Do you think religion is important?

I am asking this question for a class ... so help me out here and respond. Important for humans/society in general for those of you who are confused what I mean. Not necessarily on a personal level.

Yes, religion is important. We all need to belive in something. What you happen to believe in is no importance to me. We all need hope, we all need something to rely on. And I think religion gives us all that.

I'm saying yes more to spirituality than religion, per se. I'm obviously very biased, holding beliefs and having my own experiences here, but without religion, I think that people would often care much less about their improvement, etc.

I believe in religion, but I never go by it every day of my life. But other then that, I think religion is what you wan't it to be.

Yes! It keeps the inferiors in line!


But seriously, yes. It's what gives people their driving force, no matter their belief.

That's a good question. What class was this for? Anyways, religion can be bad. It's caused wars and has gotten many people killed. So many innocent people were killed just because they didn't believe in a certain religion. And they died painfully.

But religion can be good. Because of religion, America was formed. Pilgrims came over to America searching for freedom of religion. Also, a lot of people need something to believe in. It gives them hope and something to live for. I thought of it one time like this. What if there was no heaven? Then that means people would live through their lives, trying to help others, and when they died, instead of going to heaven for their good deeds (i don't always sound like this) they just blacked out and their exsistance was meaningless.

(Stop reading if you don't want to hear my personal opinion)
As for me, I value religion. But I've thought about that heaven not exsisting thing and thought it is way better to live on after death. A lot more encouraging. But I've questioned the exsistance of *** and decided I would still probably live doing good things for people and helping without an afterlife. But for most people, heaven gives them hope.
Religion also makes these people who try to shove their beliefs down your throat. In my old Sunday school class, I hated that ***** teacher because whenever I questioned one of her opinions with my own belief, she wouldn't stop trying to make me believe her beliefs until class was over. I was awarded the class leader because I debated with that ***** the most and usually got my peers to go on my side.

Whoa, sorry that was so long. I love these questions. I'm doing Advance Speech and Debate in fall. Hope I helped Xenos.

Religion is for people too weak to deal with life by themselves, who feel they need some sort of universal big brother watching over them.

No. Why do we need something that doesnt exist amirite?

Any morals religion teaches can be taught elsewhere. I think its completely useless.

[quote=Xqars]But religion can be good. Because of religion, America was formed.

LOL OXYMORON AMIRITE?

Yes. People can easily find acceptance in religion and it offers structure at the most troubling times. The reasons I personally don't agree with it have already been said.

ok what ever

I didn't mean it like that.

Spirituality, pah. Just restrained insanity. I'm capable of hope and I don't even know the meaning of the word "spirituality".

Religion is useful for keeping idiots in check, but it's far too useful an excuse for intelligent people to rape, pillage and murder.

I'm not saying that religion doesnt do a lot of good. What I'm saying is that it isnt NEEDED to do good.

indeed religion is important, but sometimes I tend to find myself questioning my own faith. in my life religion isn't important but religion in general IS important

I do not consider it an insult, but rather a compliment to be called an agnostic. I do not pretend to know where many ignorant men are sure—that is all that agnosticism means.
-Clarence Darrow, Scopes trial, 1925

To have a positive religion is not necessary. To be in harmony with yourself and the universe is what counts, and this is possible without positive and specific formulation in words.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.
-Thomas Paine

Our ***s are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millennia ago. They were...more trouble than they were worth.
-Worf, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Homefront”

Jesus hates you
-Kanashuri

No, if that were so, I would have a religion. As it stands, I do not.

I'd like to say I place importance on my religion, but I don't. I haven't been to church since Christmas and I can't remember the last time I've ever prayed to G[color=indigo]od or included Him in my life. Really, I don't think religion is important at all. Far more important than religion is your life and how you live it. Ideally, religion should be just that: a guideline to living your life harmoniously, as a higher power would have you do. Let's face it, though; plenty of people say and do horrible things in God's name. Now, doing what you can everyday to help your fellow man and make the world a better place in whatever big or smalls ways on the road ahead of you... if that's not the path God would have us follow, then He can kiss my ass.[/color]

[quote=Bj Blaskowitz]atheism is for people too narrow-minded, stubborn and headstrong-arrogant to admit that there is a possibility that there is a being higher than they are,

oll, you're already wrong. An athiest is one who accepts that there is no proof of a higher existence. Which there isn't. No substantial proof whatsoever. And there's no reason to believe in something, according to athiests, if there is no proof for it. It has absolutely nothing to do with thinking you're king of the universe.

