Do Gods Have To Actually Exist For Religions To Be Valid?

Can a religion be valid and useful or positive regardless of whether or not the god or gods the religions claims to be about actually exist? Scientology et al. or other cults.
No of course not.

The religions of pagans were valid and no less anthropologically important then modern one god religions.
Valid, or useful?
Both.

If religions weren't useful somehow they would have eventually died out.
 
Can a religion be valid and useful or positive regardless of whether or not the god or gods the religions claims to be about actually exist? Scientology et al. or other cults.
No of course not.

The religions of pagans were valid and no less anthropologically important then modern one god religions.
Valid, or useful?
Both.

If religions weren't useful somehow they would have eventually died out.
I agree they would have been useful.

Valid means they're true though, which they're not.
 
Can a religion be valid and useful or positive regardless of whether or not the god or gods the religions claims to be about actually exist? Scientology et al. or other cults.

When you say "valid" do you mean relay nothing but actual truths to its followers or do you mean serves a specific purpose for the followers?

Because to me, that is a big distinction. I'm not so fond of the idea of "spreading actual truth". Actual Truth can drive people insane.

It is the fundamental reason why some people embrace violent and dangerous delusions.

On the other hand, a good lie can be highly beneficial.

I guess you can tell now that I not your ordinary "bear" in this discussion.
 

EVERY endeavor that involves Monkeys getting organized around a common goal functions like a religion.

Does this mean Corporations that are organized around the common goal of creating wealth are religions?

:eusa_think: The God of mammon?​



He just HAD to inject politics somewhere to get his knee to stop jerking.



Religious beliefs DEFINE politics!
Our forefathers had a bad habit of biting off way more than they could chew!!

You theists can use that as a bumper sticker if you like.​
 

EVERY endeavor that involves Monkeys getting organized around a common goal functions like a religion.

Does this mean Corporations that are organized around the common goal of creating wealth are religions?

:eusa_think: The God of mammon?​



He just HAD to inject politics somewhere to get his knee to stop jerking.



Religious beliefs DEFINE politics!
Our forefathers had a bad habit of biting off way more than they could chew!!

You theists can use that as a bumper sticker if you like.​

Buddy - I am no theist.

Chew that.
 
Can a religion be valid and useful or positive regardless of whether or not the god or gods the religions claims to be about actually exist? Scientology et al. or other cults.
No of course not.

The religions of pagans were valid and no less anthropologically important then modern one god religions.
Valid, or useful?
Both.

If religions weren't useful somehow they would have eventually died out.
I agree they would have been useful.

Valid means they're true though, which they're not.
true in the minds of the believers.

Truth can be very subjective as well as very incomplete. I admit that many of our truths are incomplete

And besides to this day there has been no proof as to whether there are gods or not.
 

EVERY endeavor that involves Monkeys getting organized around a common goal functions like a religion.

Does this mean Corporations that are organized around the common goal of creating wealth are religions?

:eusa_think: The God of mammon?​



He just HAD to inject politics somewhere to get his knee to stop jerking.



Religious beliefs DEFINE politics!
Our forefathers had a bad habit of biting off way more than they could chew!!

You theists can use that as a bumper sticker if you like.​

Buddy - I am no theist.

Chew that.


Makes little to no difference.
 
Oh, by the way

The theology of a religion can be a total lie--Starting from the first letter of its "Holy Text" all the way to the last punctuation mark.....

and it could still be beneficial to the practitioner.

That is my opinion.
 
Difference to what?

You're speaking in code.

Theism is not a religion. Atheism is not a religion. And Non-theism is not a religion.

Religion is no more than a set of concepts and ideas that you live by and what you think others should live by. So yes, each atheists do have religious beliefs. But it is highly unlikely that all, or even most, atheists practice the same religious belief!

The same can be said about theists and non-theists as well.

I don't think I need to explain how this would define your politics
 
Gods don't exist in my humble opinion, so I do believe it's possible.

The Evolutionary success story that put Monkeys on a road to technology and the stars is the ability and willingness to organize in groups larger than family around common goals. We have "Religion" to thank for that.

Religion is a necessary step in the Evolution of Sentience.

Evolution is messy, but it works.

"Necessary step..." interesting. I'd thought of that myself a while back but dropped it getting into other things. Are pleanty of vastly older species on this planet who haven't evolved any sort of religious behaviour even allowing for their lack of written language and such that distinguishes us from them. Of all this planet's species, only humans have religion which is curious. We know from archeology that religious behaviours vastly predate writing as with burials and using religious implements and tools. So should we expect animals we observe using basic tools to evolve religion? Sea otters, other primates for example? Elephants mourn their dead and linger around dead loved ones. Might they develop some sort of religious-like behaviours? Burial perhaps?

Suppose it's possible it's an evolutionary step. Be interesting if we ever document religous-like behaviour in another species.
 
Can a religion be valid and useful or positive regardless of whether or not the god or gods the religions claims to be about actually exist? Scientology et al. or other cults.

Scientology does not teach the existence of a god.

Next idiotic question form the guy that knows less about religion than the average 1st grader in 3....2....
 
I don't know squat about Scientology, but if a church doctrine says the Flying Spaghetti Monster is Lord, then by god it better exist, or else the whole house of cards gets trumped.

Prayer however can be valid without a valid god-target. Because it still contains thoughtform energy.

Why?
 
"Valid" and "useful" are not synonyms.

Can they be valid without their God being true? No.
Can they be useful? Yes.

They way you framed the question made it a non-starter, and forced me to break it down into parts.

"Socially useful myths" like "The policeman is your friend" told to schoolchildren by Officer Friendly.....
 
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