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.

if you’re interested in finding things out, you’ll have to try it all out yourself with an open mind.

Absolutely. I am genuinely intrigued about the possible existence of a God. I have always been open minded and keen to learn!

If you have any evidence that is more than a belief in your mind, please do share it.

What are Christian values, and why are they superior to my values as an atheist? I am a good person, with strong respect for family etc, and don't need religion to tell me what I should value or not.

When I think about Christian values, I think of misogyny and homophobia- are these the values you want your kids growing up with? Or is it just some of the Christian values? I don't mean to sound facetious or disrespectful - I understand the comfort that religion might bring to some, and the sense of community etc, but I really struggle with the idea of Christian values being something to aspire to.

Sorry I was supposed to quote this!

Because it’s a system of control. There are many many people in the world living really shitty lives working hard while a small minority get rich off the back of their toil. Gives these people a meaning, and tells them, god is testing your resolve, “but be good and crack on and in the next life you’ll be rewarded”. “But can’t I be rewarded in this life?” Suits some doesn’t it?

And if god is actually relieving that child of a life on earth and fast tracking her into the kingdom of heaven why do we bother to cure any illness. Let’s all just die as quickly as possible.

Please refer back to all my comments on evidence and the need for personal revelation on this thread.

You need to leave your need for proof (as defined by scientific methodology) behind on this quest.

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence"

This quote from Christopher Hitchens comes to my mind.

You’re free to your opinion. I guess you’ll just never get it but that not my problem.

I'd go with the ones Christ taught. Forgiveness, love, no judgement. Love one another as I have loved you, love your neighbour as you love yourself etc.
It's really not his fault that people got caught up in preserving the institution of the church and forgot the actual teaching and values.

It's like most cults, being inside the cult gives you a distorted view of the world, and the absolute belief in that cult trumps everything else. It'll be something like 'when it is revealed to you you will understand', or you just don't get it because you don't believe enough, or you need to suffer to understand, or a 101 other reasons to justify the existence of the cult. It's the holier than thou attitude that annoys me.

Thanks for the reply, but those values don't appear to be uniquely Jesus' values? I mean, forgiveness, love, no judgement ... surely that's just part and parcel of being a decent kind, generous human being?

What are you going on about?

What’s the difference between a cult and religion?

@OMG12 The book is the course and sure you can do it whenever you want to. I've started. It's the real thing too with practices from classical antiquity. He's a neoplatonist and academic (computer science) who's done the research.
I'd dabbled in witchcraft before Buddhism. But finding Pythagoras, Hypatia, Heraclitus etc really did it for me:)
Women; here you might enjoy this then: Greek female philosophers plus Sosipatra and Asclepigenia
And the entire concept of Sophia wisdom...my patron goddess is the Great Mother of the gods :)

Which religion?

Cult is a term, considered pejorative by some, for a relatively small group which is typically led by a charismatic and self-appointed leader, who excessively controls its members, requiring unwavering devotion to a set of acts and practices which are considered deviant(outside the norms of society).[1] This term is also used for a new religious movement or other social group which is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophicalbeliefs and rituals,[2] or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal.

Religion is a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements[1]—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion.[2][3]Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine,[4]sacredness,[5] faith,[6] and a supernatural being or beings.[7]

Religious symbols: Christianity, Islam, Isese, Hinduism, Judaism, Baha'i, Eckankar, Buddhism, Jainism, Wicca, Unitarian Universalism, Sikhism, Taoism, Thelema, Tenrikyo, Shinto
Religious practices may include rituals, sermons, commemoration or veneration (of deities or saints), sacrifices, festivals, feasts, trances, initiations, matrimonial and funeraryservices, meditation, prayer, music, art, danceor public service. Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred texts, symbols and holy places, that primarily aim to give life meaning. Religions may contain symbolic tales that may attempt to explain the origin of life, the universe, and other phenomena; some followers believe these to be true stories. Traditionally, both faith and reason have been considered sources of religious beliefs.[8]

a quick look on wiki would answer your question

In reality the difference lies in wide spread acceptance. Although the use of the word cult is often used in a damning sense. It would indicate a questionable leader with people blindly following harmful practices. In my experience this is far removed from many in mainstream religious groups who do a lot of questioning

I don't think we can assume that, @MaraScottie.

Different cultures have admired different qualities. Strength, power, knowledge for example. I think our current 'universal values' have been influenced by religion.

It's not something I've studied formally, but superficially at least I've seen all sorts of things that suggest they aren't universal qualities.

There was a park in Singapore about Chinese mythology heroes. One breastfed her elderly mother in law through a famine, this preserving wisdom and experience as was her duty. Her baby died.
On a 'local heroes' tv campaign, they interviewed a girl aged about 10 whose mum was an addict so she lived with grandma. Her 'hero' status was for being responsible for her little brother, disciplining him by beating him with a belt to keep him in line. That was 20years ago though.

I'm sure the Greek and Roman gods were not about being kind and forgiving- more about tricking people and gods for your own benefit.

In some cultures the priority was family success, not individual goodness. It was laudable to manipulate and scheme to advance your family.

Thanks for that. Looks really interesting.

Did you practice Wicca before or a different type of witchcraft?

I want to try to help with this, because I appreciate that it is a very big, and very real question. (My background is that I'm a parish priest who has also been a hospice chaplain, and I'm also a psychotherapist - children and adults.)

Years ago, Bishop John Gladwin (now retired, but one of the greats!) wrote a book which contained this line: 'God loved the world into being, and then let it go.'