Regardless, you're mostly an athiest yourself when you take into account all the deities you don't believe in.

Of course religion is important. The majority of people in the world are religious, and if that isn't enough evidence, look at some of the other events that were at least partially driven by religion:

-The pyramids
-Homeric works
-The Crusades (of course this was driven by religion)
-Einstein's discoveries
-The founding of America
-The creation of laws

[quote=GameMiestro]Erm, detect any hypocrisy there? Like, since there's no proof in there not being a ***.

No, it's not hypocritical in the slightest. If you say something exists then you carry the burdon of proof, not the other way around. Even so, a lot of religion has been proven false. For example, Adam and Eve is b[COLOR=lightgreen]u[/COLOR]llshit.

Otherwise I set you the challenge of proving I'm not one of Saturn's moons.

It's influential, yes, but it's hardly crucial/important. And discovering America was not religious. It drove some Brits over here, but finding it was an entirely different story, and settlement would have happened just the same without religion (referring specifically to this event, obviously history would be much different without religion).

Anything that encourages less independent thinking is not a good thing. Having beliefs is good, taking somebody else's beliefs and living your life like a chore is not.

Religion is based on beliefs, you don't need facts to prove your self. As the old saying goes if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around to hear it does it make a sound. Yes because if somebody where around to hear it it would. Or if you see something with your own eyes and we you tell people about it and they belive you its because you trust them, and they maybe never gave a reason to not trust you. So religon is important, what reasons have the bible gave you to not trust it?

This is kind of a "god is dead" stance, so if you already know that argument, ignore this.

In the beginning, yes I believe religion was important. Creating it helped people form basic doctrines on how to reach the ideal self and society and preached consequence. Many of those same common laws obtained from various religions are still present today in our own constitutions, and since society and knowledge have grown since the early times, I don't think religion is important or even relevant in today's society since we have our own laws that aide in us functioning as a working society. Simply put, we can live with the idea of death, we can scientifically explain how things work, and we can enforce stability in our culture without attributing things to some all-powerful, higher being with no real explanation or reason other than answers and punishment.

[quote=GameMiestro]I would think so, unless all those textbooks were wrong.



There are quite a few religions that don't believe in the Adam and Eve story... even strictly with religious evidence, there's a lot in the Adam and Eve story that couldn't be true. I don't agree that you don't need evidence in order to prove something false... in order to disprove something, you need proof that the given idea must be false. For example, if you assumed that if there was a ***, everything would be blue, and then you found something that was green, than that's very compelling evidence that there isn't a ***, even more so than just saying "*** doesn't exist".



Reminds me of geometry proofs... Do I get extra credit?

For something to be disproven, it must first be proven. Disproving is the removal of something's proven status.

To use your example, there would have to be strong evidence to suggest that everything is, in fact, blue. It would have evidence for it, and it's possible to test it.

In the case of religion, there is zero evidence for it and no possible way to test it. It is, therefore, unproven. Saying religion must be proven false is exactly like saying the existence of fairies must be proven false, fairies being creatures that disappear when anyone gets near.

you people are flipping stupid. I don't believe that first paragraph I typed in my response, I merely summed up a bunch of generalizations and knee-jerk reactions into one asnine rant in order to illustrate to LoS the stupidity of what he said. Pardon my ATHEISM, but Christ you people are daft for thinking so highly of yourselves. I used it, AS A VISUAL AIDE. VISUAL AIDE, PEOPLE.

