Anna B Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Love and marriage , love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage? Can't have one without the other? True of God and religion too! Religion gives God a bad name... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medusa Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I think if you took away the possibility of any god, heaven, afterlife and the whole concept away there would be literally billions of people who would be cast into a world of fear and misunderstanding because they'd had their complete belief system torn away from them without replacing it with anything else. When the world is a really cruel place to live, when harvests fail and children die of starvation or you're working really hard just to afford the food to live and there's little prospect of things improving, then I can imagine that having faith that a deity can improve the harvest, look after a dying child in the afterlife or provide just a little more money to make living a little easier are possibly the only things that you have to hold on to in order to cope. Whether or not that deity is actually there is not hugely relevant to whether you cope with the situation, but ripping away the emotional crutches upon which one trusts would be disastrous emotionally for a huge proportion of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 I think if you took away the possibility of any god, heaven, afterlife and the whole concept away there would be literally billions of people who would be cast into a world of fear and misunderstanding because they'd had their complete belief system torn away from them without replacing it with anything else. When the world is a really cruel place to live, when harvests fail and children die of starvation or you're working really hard just to afford the food to live and there's little prospect of things improving, then I can imagine that having faith that a deity can improve the harvest, look after a dying child in the afterlife or provide just a little more money to make living a little easier are possibly the only things that you have to hold on to in order to cope. Whether or not that deity is actually there is not hugely relevant to whether you cope with the situation, but ripping away the emotional crutches upon which one trusts would be disastrous emotionally for a huge proportion of the world. You're probably right, but what surprises me is the rise of Christian fundamentalism in rich, educated, modern America. It's even rife in the White House. They have always been a God fearing nation, with high church attendance etc. so why haven't they gone the same way as the UK with falling church attendance, and a crisis of belief? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Religion gives God a bad name... Religion is the only thing that gives gods a name at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Religion is the only thing that gives gods a name at all. Do you think so? Depending on your vision of 'God' I'd say that the Pagans got on very well without organised religion, while still having a great sense of a power beyond themselves, and an awe of nature. People have recognised this since the dawn of time. It's as if it's built into our DNA. Organised Religion is just an opportunity to turn it into a power trip for the Organisers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 That's just not true at all, religion is all pervasive, you have people blowing themselves up in the name of religion, people bullying others because of religion, people attacking others because of religion, people hounding others out of town because of religion, people trying to get laws passed because of religion, discrimination in the workplace, and the voting booth because of religion, the list goes on and on. I wish we lived in a world where religion was just a personal thing, unfortunately in this one it is not. You cannot blame religion for all the evils in the world. Greed, avarice. jealousy, the desire for power, land, racism are as much to blame if not more but that's the way of the human animal. These faults are by no means completely associated with religion Removing religion would only solve a fraction of the problem. Re-engineering the human brain would be the best bet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 Do you think so? Depending on your vision of 'God' I'd say that the Pagans got on very well without organised religion When I said 'religion' I was not restricting the term to what you would call 'organised religion'. I think religion itself is the problem, and that this modern line of thought that 'religion's ok in general, it's only organised religion that ruins things' that seems to have become so trendy these days doesn't stand up to scrutiny. What evidence is there that pre-christian religions in europe (which I presume is what you're referring to) were any sort of exception? They still had 'holy' men, although admittedly some of the tribes were slightly less patriarchal than most other societies of the time. But the point is they still had a priest class, who wielded considerable power in their societies. Religion has always been an excellent tool for control, even on small scales. ...while still having a great sense of a power beyond themselves, and an awe of nature. People have recognised this since the dawn of time. It's as if it's built into our DNA. People recognised the power of nature? Well of course they did! Nature can be pretty damn powerful, it doesn't really need to be 'built into our DNA', it's bloody obvious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flamingjimmy Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 You cannot blame religion for all the evils in the world...That's ok, because I didn't, and I don't. If you're going to quote me, I'd appreciate it if you actually composed a response to what I said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna B Posted April 17, 2012 Share Posted April 17, 2012 That's just not true at all, religion is all pervasive, you have people blowing themselves up in the name of religion, people bullying others because of religion, people attacking others because of religion, people hounding others out of town because of religion, people trying to get laws passed because of religion, discrimination in the workplace, and the voting booth because of religion, the list goes on and on. I wish we lived in a world where religion was just a personal thing, unfortunately in this one it is not.[/quote] Well we're definately singing from the same hymn sheet here (unfortunate pun.) I think one's relationship with God is a very personal and private thing which does not necessitate the intermediary of a 'religion.' God is within us all. It's only when organised religion gets involved that the trouble starts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 Do you think so? Depending on your vision of 'God' I'd say that the Pagans got on very well without organised religion, while still having a great sense of a power beyond themselves, and an awe of nature. People have recognised this since the dawn of time. It's as if it's built into our DNA. Organised Religion is just an opportunity to turn it into a power trip for the Organisers. Didn’t they sacrifice innocent people just to appease their Gods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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