The way I see (to quote another book) the 'Why do bad things happen to good people?' question, is that the world God created (I believe creation and science go hand in hand) has to be self-supporting. Imagine if, each time you wanted to drive your car, you had to lift the bonnet and connect a whole load of wires before the car would start.... It really wouldn't be a very efficient way to go on! The created order is the same. Things happen. Viruses grow. People (and children, very sadly) die. More people are born. I don't believe that God micro-manages all of this, in the same way that not even the best of parents can protect their child from the troubling ways of the world.

What God does do is to be right there in our human experience (having come to earth as Jesus and gone through all that it is to live in our world); support us through the difficult times; give us an understanding, through following our faith, of how to be fully the people God created us to be. Eternal life is a bonus, of course, but in my experience it's not the main motivator for belief.

@whyhere I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question and give your perspective.
I personally will never be convinced by religion - being raised the way I was, I blindly swallowed what I was told by my grandparents, parents and priest, mostly out of fear of punishment if I dared question any of it. Until I wasn’t scared to do that any more.
Even though I don’t believe anymore, I’m still intrigued by other people’s perspective and their reasoning behind their faith.

Thank you @Ringmaster27

Fortunately I don't see it as my 'job' to convince people - only the Holy Spirit can do that 😊but it's always good to discuss these things with those who are prepared to be respectful and engage.

A really interesting discussion. I came onto this board this morning thinking of asking a different question but I feel this discussion has the same answers. I was going to ask how literally people take the Bible.

I've always been Atheist, never felt any need to believe in a higher power. I felt religion was a way of constructing a society that isn't controlled by humans, as human control always results in conflict.

I am very interested in human psychology and recently started to think more about the origins of religion. I have just bought a Catholic Study Bible and feel like I want to really learn a lot of the history. I also have some Buddhism texts but haven't put the time into reading them properly yet.

@pickledandpuzzled :
"I'm sure the Greek and Roman gods were not about being kind and forgiving- more about tricking people and gods for your own ..."

You can burn incense, give wine etc for the gods' favour or ignore them. This is traditional Philosophy and ethics are separate from the classical cult (worship) of the gods. So you can give offerings with a Stoic, Epicurean (atheist), Platonic understanding.
There is no hierarchy to tell you what to think you are free to choose your ethics.

I find paganism affirms and rejoices in this world , Gaia ,and our bodies

Interestingly the word 'superstition' comes from Latin 'superstitio' :
"Superstition meant a free citizen's forgetting his dignity by throwing himself into the servitude of deities conceived as tyrants. The civic ideal of piety (see pietas) was envisaged as honouring the gods while preserving one's freedom—that is, with restraint and measure. "Oxford Classical Dictionary

@DoormatBob

Each Christian denominations has different beliefs on how literal or what should be taken as literal within the Bible.

I was at a Catholic Bible study group where the bible was introduced as being writings from many thousands of years which contains many errors and exadurations. But it was still considered the inspired word of God recorded and preserved by flawed humans. What was considered important was the "why". Science explains the "what" and "how"... but the bible helps explain the "why". Bearing in mind that God is "God" so we cannot understand all that God understands, experiences or reasons.
So the Bible is not an accurate historical account of history ... as our documenting of history is very different from how history was documented 2000, 5000, 10000 years ago, and what people on those ages understood was very different. Science reveals that the world and all that exists on earth was not created in 7 "earth" days and the earth is more than 6000 years old. But the "why" in the Bible is that it was created for us because of God's love. God gave us free will as part of that love ... and that free will allows us to do right or wrong.
The Old Testament in simple terms, is a collection of stories that God choose a people to reveal Himself and how God wanted them to live differently in faith and love until God would reveal to the whole world. The story demonstrates again and again how people can do wrong ... but God will forgive and remain in their presence.
The New Testament is then the coming of Jesus - part of God made human. Through His teaching on earth and miracles worked... including His own resurrection... Jesus showed He was the "Messiah" who taught faith and love and set up a movement to spread that teaching throughout the world.

Back to your question on how literal is the Bible taken ... the largest Christian denominations (Catholic, Orthodox) can trace their clergical links back to the teachings of Jesus and what He taught to be passed on. Within this group there is less of a need for everything in the Bible to be literally true ... although they would not believe in something that dirctly contradicted what they believe to be true in the Bible. However, the Reformation was a break against Catholicism and some / many of the Catholic practices. One of the core beliefs of the of the Reformation was Sola Scriptura (or Scripture Alone). So many Christian denominationd set up post -Reformation belive the Bible is the main link with God's teaching. Some of these denominations are very literal in their belief of what is written in the bible ... the world was created in 7 days and is about 7000 years old... even that the earth is flat...there was an actual Adam and Eve and humans once lived to be many hundreds of years old (Methusalem was over 900 years old in the Bible). These people go to great lengths to explain the aparent anomalies in the Bible (how the fossils are not really millions of years old, how the earth could have be populated with all the species after Noah's Ark and even how Judas died as there are 2 different accounts (he hung himself at the edge if a cliff then when the rope broke he fell onto rocks and was burst open)).
But even this is complicated as some post Reformation Christian denominations have diffetent beliefs on Baptism, the Eucharist and Christ establishing the Church which are written about in the New Testament.

So a bit of a long answer to say there is no easy answer.. as all believers, even within the same Christian denomination, will have different views on what should he taken as literal within the Bible and what should not.

@OMG12 :
"Did you practice Wicca before or a different type of witchcraft?"
I practiced witchcraft not Wicca. Wicca is a religion with just 2 gods: the Lord and Lady. It never really appealed to me.
Witchcraft is performing spells and they historically come from Greek and Roman magic. I worship Diana and practice divination.
What's your practice:)