Religion of All Kinds: What is it, Really?

[Marc Hobbs]

All righty, I'm here, and I'm going to begin this in the following manner: I think that mankind has religion for three main reasons (none of them spiritual.) I will go into detail after listing them.

Mankind needs religion to:
1. Give himself a sense of placement in the world order.
2. Allow him to feel as though he is part of something bigger and better than he is, to persuade himself to better his future.
3. Give him some larger reason to live besides the simple primal urge to survive.

Here's why!

1. Give himself a sense of placement in the world order.

Mankind is an orderly species. We all like to know exactly where we are in relation to other people. Are we better? Worse? The same? Religion plays a major role in this. Many religions (perhaps some lesser known ones, but still they number many) teach that the members of a religion are better than everyone else, that they somehow have superiority over all others. A not so wonderful but good enough for me example is the KKK. They DON'T HATE (I was just at their website trying to figure out what religion they practice. Scary place, that web site.), but do discriminate black people and Catholics. Pretty much all who aren't like them. They feel superior. Next take someone who feels lower. Try Judaism. Ok, so Jewish customs don't tell you that you're lower than everyone. But let's face it, the poor Jews around the world have been hated and discriminated for EVER! Jesus was a Jew, and look what happened to him! Now, those who feel as though everyone is equal inclue Cathlocism (so far as I know), Christianity, Aethism (remeber I'm no expert so feel free to correct me.)

2. Allow him to feel as though he is part of something bigger and better than he is, to persuade himself to better his future.

If mankind had no religion, well, things would certainly be different around here. But since we do, whatever our beliefs tell us is what we do. For example, in Cathlocism one is supposed to help out other people, pray for them, and do nice things in general. Why? To get into Heaven! This motivates them to better their world and better the future of all around them. Now take Aethists. They don't believe in any kind of afterlife. So when you're done, you're done. That's it. This belief tells them to live it up; get all the life you can here cuz there's no second chance!

3. Give him some larger reason to live besides the simple primal urge to survive.

This one ties into the second reason a bit. Basically without religion there would be nothing for man to look forward to after he dies, nothing to keep him going, no reason to stay alive because when he dies he dies. This is pretty much how the world was before Jesus came along and died on the cross so we could all have eternal life, so says Cathlocism. This even applies to Aethists. Although they don't believe in any kind of god or afterlife, this belief gives them the HOPE (that's the word!) that they can get in all the living they want while they're alive. It's the hope of a better world after (or now) that keeps people going until then!

Well, I've said my bit, I'll step down now and let someone else take a crack at it. Arguments I can think of: Why spirituality is necessary (something that contradicts my post), why mankind has religion (other reasons), why I am a stupid moron who doesn't understand INSERT RELIGION HERE (a post which I will calmly and cooly respond to). Any number of things. Keep em comin. I'm anxious to hear some opinions.

 

[Novowels]

Ok, I'm going to do this a little twofold: First of all, I'm going to list why mankind NEEDED (and thus, created) religion thousands of years ago, and then I will explain why they do not need it now. During the course of this, I should hit upon what religion is, really. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

Why did humans need religion years ago?

1. To Explain Things

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, humans developed intelligence enough to understand the world, and communicate with other people. As such, they developed a need to understand the world and their place in it. Simple theories, like "we're the center of the universe," and "the world is flat" were thought up, and because they could not be proved or disproved at the time were accepted. Humanity learned everything through trial and error, but there was still so much they could not explain. The solution?

Gods! (yes, plural, the first religions were pagan religions) Hallelujah! Religion was created.

Lightning? Gods are throwing "spears of energy." Rain? Gods are crying. Where'd the earth come from? The gods made it for us! What did the gods look like? Well, like humans of course. (humans made the gods in their image) Everything in the world happened because some god did it. Someone got weak and died? They displeased a god!! The sun? Bright light made by a god so we can see! Additionally, many thought the Sun WAS a god, or a god's eye. Or a god's chariot. Or a god's home. There were a lot of sun-based religions-- it was the biggest, brightest object in the sky. Other gods were based on stars, planets, wind, oceans, and earthquakes-- all kinds of natural phenomena. Later gods became more cultural, gods of knowledge, war, and the "afterlife" were thought up.

Eventually, people began to write down what the gods seemed to want them to do, which leads into my next reason for needing religion: Morality codes.

2. Morality

A man gets weak and dies. Well, he must have displeased a god. What did he do that displeased the god? He ate an animal with cloven hooves! The gods must not like that! This guy got weak and died too... He had sex of wedlock! Must be a big no-no, that one! Morality was nothing more than health and behavioral codes designed to keep people alive in pre-medical and pre-law enforcement society.

If you've ever seen or read any Jewish texts, you'd see almost all of it is instructions on how to cleanse food and the body, which animals you can and cannot eat, and what things you can and cannot do. Why? Because people ate those things, or did those things, and they died. So it was made a moral law, that God does not want you to eat or do that. They didn't understand disease then, when someone got sick it was because of a gods' displeasure.

There was also no law-enforcement in those days. A man could walk into another man's house, kill him, and walk away and never be caught. The solution? Don't allow anyone to kill anyone! The only way to make yourself safe, was to make sure everyone was safe. So, "thou shalt not kill" was added. As was stealing, coveting, and etc. They just couldn't be caught. But now, religion taught that they would be punished eventually!

Those are the only two things I believe religion was useful for-- and it WAS useful...... Thousands of years ago. We not need those things now: we have science, reason, medical technology, and at least semi-decent law-enforcement.

Scientific facts have destroyed or replaced religious beliefs for thousands of years. We know where lightning comes from, we know how the universe was created (or we have a really good theory at least <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> ) and we know that disease is not caused by some gods' displeasure. Morality has shifted over to political correctness (as much as it annoys me) and now you can spend the rest of your life in jail instead of the rest of eternity in some flaming pit of agony.

The problem with religion, and the reason why we do not need it anymore is that it is completely outdated. It changes its rules over time, but not fast enough. If it was completely unbending, it would destroy itself, but instead it attempts to stay the same for as long as possible, then only changes as little as it has to to survive. Eventually, though, it does change.

Trust me, if it hasn't destroyed itself in another 2000 years, Christianity will allow abortions, gay marriage and child-rearing, stem-cell reasearch, and will accept the Big Bang Theory. If you went back in time to the 1600's, you would not recognize Christianity, and they would not recognize today's Christianity as "True Christianity." -- Christianity today is 99% different from when it was created.

So what is religion, really?

It is an old moral system thousands of years ago, it did not change with the times and thus became obsolete. It is a piece of dead skin that just hasn't fallen off the body yet, and because of that it is poisoning and killing the body. It is the anti-science, the anti-moral and the anti-truth. It brings hope, but it is also the cause of killing, suffering, and pain. And the hope part is a lie.

......

Man, I hate to end on such a downer.

But that's life, I guess.