Speedfreak, I don't believe in Alexander the Great. I demand that you prove his existence. Keep in mind, ancient texts are on the same level as scriptures, and oral traditions/notoriety don't count, as they're about as worthless as a brainwashing church. Artifacts don't count either, as they're on the same level of believability as rusty pikes and sticks and other crap that they associate with saints and relics and all that. You basically can't trust anything anyone else tells you, as it may be lies made up to brainwash you. I dont' care how many people believe it, I'm telling you I'm better and smarter than them, no matter what their profession, and they're all naive and I'm the smartest em effer to ever live because I KNOW without a DOUBT because I have no PROOF (in my mind) that proves that Alexander the Great existed. I want you to prove his existence to me.

and go

[quote=Bj Blaskowitz]Speedfreak, I don't believe in Alexander the Great. I demand that you prove his existence. Keep in mind, ancient texts are on the same level as scriptures, and oral traditions/notoriety don't count, as they're about as worthless as a brainwashing church. Artifacts don't count either, as they're on the same level of believability as rusty pikes and sticks and other crap that they associate with saints and relics and all that. You basically can't trust anything anyone else tells you, as it may be lies made up to brainwash you. I dont' care how many people believe it, I'm telling you I'm better and smarter than them, no matter what their profession, and they're all naive and I'm the smartest em effer to ever live because I KNOW without a DOUBT because I have no PROOF (in my mind) that proves that Alexander the Great existed. I want you to prove his existence to me.

and go

I don't deny the existence of a man called Jesus that lived roughly 2000 years ago. I just don't accept that he died for a symbolic sin committed by a fictional person for every single person on the planet, or that he had super powers comparable to that of Dende from DragonBall Z. As for all his other tricks, a year or two ago a couple of magicians made a TV show where they replicated all of Jesus's "miracles". I don't expect it'll be shown over there, though ;)

And funnily enough, as I type this I don't actually know who Alexander the great is. I was never into history. However, it is true that the further back in time we try to go the less we can be sure of a single person's lifestyle. Science doesn't have it in for religion, believe it or not (and history is a sort of science), it's just interested in what is correct. It's not reality's fault if religion doesn't reflect it.

If arguing on the internet is the equivalent of participating in the special olympics, then arguing about religion on the internet is like losing the special olympics: not only are you retarded, but you suck too.

That aside, I wasnt trying to single out any one religion. I think they're all silly. Yes, its true that there isnt any proof against them, but if I told you that I could sell you a magic rock that kept tigers at bay, then used the evidence that there were no tigers near you, it wouldnt exactly be convincing, would it? Religion has a lot of answers that work like that. Why are ***s actions weird and nonlogical? lol higher power you wouldnt understand. It has so many of the same traits as any of the other prehistoric creation myths that EVERY culture has that it would be, to me, silly to think of it as anything but that. Could I be wrong? Yeah, and if I am, I've a few questions for the big dude to ask rigt before he sends me to hell.

As for whether religion was important, I assumed the question was a "is it important if you want to be a good person" type thing. Otherwise, in a "has it influenced history" view, you'd have to be retarded to think it didnt.

Religion is a strange thing, but to sum it up nicely it is like a branch of an old and ancient tree - it may be used as a spear or a crutch, perhaps a paintbrush. Each man to his own, I persume.

Raptor-I stand corrected.

Sniper- how about you post you dissent as a message so I can rip it a new one.

Speedy- I'm arguing more towards ***'s existence, not Jesus's. If you can accept that Alexander lived, or Jesus, or any for that matter, my question to you is "who are you listening to?" What basis do you have for accepting that Jesus or Alexander even LIVED? None. But you listen to the advice of betters, be they teachers or professors or what have you. You listen to educated men and their collected ideals from the past umpteen thousand years to formulate a belief that those men existed. It's arguable that Alexander the Great shaped the world. The spread of Greek politics, customs, and military strategies spread throughout the world, and many historicans attribute that to Alexander the Great (same for the Romans, ironically). Now, if it's so reasonable to believe these old wives' tales, why is it so unreasonable for intelligent people to put the same practice into following a religion? If you think we're brainwashed and simple-minded (this is primarily targeting you, LoS) then I think it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Your science is just as flawed and madeup of just as much guesswork as my religion. Additionally, I'll look into that magician thing. It'd be neat to see a guy heal a blind person and cure leprosy/raise the dead etc, as well as maybe do some really cool non-jesus stuff like parting seas and causing plagues. Is it at blockbuster you think?

