Why Does Religion Exist

[Nakosis]

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.

 

[JustGeorge]

5- So Religious Forums could come to be.

 

[ChristineM]

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'd agree with 1,2 and 3.

4, it depends on your interpretation of the word truth. If it's "the quality of being true in accordance with fact or reality" then no.
If it's "what i believe to be true" then believe whatever you want.

I think 5 is covered by 1, 2, 3

 

[osgart]

Since science is limited to observation, physical evidence, and calculation from that, it is limited itself as to what can be known of existence.

People love to be philosophical about phenomena such as consciousness and try to see how far a priori reasoning can take them. There are so many qualitative aspects to consciousness that don't have physical referents, and humanity lives in this qualitative world, so religion in general is a natural response to try to understand this world.

Granted some religions are just tribal and manipulative, but that's not religion on the whole.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I ticked "other."

As I see it, religion came to be as a result of a humankind's desire to understand the nature of their being, the nature of the world in which they lived, and their purpose in this world.

 

[Tinkerpeach]

Until science can explain everything like the Bible can I will stick with God.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

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.

IMO:

Partly 1 and 2, but also:

- ritual is useful. It's a way of signifying and acknowledging what's important to us.

- the tribalism of religion can also be useful, since establishing a trusted, reliable in-group can be beneficial to those in the in-group most of the time... even if it's to the detriment of the out-group, and even if maintaining membership in the in-group has associated costs.

- we have an overactive tendency to attribute agency around us.

Mix all that together and we get tribalistic groups with rituals involving unseen agents that probably aren't actually there... i.e. most religion.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Until science can explain everything like the Bible can I will stick with God.

Please provide the book and verse that explains terminal velocity.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Until science can explain everything like the Bible can I will stick with God.

The Bible strikes me as full of claims but short on explanations.

 

[Revoltingest]

1 2 3 5

5) Easy answers to hard questions.

 

[Tinkerpeach]

The Bible strikes me as full of claims but short on explanations.

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.”

 

[Eddi]

I voted for 1, 2, 3 and 4

Religion is a very complex thing

For instance it does convey truths whilst also being superstitious

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

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.”

Science doesn't really comment on God. Science only deals with things that have measurable or observable effects on reality.

 

[Revoltingest]

I voted for 1, 2, 3 and 4

Religion is a very complex thing

For instance it does convey truths whilst also being superstitious

Which makes them claims of truths.

 

[Eddi]

Which makes them claims of truths.

I don't know......

Can a superstition contain truths?

I think yes, for instance mythology

 

[Revoltingest]

Can a superstition contain truths?

Sure.
But if not evidenced, they're just claims.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I don't know......

Can a superstition contain truths?

I think yes, for instance mythology

Kinda sorta.

I mean, foundational myths are generally about communicating ideas like "you are important" or "what you do has purpose" or "our rituals are significant", all of which are true even if there's nothing factually correct in the myth.

 

[Mister Emu]

Religions exist because they are the natural outcome of human existence; we are built for transcendental experience.

"in every soul [the idea of the divine] has been imprinted by nature herself". - Cicero

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Yi-Fu Tuan suggests that religion is a quest for placedness and as society's doctrinal wake of that quest.

 

[Eddi]

Sure.
But if not evidenced, they're just claims.

Aren't all moral claims just claims, at the end of the day?

I think that (for instance) "thou shalt not kill" is a true claim that has come yo us through mythology