Why is religion still a thing?

[Scarletthoo2]

As the title states, I would like to know why people still choose religion rather than science, please give me your personal view and opinions.

I was christened at birth, but grown up an atheist. I'm just curious to know why so many people still believe in religion and god. Considering there's undeniable evidence that everything on earth is simply made of atoms and particles and wasn't created by an otherworldly person.

Hopefully this doesn't cause offence to some people, like I've said, just simply want others views.

I don’t think any mental gymnastics is required really. One of the most common answers to why did god creates is in order to experiment itself, which means in order to experience itself as the source of everything everything needs to appear in the world, good and bad. God isn’t about the human perception of all sweetness of light.

I think many people enjoy being infantilised- they get to be sweet little baby lambs because big sky daddy will sort everything out for them,

Seriously! I can only assume that your post was a carefully crafted masterpiece of irony!

I'm anti-religion, but I agree with you. I definitely can the appeal.

I remember a great saying "Religion is a good way to ruin a great philosophy". The fundamental beliefs of all religions are very good things, unfortunately it's the people who ruin it. Untarnished, it is good and would actually make the world a better place - if everyone believed in a greater good, were kind to each other, didn't judge, helped each other out, were selfless etc.

I’m guessing you’ve never done maths with imaginary numbers (i) or heard of roots of unity and de Moivre as it seems my comment has gone right over your head.

But isn’t that the fundamental Christian belief that you can only access God through Jesus, that the only way to be saved and get to heaven is via this middle man?

And look at what is happening in Poland - women’s human right’s slowly being eroded away.

Yes, although Jesus was by all accounts a great man, he’s been placed as a huge obstacle between people and god. Christians are basically told they’re not worthy to say they’re just as close to god as anyone else.

The human need for religion is as old as time. It gives an explanation to things that cannot be explained. As we understand more things through science and astrophysics, the number of unexplainable things decreases and the need for religion will diminish. If there is a god, he's a mean bugger with no regard for his creations.

Your god invented those diseases on purpose knowing what they would do and for the first few 1000 years knowing we could do nothing about them.

He designed them knowing exactly their effect (being all knowing) and then sat back and watched.

OR god is just a nasty fairy tale and it was just the way things evolved.

Depends. In more esoteric interpretations this is no obstacle but rather a map.

Unless you’re Blake (or follow an esoteric path)

”Jesus Christ is the only god, and so am I am so are you”

I think this is incredibly simplistic and inaccurate. For many people there is a deep seated knowing that there is something beyond the material. Religion (and I use this term very widely) and philosophies gives people a framework to explore these feelings.

I guess for some people without these deep seated feelings this would be impossible to grasp.

One good reason not to follow god is that Jesus didn't. His morals were completely different from the god of the old testament. Which is funny given they are supposed to be one.

People say "oh yes Jesus came to change things" but that makes no sense either.

Changing what is good and what is bad is an admission that you got it wrong the first time.

I disagree- religion is not about knowledge- it is about belief.

Religion constricts our abilities to explore, it doesn't allow much room for cognitive freedoms.

Uncomfortable questions like why does god make earthquakes, or deadly viruses, or headlice?Why do millions of children diee of starvation every year.

Adherents are told it's all part of god's ama

God is either omnipotent and evil, or he doesnt exist.
Worshipping an evil genocidal bully with anger management problems is not something I would choose to do.

What does spirituality even really mean though, outside of the context of religion? When people say 'I'm not religious, but I'm a really spiritual person', what do they think they are actually saying about themselves - 'I wonder about stuff'? Pretty much everyone does that.

I think people ignore and forget about all the faith-driven volunteer work that goes on in this country with the least and the lost. Food banks, night shelters, street pastors, aid donations, community outreach to the elderly and families…etc

None of those activities are exclusive to religious people though.

No, they don’t ‘have’ to be religious but funnily enough many of them are. When I look at my community alone the vast majority of the litter pickers, food bank volunteers, visitors to the elderly and sick, the charity coffee morning organisers etc are affiliated with the church. The non-church goers will support political campaigns but not much in the way of social outreach.

I think it’s disingenuous to deny the vast amount of charitable work locally and globally that faith groups do.

I agree.

75% of charitable donations are from non faith groups in the UK.

It gets my goat when christians put themselves on a pedestal and consider themselves and feel they have greater moral and altruistic attributes than atheists.
I know too many christians- they are generally a bunch a bunch of self congratulating simpering bigots.

How can we believe in something that has never, ever been proven to be exist and no one has ever met this entity? “Believing” in this entity or “knowing” that it exists, etc, still doesn’t prove he/she/it exists. Just because a bunch of men - and it’s always men, thousands of years ago, said this god exists, it doesn’t prove that it does. And the bible doesn’t prove anything either because those who wrote it never met Jesus. Surely, given all of this, god is just hearsay?

Lots of reasons to be religious and I'd love to be but personally I havent got the 'religious gene' - I think religion and also political ideologies provide a framework of meaning and a community.

UWhatNow

" No, they don’t ‘have’ to be religious but funnily enough many of them are. When I look at my community alone the vast majority of the litter pickers, food bank volunteers, visitors to the elderly and sick, the charity coffee morning organisers etc are affiliated with the church."

Yes because these religious do gooders love to brag and boast about helping.
They can polish their egos, appear to be pious, and elevate their own self view.

Non faith charity groups - which outnumber religious charity groups by threefold, do so quietly, they are not looking for the validation that christian groups do.

I think it's like speaking to someone in a different language, with a whole different grammar and vocabulary for snow that's outside what the first language can express.

When you assert that what I believe is rubbish, then you demonstrate you don't know what I believe. As in, quite literally several more recent posters have said things about what other people believe that just aren't true of the people you are speaking to. They may be tue of some people you know, I can't say. They aren't true about me or the God I try to know.

I generally don't argue with astrophysicists about astrophysics. I don't have the concepts, vocabulary etc. It's where people like Brian Cox who are really great communicators help the rest of us to get a glimpse of what he actually understands.
But we'll only ever get a glimpse, unless we dedicate ourselves to a lifetime of study AND have the aptitude!

Well I can only really answer for myself, spirit and therefore spirituality means something outside of the physical world, spirituality is a belief in that. In occultist terms it is the upper point above the the 4material elements of the physical world in the pentagram )these elements are different to the elements of science) that’s why the inverted pentagram is seen as against spirituality it’s raising the physical above the spiritual.

spirituality can be any belief or practice to explore and integrate this “other”.

it is separate from religion in that it is not a set of beliefs and rules within a hierarchical system. Although people may join together to explore concepts etc spirituality is always a personal matter, it’s internal.

As I say though that’s my interpretation