okay, now the fun part

That aside, I wasnt trying to single out any one religion. so? it was still an ignorant generalization I think they're all silly. Yes, its true that there isnt any proof against them, but if I told you that I could sell you a magic rock that kept tigers at bay, then used the evidence that there were no tigers near you, it wouldnt exactly be convincing, would it? Religion has a lot of answers that work like that. Why are ***s actions weird and nonlogical? lol higher power you wouldnt understand. It has so many of the same traits as any of the other prehistoric creation myths that EVERY culture has that it would be, to me, silly to think of it as anything but that. Could I be wrong? Yeah, and if I am, I've a few questions for the big dude to ask rigt before he sends me to hell. So? Just because it's not candy-coated and easy to understand doesn't mean it's "silly" to believe it. Just because you can't wrap your mind around omniscience doesn't mean I can't try. I love how atheists are so haughty, so high and mighty, so "I'm intelligent and think you are silly for believing such a thing." Do you honestly think you are better than the likes of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Albert Einstein, C.S. Lewis, Demosthenes, Blaise Pascal, James Joule, John Dalton, Gregor Mendel, Johannes Kepler, etc etc that they were all silly and throw that "I don't believe in ***, therefore I am better than you" spiel at them? I think ****ing not. See, the difference is, I think Atheism is stupid. I think that to completely deny ***'s existence is absolute absurdity, as it can't be proven. But I am NOT required to give you the burden of proof, as I'm only asking you to disprove Him because you're all taking such a haughty stance on the whole thing in regards to my beliefs. The question, originally, was

DO YOU THINK RELIGION IS IMPORTANT?

Nowhere did it ask you to chime in with your own beliefs, and scanning the first page, nobody followed the question anyways. IS. . . RELIGION. . . IMPORTANT? That is the question. The answer is yes. religion makes the world go 'round. If you don't pay attention to religion, it'll sneak up on you and bite you in the ***. I frankly don't care if you are an atheist/agnostic/pastafarian. I might chuckle at you under my breath, but I'll keep it to myself until provoked. Don't mock something you can't understand. And don't somehow think that just because you think my belief in *** is silly that you are somehow smarter or better than me (I keep getting this impression from you in particular, LoS) because I will prove you wrong.

I think that the belief can eb defended very well and eloquently, and that there have been numerous people who do so with intelligence and style.

That being said, I still dont buy it. Theres no evidence for it, and no reason to think its true. There a hundreds, if not thousands of societies that all had creation myths; theres no reason to think those were true, and the only think that sets the religion this thread seems to focus on (christianity) apart is that its still here. And dont give me that "If a lot of people think it, it must be true" bs, since there was a time when everyone thought that the earth was flat. Its not like it just popped into 3d once colubmus proved it wrong. Being a popularly held belief means nothing.

And I already said it was important in that it affects society, so :P. ALso, I dont think I'm smarter than you. Honestly. Remember back on the first page where I said there were only a few people here who could beat me? Guess what, you're one of them.

Personally, I try not to say that there is no ***, sice you're right; I cant prove it. But then again, to center my life around something that I cant prove seems just as... well, silly.:(

I'm not saying that you have to believe it simply because others do, I'm just saying that you can't completely write it off as idiocy when such a huge number of people over the past thousands years have believed it. It's like saying they're all morons and you're not or something. You don't have to believe, but I think if you expect me to respect others' beliefs, then they should respect mine as well (a standard many of the left-leaning alignment tend to forget these days). Plus your title rules. Down with vaginers

On the whole, athiests and religious people are pretty much the same. Saying a typical athiest is someone that thinks they're above everyone else is precisely like saying a typical Christian thinks all non-Christians are "lost sheep" that need to be "saved".

As for the original question "Is Religion important?", I figured it meant "is religion important to you?". It's an insanely vague question. In one sense it is important because most people are religious, so when talking about religion you are talking about the beliefs of most people. Religion is important culturally.
In another sense it's quite insignificant, it's perfectly possible to live as a respectable, responsible and valuable human being without any religion whatsoever. Religion is unimportant as a guide to life, in my opinion.

