesn't fit into any of the above. Please explain.

3 and 5.

Humans need to make sense of the world so we construct narratives that create meaning where none (objectively) exists.

Some of these narratives may be “religious” and others “secular” but there is no meaningful way to demarcate religion from “not religious” worldviews. Hopefully, these narratives will convey some things that help us make decisions and lead fulfilling lives though.

Basically religion exists because either a religion or a functionally equivalent “secular” ideology is needed for us to make sense of the world.
 
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Tinkerpeach

Active Member
Science doesn't really comment on God. Science only deals with things that have measurable or observable effects on reality.
Well something created the elements that created the Big Bang that created the universe that created us.

Sounds like something scientists should be interested in.
 
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