What's the point of religion when we have education now?

[Pedro de San Patricio]

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that religion is bad or dumb. I'm just saying we've outgrown it. We don't need stories about how the Sun moves across the sky because it's sitting in a chariot. We understand how the solar system works and know that it's actually the Earth revolving around the Sun. We don't need an illiterate Neolithic tribesman's best guess that the first people were made by Sky Father. We understand evolution now. We don't need these attempts to explain why the world is the way it is when we have the real answers to many of our questions.

Isn't it time for us to accept this and move on to bigger and better things now? Isn't it time for Jews to give up their Judaism and its attendant falsified history and ethnic supremacy? Isn't it time for Christians to give up their Christianity and its worship of an executed Jewish convict as the creator of the universe? Isn't it time for Muslims to give up their Islam and its calls for a global theocratic dictatorship? We don't need these things anymore. We can let go. Will you join the rest of the human family in letting go of the past and stepping out into the light of the bright future we can build together?

 

[idb]

It's still needed as a cover for bigotry for one thing.

 

[TheOldSchool]

Too much money involved. Organized religion's not going anywhere.

 

[Marxist]

Lots of factors keeping the disease known as religion around, mainly childhood indoctrination, the massive amount of money organized religion has..

 

[Moonglow]

Religion is therapeutic to it's subscribers, meditation and prayer have a calming effect that drugs and alcohol can't match....

 

[hortysir]

We don't have education
We have information overload

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Religion is therapeutic to it's subscribers, meditation and prayer have a calming effect that drugs and alcohol can't match....

I think you're right. Many just have no use for knowledge and prefer superstition. Religion definitely fills a void for them.

Doesn't mean its not a scam though. The ultimate insurance scam - you pay your premiums your whole life and still end up worm food.

Biggest, most profitable and most successful scam of all time.

 

[HaShev]

(sarcastically)Yeah why not get rid of our accounts of history and progression of human behavior, social science, over coming adversity, over coming tyrany, psycholgy, philosophy, morality, ethics, standards, outcomes of poor choices, lessons, influences of organizations like councils, transhumanist ideologies and so on.
We see how well that works in cultures without these things in in portions of dociety who think they have these things when actually society does not learn ftom whitewashed inflated images and ideology based on group pride.

 

[Not2BSubjugated]

Childhood indoctrination's a huge part of how religion is perpetuated. Virtually every religion is chalk full of fanciful stories that are only believable when you're a child and said stories are disseminated by someone you trust implicitly, like a parent or someone -they- profess to trust implicitly.

Even without that indoctrination, though, people seek out spirituality (and therefore religion) for numerous psychological reasons. Science might explain the sun's movement and the lightning and thunder that come with a storm, but ever has the one of the greatest draws to any religion or spirituality been the human tendency toward fear of the uncertainty of death. Science will possibly never provide evidence definitive enough to drive away the human penchant for self-importance that drives many to the subconscious (and often active) belief that the unique level of reasoning and understanding that elevates humans above any competing species must be more than the result of the same sorta biochemical reactions happening in our skulls as those of (other) animals. One of the trappings of a reasoning, individual consciousness tempered with survival instinct seems to be an elevated sense of self, as though we're all the heroes of our own story. This makes the idea that our consciousness transcends the physical literally a more psychologically pleasing explanation than the alternative, and thus easier to believe. It also gives rise to the concept that this transcendent consciousness also transcends physical death, which in turn gives rise to the question of what happens to this transcendent "me" after my body stops reacting to stimuli and seems to be devoid of that super-physical consciousness. Enter uncertainty and fear of death, for which every religion offers a comforting explanation.