While Government aptly replaces religion in terms of keeping a community together and working, religion instills moral values. Also, many people need faith in something that tells them where they're going after they die and tells them a way to live, or they'd be either dead already or menaces to society.

I must say, I am curious as to how you came to the conclusion that Christianity is right and every other religion is wrong without resorting to some kind of science. Unless you just decided it feels right, which I would quite frankly have to call bollocks on.

Every religious person I know picked that religion because it's what they were brought up with, they didn't really look at all of them and decide for themselves which made the most sense. I'd imagine if most people actually did that then Buddhism would probably end up as the most common religion, there's nothing really in it to disagree with.

So my question is this: if you're positive that it's silly to not believe in Christianity because of it's lack of proof, what made you decide not to believe in every other religion along with it?

In the right circumstances everyone's favourite pet Tibetan buddhist could be Hitler.

Also... religion makes the world go round? What about China? It's officially atheist and before that the majority was just into folk religions or Confuscianism which isn't really much of a religion....

That can be said for every single religion on the planet, with examples to boot.

so is it muslim or jewish?

And my reply was to point out crappy grammar in a cheeky way, get over yourselves.

Do I honeslty have to explain it?

yeah, you do. Humor me.

It is important. Like, when you are young and afraid of the dark, you have a nightlight in your bedroom. Even though there is nothing there to fear, that small light still makes you feel worlds better.

Take any Christian-based religion, for example. The promise of eternal happiness and life is too enticing to ignore, and so, the human psyche begins to “believe” that a man named Jesus died for their sins. Everyone wants someone to take away their problems, and what is a better way of doing that than dying so you do not have to? As far as Christians and Catholics, and any other similar religions goes, I do not think that people “believe” in them. Truly, I think that “belief” is a person subconsciously covering-up for the fact that they want to be happy for all time, religion or not. If you gave a dog the choice of a bath or a cookie, what do you think that it would choose? The cookie. Just make people scared enough (of, in this case, Hell), and hey will take the easiest route out.
I am humanist. I do not believe in any heaven nor hell, but I do think that religion is important. A sort of Security Blanket, when the road gets tough.

[quote=Bj Blaskowitz]so is it muslim or jewish?

And my reply was to point out crappy grammar in a cheeky way, get over yourselves.

Unless Bebop is multiple people, I think you just owned yourself.

he left neg feedback saying I sounded like a muslim, then said I was Jewish. WTF are you on right now?

Perhaps that's his sense of humour? Haven't you ever watched South Park?

There is no definate answer to this because there is no definitive research done on human beings as far as self-reliance goes. Also, the samples change in large degrees depending on the society they are in. That said, in a perfect world where everyone can think for themselves: Religion is not necessary. For the real world though, where there are people that lead and people that follow: It is needed for those unable to justify their own existence to themselves or to others.

P.S: If you're picking at someone's grammar and spelling when it is completely legible, during an argument, you've obviously lost.

even after I stated that I posted simply to point out your second grade grammatical flaw? Even if that was the sole purpose, as stated in quote- And my reply was to point out crappy grammar in a cheeky way, get over yourselves.

huh?

even if I were to engage in this part of the argument (having given my reason for saying it in the first place) I would say that people of science, politicians, sports coaches, yanni, steve perry, etc etc etc all say "I'm right, you're wrong" so don't pretend like you've stumbled upon something profound there, kiddo

dudde. . . I posted that AFTER your rep comment because obviously you all missed the point of my "you're wrong, I'm right." Comment. It was SINCERELY TO MAKE FUN OF POOR GRAMMAR. THAT WAS IT. How is it you brits invented cheeky quips yet can't understand mine? What fun is that?

You posted the grammar joke.

I post Jew comment and Muslim rep

You ask why I called you those and explain the grammar joke

I explain why I called you Jew and Muslim

You accuse me of claiming I made some profound statement.

I say no because it clearly wasnt.

You post above comment.

Wtf? What am I not getting?