To a lesser degree, the question of where we come from has hardly been settled in the minds of most. The majority of humans haven't been directly exposed to the physical evidence supporting the evolution theory, and even if they had, the vast majority wouldn't be qualified to understand wtf they were looking at. Therefore, buying into the theory of evolution, for the average person, requires having faith in the people who tell you that scientists all believe it, having faith in the scientists who find the theory reasonable, having faith that the scientists who pioneered the theory analyzed the physical evidence properly, and having faith that the physical evidence even exists. The fact that TV says the scientsits agree doesn't necessarily make this theory any more compelling to the average person than a bearded magician in the sky who grants wishes having birthed the universe in 7 days through word alone. Most people also have a hard time conceptualizing how nothingness exploded into matter. It's actually easier for the average human to picture an anthropomorphic sky-ghost giving birth to existence, simply because nothingness and true spontaneity are literally difficult to envision. I find evolution to be the most compelling explanation I've heard, but I still have a hell of a time wrapping my mind around the Big Bang theory.

Add to that the human desire for contentment, which is generally achieved through continued success in matters and fields that are important to one on an emotional, subconscious level, and suplemented by the continued approval of those one loves/respects. Many people don't achieve these things, whether hindered by limitations in ability, procrastination, or imposed psychological barriers. Spiritualism offers the promise of contentment without the need for material success, which is largely competitive and not guaranteed. If one can make piety their highest value, one can achieve success without having to compete against people of possibly superior ability. Potentially, it's a path to happiness for the procrastinator, the underachiever, the coward, etc, that doesn't necessitate confronting the character flaws holding them back or competing with the other people seeking success in the same matters.

 

[Not2BSubjugated]

That was longer than I intended. I guess what I'm getting at is that psychology doesn't seem to have changed much since the beginning of recorded history. The idea that mankind has "outgrown" religion is laughable at best, as might be the idea that mankind will -ever- outgrow religion.

 

[Moonglow]

That was longer than I intended. I guess what I'm getting at is that psychology doesn't seem to have changed much since the beginning of recorded history. The idea that mankind has "outgrown" religion is laughable at best, as might be the idea that mankind will -ever- outgrow religion.

Religion to some is an addiction.....Low self esteem is a major role player in the use..

 

[Meriweather]

In looking over one's life, what is considered the more important: I wish I had learned more...or, I wish I had loved better?

 

[Not2BSubjugated]

That was longer than I intended. I guess what I'm getting at is that psychology doesn't seem to have changed much since the beginning of recorded history. The idea that mankind has "outgrown" religion is laughable at best, as might be the idea that mankind will -ever- outgrow religion.

Religion to some is an addiction.....Low self esteem is a major role player in the use..

I tend to agree. Unless one of those religions turns out to be true, they're -all- acting as defacto addictions. . . allowing one to forgo confronting fear and/or shortcomings in character while filling the resulting void with the emotional/psychological equivalent of empty calories.

Edit: I should say the intellectual equivalent of empty calories. Emotionally and psychologically, religion and spirituality seems to fill that void pretty successfully for a lot of people.

 

[Moonglow]

In looking over one's life, what is considered the more important: I wish I had learned more...or, I wish I had loved better?

Loved better....

 

[Not2BSubjugated]

In looking over one's life, what is considered the more important: I wish I had learned more...or, I wish I had loved better?

Depends on the particular regrets of the one in the death bed, I suppose.

 

[Meriweather]

Depends on the particular regrets of the one in the death bed, I suppose.

I'm not speaking of the death bed. Right now, in looking back over the life we have lived already, do we wish we had learned more? Or, do we wish we had loved better?

 

[amrchaos]

Our morality is not a completely intuitive concepts, and if there is not a process of teaching the basics of what is 'right' versus 'wrong' it is very well possible for society to slip into corruption and decay.

One of the things religion is suppose to teach is a morality.
Another thing religion is suppose to teach is social norms.
And religion is also suppose to teach how one should live their lives based on the above.

there is more that religion can offer, and it is not totally pointless to seek advice from any religion on the above matters.

Then again, one could argue that religious teaching falls under education. So, what are yu really getting rid of?

 

[Dajjal]

Religions are out of date, which is why I investigated the occult: The practical pursuit of psychic knowledge.
Just because religious doctrines are out of date, it does not mean there is no God.

 

[ralfy]

Religious belief takes place because the human mind is complex.

 

[there4eyeM]

Nietzsche had it right.