I explained to you how I wasn't trying to sound serious with "I'm right, you're wrong" and how it was done to poke fun at your grammar mistake. Then you keep beating that drum about how I'm using a line that other religions use, I re-instate, over and over, that no, I wasn't saying that to say that i was right and you were wrong, I said it simply to correct your grammar in a funny way. You KEEP beating the dead horse about how I'm acting like jews/muslims/rastafarians/whatever and I keep stating over and over NO I AM NOT I SAID IT TO MAKE FUN OF YOU. I made the point that your statement wasn't profound because you simply keep re-saying it over and over and over ad nauseum like you just found the ****ing philospher's stone or something. This is my last reply, I'm tired of discussing this with your stupid ***. Jesus Christ.

How did I keep beating the drum? By saying once you sounded like a Jew and explainging it later? After you wanted me to?

regardless, learn to ****ing make a contraction properly, you little rocket scientist you

I think many stories in many religions are absolutely essential as starting points for becoming a moral, good, grounded person. But short of the big picture lessons, I don't really don't care for their facts of details, or any particular religion in particular. I was born Catholic, studied Buddism, and have friends who have explained to me the teachings of Islam. And I chose Agnosticism. I can cite three specific events in my life that lead me to this decision:

1) My mom cheated on and divorced my dad. Five years later he remarries and the Catholic church which married them does not approve of a second marriage and won't let him have a ceremony. At 13 I cried bu11sh1t. (2) In my early 20's a very conservative Christian girl I was dating one day (over a what should we have for dinner arguement) decided that when we both died I might not get to go to heaven with her because I frequently question the church (See point 1, and nevermind that we were having premarital nookie). She and her pastor basically threatened and judged me. Ahem. (3) Being in Miami, I have been approached by at least 5 religious groups that all think I need their version of salvation, and the other 4 are d4mmed to burn in their version of hell or infinate irrelevance. Yeah Ok. That was enough.

So! At 25 I decided that I'm fawking sick of humans deciding what is holy and finite. I think there's something greater than us, but I'll be d4mmed if I accept another assinine interpretation from another human being. Here's my religion: I'm happy with "I don't know who or what g0d is, but I'm happy I'm here" and try to be nice and moral to people. I have been *much* happier since I made that change. I don't recommend it to anyone because people who feel very strongly about their religions will perceive you as a threat and exclude you. But it works for ME, and have decided I'm better off with open minded people who take me as I am. In that sense, it has it's perks.

It's also notable that religion, with perhaps second to money, is the primary cause of wars for thousands of years, which is another reason I think we don't need it. If you don't think that's true, put down your fists and look it up.

I like how like three people have answered the question at hand.

People have interpreted the question in different ways. Pretty much everyone in this thread has answered it.

no they haven't. You can think religion's stupid and acknowledge its importance in our world. Why defend the ignorant, I don't get it.

It's unfortunate that religion is as important as it is, but you can't really deny that on global level, religion is very important.

Tell it to the Chinese...

Yeah, I despise organized religion, except a few eastern "religions" which I'd hardly call "religion", given their actual defined principles and lack of dogma.

But I do recognize that it is important on a global level. To the individual, religion is lame and worthless. But on a world-wide scale, we need religion because not everyone can find strength within themselves, so they have to rely on some invisible being to make them feel like they are of value. Those of us who can handle it by means of real things, we will do so. But those who can't need G*d.

Yes, that is genuinely what I believe. There are people who live out their whole lives without ever following G*d. They're totally happy, confident and satisfied. Without G*d. If G*d is the key to happiness, then how can you explain those people? You can say "They're not truly happy", but I doubt that's the case. I've met some people like that, and they seem happy enough. They seem satisfied with the state of their lives. They found the strength and will power within themselves to accomplish and achieve, and they did it without G*d's help. Those who do it with "G*d's help" are actually doing it on their own; it's just that they need to believe that someone is helping them.

Essentially, what I'm saying is that we all have the strength. But some of us call it G*d, while others don't. But we all have it, just the same.

keep your personal conflicts with why people believe in what to yourself. I'm a Christian, but I'm more of a deist than **** near anyone. I don't need Gawd to justify my actions, my lifestyle, or my existence. *** you people suck at this.

I don't read the bible, lucky me.

Anyways, my post was directed at how you said that people make up a *** to justify themselves or act as a support crutch. I, for one, don't. Quit generalizing.

Fair enough.

Nope it aint Boo Booo Boooooo